Parkside Art Gallery is pleased to announce its new show, A Walk Through Recycled Trees, featuring Welsh Love Spoons by Robert Roberts and Leaf Carvings by Dessie Marshall.
The show will run from now until March 5.
Love spoons are a centuries-old craft in Wales. Historically, love spoons were carved by young men who wished to court a young woman from a different village or by men who wanted to convey interest in a woman they were too shy to speak to.
At first, these designs would be rather simple, but if the spoon was to be accepted, it would be seen as an interest in the young man and his carving would become much more intricate.
Hearts to signify love and balls in a cage to indicate how many children he wanted are only some of the many designs used.
“Today, love spoons are still carved by skilled craftsmen,” Roberts says, adding “some carve traditional designs; others, like myself, incorporate more modern and artistic styles, while still in keeping with the traditional form.”
Authentic love spoon carving does not allow for the use of nails or glue, so elements such as moving rings, chains, and balls are carved directly out of the wood. Every love spoon is unique.
Leaf Carvings is a creation by Dessie Marshall. This new art form was born quite by accident, when Marshall, an Alberta farm girl, began noticing intricate hidden images in plant leaves.
In 2007, Marshall began to carve what she saw in the surface of the leaves, using a razor blade and carefully avoiding the netlike veins. The results were spectacular, with a wide variety of images both abstract and representational.
“The leaf, itself, determines the designs. The leaf tells me what it wants to be.”
She adds her work is done by free hand.
Between 2007 and 2011, she perfected her methods of preservation and presentation. Since then, she has travelled the Western hemisphere searching for new types of leaves and exhibiting in several countries.
Marshall is trying to have Leaf Carvings officially recognized as a new fine art form, while living an adventure and her passion.
