VIEW VIDEO Extracts from 'notes from the shed', (2006) written by hanna kay, and read by brendan higgins. at Janet Clayton Gallery" />

Habitat, 2006 Oil and tempura on Canvas

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HABITAT

Hanna Kay

Essay on "Habitat" by the artist, Hanna Kay

VIEW VIDEO Extracts from 'notes from the shed', (2006) written by hanna kay, and read by brendan higgins.

My studio is located in a midst of 5 acres, marked by regular iron-bark posts bound together with wire. The fence serves only as a visual barrier between the road, the neighbours and us. It declares our territory - a field of grasses and weeds, which is home to a plethora of insects, spiders, rabbits, frogs, echidnas and snakes, and the trees dotting the property provide habitation for an abundance of birds, some of which I could not name to save myself.

One spring, a wagtail built her nest in the apple tree. I was at the easel, when my eyes caught a slight movement outside. A bird was hovering, holding a piece of straw in the tip of her beak, which she carefully placed in the half-built nest. She flew away, and several minutes later, she was back with some white stuff that might have been a spider’s web. For a long time she returned again and again with an assortment of fine straws, spider webs, bark, and short blades of grass.

I watched her hovering and inspecting her day’s labour from all sides, just as I do when I inspect an unfinished canvas. All of a sudden, she seemed to be pleased with the chaotic pile of stuff she had collected. She sat down on top of the little stack, wiggled her tiny body to give it shape. Next she appraised the symmetric cup-shape structure, and urgently flew away to bring soft chicken feathers and crushed dry leaves to place inside her newly constructed habitat. At a certain point, she decided that her nest had reached perfection. She stopped abruptly and settled in calmly to raise a family. A short while later, there were three chicks in the nest, waiting with open mouth to be fed.

The artworks in this exhibition are a contemplation on the nature of habitat; an exploration of the tension between order and disorder, between what-is and what-was.

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