Sculptures made from Australian Timber

Artist: Peter Steller

Gallery 1

Featured

Regatta

Wood: White Cedar

Dimensions: 53x30x20cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture portrays a chaotic scene of a fleet of boats in a sailing regatta, sailing in different directions when rounding a buoy during a race. From a distance the many sails appear as one huge sail of many different colours represented in the wood by the different grain colours and lines.

Awards: First Prize 2023 Royal National Show

All that Jazz

Dimensions: 70 x 35 x 30cm

Wood: Jacaranda with coloured dyes

Artist Statement: The sultry bluesy sounds of jazz were the inspiration for this sculpture which portrays the body in rhythmic motion moving to the music.

Awards: 2021 first prize Royal Queensland Show

Where's my Neckless

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 63x30x20cm

Artist Statement: Who needs a neckless on a beautiful body?

Coral Sea Explorer

Dimensions: 55 x 32 x 30cm

Wood: Jacaranda with coloured dyes

Artist Statement: The sculpture was inspired by the form of a baler shell and the spiral lines of a conch shell which have been transposed to form a boat sailing the tropical seas. The coloured jacaranda reflects the tropical colours of the reef.

Awards: 2021 Ros Haydon Award Brisbane Sculpture Festival

Slicing through Waves

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 39x25x25cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture was inspired by the exhilaration I felt when sailing down waves with the spinnaker flying and seeing the bow slicing through the waves

Where’s my Reef (Sold)

Wood: colour dyed jacaranda

Dimensions: 70x48x20cm

Artist Statement: The sculpture reflects the loss of reef habitat for fish due to sun bleaching of our reefs.

Award: Second Prize -2019 - RNA Show

Drifting Fragrance

Wood: Colour dyed Jacaranda

Dimensions: 69x28x28cm

Artist Statement: This was inspired by the treble clef symbol, my love of sailing and the shape of sails. However as the sculpture progressed I saw it also evolving as a flower, opening, releasing an evocative fragrance drifting on a gentle breeze.

Dawn of Flight -sold

Dimensions: 80 x 65 x 26cm

Wood: Jacaranda with coloured dyes

Artist Statement: 60,000 years ago Aboriginals were the first to master flight when they designed the boomerang with its aerofoil shape just like the modern wing on a plane.

Phoenix Rising (Sold)

Wood: Cedar

Dimensions: 59x30x30cm

Artist Statement: Associated with the Sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

Diva's Salute

Dimensions: 62x30x25cm

Wood: Spalted Moreton Bay Fig

Artist Statement: The inspiration for this sculpture was a Diva, who was being recognised for her outstanding talent in the world of opera. The rare and beautiful spalted Moreton Bay Fig was used to exalt her graceful salute to the audience during her final curtain call.

Femme -Sold

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 80x30x30cm

Artist Statement: Along with the rich Australian Red Cedar the grain in the timber was transformed to highlight the alluring and beautiful sensuous form of the female body.

Woman in Red (Sold)

Wood: Forest Red Gum

Dimensions: 53x29x26cm

Artist Statement: The rich red beauty of the gum combined with the serene pose of a woman sitting, reflects the stillness of the forest that we seek in our busy urban lives.

The Hunter - sold

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig

Dimensions: 60x33x33cm

Artist Statement: I get great pleasure just watching birds, this sculpture was inspired when witnessing the power and skill of an osprey diving into the sea to catch his dinner.

Mr Ibis (Sold)

Wood: Laminated veneers of sapele wood and radiata pine

Dimensions: 140x40x25cm

Artist Statement: The Ibis is often referred to as the ‘Bin Chicken’, as picnic goers observe it scrounging through waste bins. Unfortunately, many people don’t see the beauty of the Ibis in flight, as it gracefully sweeps through the air on its vast wingspan. A flowing line was employed to display this graceful aspect of the Ibis.

Joy of Dance (Sold)

Wood: Mango

Dimensions: 70x50x20cm approx.

Artist Statement: When we celebrate, dancing gives us all such joy as it lets us express ourselves through movement.

Morning Stretch - sold

Dimensions: 62x30x25cm

Wood: Jacaranda with coloured dyes

Artist Statement: Non toxic water based dye was used to reflect the colours in a beautiful morning sunrise and these are combined into the form of a body stretching to start a new day.

Morning Stretch - sold

Wood: Colour-dyed Jacaranda

Dimensions: 62x30x25cm

Artist Statement: Non toxic water based dye was used to reflect the colours in a beautiful morning sunrise and are combined into the form of a body stretching to start a new day.

Pelican Preening

Dimensions: 74x44x28cm

Wood: Jacaranda

Artist Statement: The timber for this sculpture was salvaged from New Farm Park, Brisbane, when several trees died during the drought in 2007. This sculpture was inspired by the fiddleback figuring in the jacaranda wood, resembling the layers of feathers in the pelican, one of my favourite birds. We should constantly aim to keep our world clean just like the pelican which regularly preens its feathers.

