Hape Kiddle - April 2020 Artist Of The Month

Our April artist of the month is Griffith based sculptor, teacher, goldsmith and
jade carver, Hape Kiddle. His beautiful hand-crafted pieces are strongly influenced by his deep connection to the natural world which we all are a part of.

Hape says this job is the highlight of his life, some of his most memorable moments in his career includes his commission with the National Museum and 'One Little Piece of Endless Sky' an exhibition which fused art and food with chef Luke Piccolo of Limone Dining in Griffith. 

Hape shared with us how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted his arts practice:

"Where I've had my next eight months pretty much organised, there is now nothing. My income disappeared after the 500 people ban was introduced as I would have had around eight workshops that I'd travel to and teach through different institutions. The Maleny Wood Festival, Perth Wood Festival and Collaborative WA are major events I would normally demonstrate at and teach directly afterwards, which have also been cancelled. 

I'm in my workshop now almost without direction, which is both really freeing because I can do anything I want, but all of a sudden there's no absolutes that have to get done, there's about 1000 possibilities of what I can do next. At least when you're working towards something continuously, that's a really good engine, but at the moment I have no events that I'm working towards. It's probably the first time in a decade that I literally have nothing I'm working towards. 

It hasn't ended my practice by any means, but what it has done is completely and utterly removed the income aspect of it. There's only so long you can go forward, before other decisions will have to be made, and I'm doing my absolute best to work out how I can maintain my practice and maintain my income throughout this. It's really easy to fall in a heap and be overwhelmed, but I think there is a lot of positivities to be had in this situation and they will reveal themselves. The world has changed, and I don't ever think it will be the same again. There is a benefit in being forced to navigate the ways you can continue to express yourself through work, and engage an audience in different forms of mediums. As a teacher I have had students, whose emotional and mental health have benefited through carving, reach out to me, and we've established a deeper connection at this time. I think there is a lot of goodness hidden inside of what's happening, it's a challenge, but I'm actually feeling quite good by it all."

Hape is available for commission work but he also has a beautiful range of art you can view on his website, which regularly gets updated as new collections are added to his store in special releases. Look out for his upcoming online carving workshops - he will be hosting lessons for beginner to advanced students, and you can leave an Expression of Interest if you would like a one on one class. Keep up to date with Hape's activities by subscribing to the mailing list on his website and by following his Instagram page.

Image credits: Sarah Brown. Story by Camille Whitehead, 7th April 2020.