Craft / “Uncommon”, Eliza-Jane Gilchrist, At Craft + Design Canberra, until August 26. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

ELIZA-Jane Gilchrist lives and works in central Victoria.

In addition to her arts practice as a sculptor and performer, she works in a seed bank.

The sculptural work in this exhibition is made from paper – some recycled into corrugated cardboard, some papier mâché, and brown paper, and gumstrip. Black ink adds definition and interest to several of the works, for example “Currajong”, in which a vessel holds several pods – possibly disgorged seed pods. The vessel is painted black, and the interior surfaces of the pods are painted black, and tiny dots sprinkle their outer surfaces.

The branch the pods appear to be falling from has shoots or twigs and each finishes with smaller pods, also painted black.

This show is exuberant, full of life and fun. Several of the sculptures are whimsical, and all are imaginative.

A single work includes another colour: “Hollyhock”, which has recognisable, coloured petals and leaves and a red base. It offers a spot of relief in the overall sombre dun of cardboard.

The layering of the cardboard, the facets and wondrous appendages to the sculptures add tension and visual interest to many of the works. Fronds lean from one object to another, similar to leaves and branches in a garden, and lead us from one work to another.

The bulb in the work “Hirsute” is covered in strips of shredded paper. “Windborne” is spiky, and could be a burr that gets into your socks and is so hard to remove. But never fear, Gilchrist is showing her own – more benign – “Burr”.

I found this a thought-provoking and beautifully made exhibition, which doesn’t leave the viewer depressed.