Girl with Long Hair

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 70x20x20cm

Gallery 2

Featured

"Tango in the Sky' (Sold)

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 73x30x30cm

Artist Statement: Watching birds fly with such grace and manoeuvrability, combined with their ritualistic courtship dance, was the inspiration for my ‘Tango in the Sky’.

Award: 2017 Second Prize - Queensland Royal National Show

#psart #woodsculpture

'Quenching His Thirst'

Wood: Australian red cedar

Dimensions: 64x 30x45cm

Artist Statement: I have used the richness and beauty of the Australian Red Cedar to emulate the grace, power and majesty of the horse. Water is the essence of all life and no mater how beautiful and powerful we are, we are all equally dependent on water.

Dancing Sea Nymph (Sold)

Wood: Jacaranda from New Farm Park

Dimensions: 110x 38x30cm

Artist Statement:

When seeing the twisted form of this jacaranda branch I saw the shape of a ‘woman’ dancing, waiting to be released from the branch.

Awards: Honourable Mention; 2016 Brisbane Sculpture Festival; First Prize, 2016 Royal National Show, Brisbane

Courtship in Flight (Sold)

Wood: Jacaranda

Dimensions: 60x34x34cm

Artist Statement: The rituals of courtship are explored in this contemporary piece; the 2 birds, one flying up and chasing the other flying down are connected in the form of the ovoid egg, symbolic of their eventual mating.

Awards:
2016 Brisbane Sculpture Festival - People’s Choice

2016 Brisbane Sculpture Festival - Concept Stainless Design Award

2016 Queensland Royal National Show - Second Prize - Sculpture

"Dancing in the Wind' (Sold)

Wood: colour dyed Mango

Dimensions: 69x36x20cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture was inspired after seeing the film ‘The Dancer’ which I saw at the 2017 Brisbane French Film Festival.

It is based on a true story about Marie Louise Fuller, stage name Loie Fuller, who created a very moving and physically demanding dance for her large flowing silk costumes illuminated by multi-coloured lighting of her own design. She later became famous for her choreography.

Award: 2017 Highly Commended - Queensland Royal National Show

Gallery 3

Featured

'Flamenco Fire' - Sold

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig salvaged from the construction of the Legacy Way Tunnel project.

Dimensions: 92 x 50 x 40cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture was inspired after seeing the performance of Flamenco Fire at QPAC Theatre where I was enthralled by the colour, movement and passion displayed by the dancers.

Awards: Champion Sculpture 2014 Royal National Show Brisbane; 2014 Sculptors Queensland People's Choice Award

'Dancing Queen' - Sold

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig (from New Farm Park)

Dimensions: 79x45x40cm

Artist Statement: I like to show the beauty hidden in our trees and employ that beauty to work in the design of my sculptures. This sculpture was inspired after attending the ‘Flamenco Fire’ dance presentation at QPAC in 2012. I was totally captivated by the passionate movements of the dancer, her dress and shawl as she twisted and turned to the tempo of the music.

The Dancer - sold

Wood: Cedar

Dimensions: 80x18x16cm

Artist Statement: This is my interpretation and salute to the dance world; the ability of dancers to perform with such grace, elegance and light footedness on the stage.

Awards: 2011 Champion Sculpture - RNA

'Horsepower' - Sold

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig

Dimensions: 36 x 46 x 28cm (approx.)

Artist Statement: The wood from this 120-year-old Moreton Bay fig, is part of Brisbane’s heritage. As Brisbane’s transport depends on horsepower in all manner of shapes and forms, be it a horse drawn carriage of by-gone years or today’s modern cars driving through tunnels, they all depend on some form of horse power. With this in mind, and the majestic form of the horse and that of the mature Moreton Bay Fig tree I created and named this sculpture, “Horsepower” to preserve the history of this iconic tree.

'Winging Down Under' - Sold

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig

Dimensions: 75 x 30 x 30cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture was made for the G20 exhibition 'Expressions in Sculpture' and reflects the albatross, a bird that flies with grace to great distances while in harmony with its environment, sourcing food to bring back to nourish its young. Similarly, the G20 Heads of State from all over the world are flying great distances Down Under to try and make the world a better place for future generations.

'Lady Mango' (Sold)

Wood: Mango

Dimensions: 58x33x33cm

Artist Statement: I saw the form of the female body in this tree trunk and I just had to release her from where she was hiding and show how beautiful she is.

'She' - Sold

Wood: Olive

Dimensions: 94 x 20 x 15cm

Artist Statement: As a physiotherapist for all my working life I have developed a great appreciation of form and movement of the human body. Combining this appreciation together with the inherent beauty found only in wood, the viewer’s visual and tactile experience is elevated into a higher realm. ‘She’ personifies the ultimate perfection and beauty of the female form.

Awards: 2015 Second Prize - Nundah Village Art Competition

'Twirling through the Forest' - (Sold)

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 84 x 21 x 15cm

Artist Statement:The falling autumn leaves are a tree’s final curtain call, as its leaves twirl down to the ground in the breeze in its last dance for the year.

Awards: 2013 Second Prize Sculpture- 'Twirling through the Forest' - Queensland Royal National Association Show

'Reflecting on the Day'

Wood: Moreton Bay Fig

Dimensions: 33 x 22 x 20cm

Artist Statement: Every day it is good to take time out to reflect on what you have achieved.

