Block by Block | works by Jenny Blake

This body of work is by local Canberra artist Jenny Blake, who engages with one of the most pressing issues of our time – minimising land fill.  After rescuing wood offcuts from buildings skips, Blake saw it as a mission to repurpose the wood to create a new body of artwork.
Blake paints the wood offcuts with miniature landscapes and reassembles them to resemble building blocks. Block by block returning them to a newfound form of created nature. It is an ode to wood and its many precious qualities.
“Wood is a precious resource and can store carbon long after the tree has been harvested. As an artist I see wood as a precious material. It is concerning that so much of it ends up in landfill,” said Blake.
“Making art from wood offcuts is one way of being able to highlight the positive environmental impact upcycling and repurposing can have. Our atmosphere has the most CO2 levels in history and our oceans are experiencing record levels of trash.
“Making art from trash is great for our environment and has social benefits. More and more communities are recognising the important of upcycling, repurposing and the act of making. Making helps with switching off our problems and tap into our creative self.”
Blake works with non-traditional and traditional tools, creating layers, peeling back and adding further layers to create the desired effect. It is as if she creates the landscape and erodes it away.  The wood block allows a heavy hand, and a soft touch, enabling a vast arrange of outcomes.
The artist heroically brings a new life to this tragic chapter. Block by block the discarded offcuts now embody new life.

Images courtesy of the artist L-R:
Still Block by Block, Acrylic on wood assemblage, 82 x 45cm
Seaside dreams, Acrylic on wood assemblage, 45 x 60cm

Front page Image:
Still Block by Block, Acrylic on wood assemblage, 82 x 45cm