Good response but no sales

Despite making no sales, local wood and stone sculptor Mr Piers Jones from Killcare Heights said he was pleased with the response at the Killcare Art by the Sea exhibition last month.

Mr Jones had four sculptures on display at the exhibition held from January 2 to January 11, three of which were made from wood and one from stone.

"I mainly work with wood, but I put that one [stone] in to demonstrate that I'm not confined to wood," said Mr Jones.

Mr Jones said he had no expectations to sell but was pleased with what people had to say about his work.

"I got the same response that I usually get from exhibitions, mostly of appreciation and admiration for my work.

"The biggest compliment is when someone says they've never seen anything like it before, which is what I'm trying to do.

"I'm not taking my inspiration from any other artist," said Mr Jones.

Mr Jones entered the exhibition at Killcare for the second year in a row.

The average price for one of Mr Jones' wooden sculptures lies at around the $4000 mark.

However, Mr Jones said he had a fairly large price tag on his biggest sculpture this year, which was well over two metres high, and wasn't expecting even a nibble.

"There weren't too many things this year that sold over $1000 in the whole exhibition, last year was much better," he said.

Mr Jones has had success in previous art shows, being selected twice as a finalist in the Gosford Art prize and also winning first prize twice at the Sydney art show, Timber and Working with Wood.

Mr Jones' sculptures are non-representational and are often described as abstract sculptures for people who don't like abstract.

"I deliberately don't work by process.

"I start with what the wood offers like knots and cracks and weathering.

"I use the expressions of the wood that are produced by growth or decay," he said.

Mr Jones works with the expressions of the wood to find form and space and patterns of light and shade to create something aesthetically pleasing.

He has been working with wooden sculptures for around 30 years and said he has always been interested in art.

"I've always had an orientation to artistic creation but it probably really kicked off in my early 20s."

Mr Jones started his career with painting before going to an art school in England.

"It had no bearing to what I'm doing now.

"No one taught me what I'm doing.

"I've always liked complicated detailed work," he said.

Mr Jones completed an honours degree in art history and fine art at the age of 32, after which he began sculpting.

Kaitlin Watts, 18 Jan 2011 Interviewee: Piers Jones