'The Embrace' - Sold

Wood: Hairy Oak

Dimensions:47 x 22 x 18 cm

Artist Statement: The beauty of the human body is always a challenge to capture as is the passion of two lovers displayed by the ‘dress’ base that has fallen to the ground in the heat of passion.

Gallery 4

Featured

Soaring Waves

Wood: Jacaranda from New Farm Park

Dimensions: 70 x 35 x 30cm

Artist Statement: Graceful, unconventional lines are used in this sculpture to form volume and expression. Marrying the lines of the wing and the head of the Albatross to form a wave, defines the Albatross in harmony with its’ environment.

Awards: 2012 Peoples’ choice winner Sculptors Qld Annual competition

Soaring Waves

Closeup shot

'Flight' - sold

Wood: Colour dyed Jacaranda

Dimensions: 70 x 22 x 20cm

Artist Statement: The graceful twisting, turning and soaring movements of birds in flight are the inspiration for this sculpture.

Awards: 2012 RNA 2nd Prize; 2015 RQAS 1st Prize

'From the Sea' - Sold

Wood: Stained Moreton Bay Fig

Dimensions: 58 x 23 x 22cm

Artist Statement: We all know that everything living dies. However I like to extend the life of trees and our memories by using the timber from trees to make sculptures that will extend the life of our trees, and rekindle those memories of by gone days when we strolled along a beach.

'Wandering Wings'

Wood: Jacaranda

Dimensions: 34 x 85 x 46cm

Artist Statement: It always gives me pleasure watching seabirds effortlessly fly, soaring the thermals. This sculpture also was inspired by the music ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by Neil Diamond.

'Sails Down Waves' - Sold

Wood: Jacaranda

Dimensions: 78 x 34 x 34cm

Artist Statement: Blending the wave into the boat is my interpretation of the exhilaration felt when the boat is lifted onto a wave and becomes one with the wave. It is a 'bucket list' joy to experience.

'Of the Sea' - Sold

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimensions: 36 x 35 x 23cm

Artist Statement: The ocean is a huge source of inspiration for me and I’m always fascinated when watching waves roll in and become ripples which then expose the shells.

'Flying in Circles' - Sold

Wood: Mango

Dimensions: 15 x 30 x 30 (approx.)

Artist Statement: This sculpture depicts 2 birds flying in circles. We will be like the birds flying in circles, getting nowhere when trying to save our environment unless we start now with some definitive action, instead of passing the problems onto someone else.

Awards: 2010 RNA 1st prize; 2010 RNA Champion Sculpture

'Out of the Sea' - Sold

Wood: Australian Red Cedar

Dimension: 60 x 40 x 30cm

Artist Statement: The sea inspires many of my sculptures. This is reflected here with the movement of the waves , the diving of seabirds and the leaping of whales out of the ocean. By fusing these elements in the one sculpture I endeavour to show how the two environments, the air and the sea, and all that lives in and on them are closely inter-connected.

'Graceful Airs' - Sold

Wood: Huon Pine

Dimensions: 82 x 30 x 30cm

Artist Statement: I have used the unblemished pale honey coloured grain of the huon pine to reflect the beauty of the Egret that always looks so clean and elegant as it feeds.

Awards: 2011 First Prize Sculpture - Live Life Village Competition

'Sails and Waves' - Sold

Wood: Jacaranda

Dimensions: 75 x 35 x 35cm

Artist Statement: This sculpture reflects the joys I experienced when sailing; watching the bow slice through the waves and the exhilaration I felt as the boat ‘lifted her skirts’ and surged down the face of the wave.

'Transcending Love' - Sold

Wood: Poinciana and black stain

Dimensions: 70 x 35 x 30cm

Artist Statement: The bond of a mother and child transcends all boundaries. The sculpture focuses on the bond, of a mother and the child that was inside her; the child she held close to her heart; it will always be part of her. This deep primal maternal love that she feels inside her is always with her…like a shadow in her heart.

'Wings' - Sold

Wood: Australian White Cedar

Dimensions: 80 x 30 x 30cm

Artist Statement: I am always enchanted by the freedom of birds as they gracefully glide, twist and turn in the air.

That Dress - (Sold)

Wood: Olive

Dimensions: 60 x 20 x 20cm

Artist Statement: The timber inspired the strap in the design where the wood in the centre was rotted out and removing this revealed the strap.

Judges Comment: The work speaks to the viewer on many levels of strength and elegance taking us ever into infinity. The lines that form the volume are exquisitely created transporting us into the lines within the forms. They are a conversation with the whole piece. The most outstanding sculpture

Awards: 2013 Champion Sculpture Qld Royal Nation Show

'The Look of Love' - Sold

Wood: Jacaranda

Dimensions: 43 x 35 x 15cm

Artist Statement: The look of love depicts that wonderful aura of two people totally captivated in each others spell, in love, oblivious to all around.

Wood Sculpture

Sculptures made from Australian Timber

Gallery 1

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