The Collectors
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Friday 23 November 2007
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John Blogg was described as a “fearless carver” with an ability to give a remarkable three-dimensional reality to the plants and other items that he carved from wood. This week Gordon reveals why this industrial chemist from Canada left Australia with such a wonderful legacy of his craft.
John immigrated to Australia in his 20s to pursue his career though, after losing his first wife in his 50s, he took up carving to relieve his grief. He carried on his craft until he was 83 and, in this time, produced over 300 pieces.
While his early work as a craftsman was competent, it was also comparable to the work of many others. But once the influence of Australia’s native flora and fauna and three dimensional details began to show in his carvings he realised he’d found his own unique style.
Bloggs would never touch his work with a piece of sandpaper otherwise as he was quoted saying, “it will majorly cease to be an artistic work.”
One of his pieces with a moving tale is “The Fallen” which John carved to symbolise the events of Gallipoli and, as like most people at the time, he too, was deeply effected by it. The piece features a branch filled with leaves all gathered together to symbolise the troops returning, while a single fallen leaf represents the soldiers that were left behind.
