The sculptures of Shona Nunan and Michael-Francis Cartwright share a sense of organic resonance, a symphony of form, texture and patina borrowed from the forests, mountains and vast wild expanses of the natural world. There is a tactility and generosity of form present in each sculpture from Michael's enigmatic 'Seated Form' to Shona's magnificent lone 'Guardian' standing sentinel like a great protector of the past. 

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These sculptures become joyful and reflective exclamations in whichever environment they occupy, quietly enriching the space around them and never dominating. They carry a living presence and are true reflections of the artist's hand, creations shaped from decades of knowledge and experience. 

 

Together in life and art, Shona and Michael also carry their own distinctions and unique approaches to their respective practices.

 

Shona pursues a purity of figurative form, both that of human and animal. Her human figures are both proud and protective yet also nurturing in their presence beckoning us to look inside ourselves to find our own compassionate resolve to life's challenges. Each surface notion like the rise and fall of a spoken word. Her work resonate with a joyous freedom. Sculptures such as 'Venus' and 'Bather' are both unbridled expressions of the strength of the female form and at the same time meticulously refined and highly crafted works that speak to decades of commitment to one's craft.

 

Michael's sculptures carry echoes of figuration yet is not strictly tied to any strands of what the human figure is or should be. Instead, his work is linked to the expression of movement and the pursuit of notions of being and feeling. There is sense that each sculpture is a distillation of a moment, or a thought toward that moment, with pure organic forms coming together in poetic tandem. The sweeping curvilinear and sometimes playful shapes that form Michael's working sculptural language can be viewed in parallel with, and as a natural progression of, his painting practice. Michael's paintings possess a lightness of touch and joyous palette that both allows for them to compliment and stand apart from his sculptures. They are richly layered and atmospheric, evoking place and encompassing the full spectrum of emotion and feeling gifted from immersing oneself in nature. Strokes weave and dance across the canvas, overlapping and intermingling with one another with the energy and grace of a murmuration.

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Apart, Shona and Michael possess complex, rich and layered visual languages of their own that when translated into the age old medium of bronze produces sculpture that celebrates the beauty of form, movement and freedom to be oneself.

Together, their sculptures speak to one another creating a harmony where one elevates the other and the differences between seem to blur. 

Both Shona and Michael's sculptures share a knowing connection like that of a close partner who can intuitively finish the sentence of the other.