CAROL CRAWFORD

Music by BEETHOVEN - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: II. Larghetto.
Performed by Richard Tognetti and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
From the album ‘Mountain’ - Audio provided by ABC Classic.

CAROL CRAWFORD

SCULPTOR

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Try to imagine your dream studio: plenty of light, bright white walls, large windows looking out to an effervescent part of town… A studio that would also serve as a beautiful display for your work. Imagine a forest of white plinths… You’ve got plenty of space for all your tools, no matter how big they are, work benches and materials. You can hear the pleasant humming of the city…

Let me kindly shake you out of your daydreaming, you’ve entered Carol Crawford’s studio in Cooper Street, Surry Hills. It is located in an old textile factory that her family owned in the heart of busy Sydney. Read More

A few photos I took in Carol’s studio…

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Carol sculpts (mostly) alabaster characters she names after female members of her family. It’s a slow and very physical work during which she reflects on the complex and sometimes traumatic life stories of these women.
She was trained and mentored by famous Australian sculptor Tom Bass and when she became an accomplished sculptor herself, she kept on passing on this ancestral knowledge to students of the school Tom Bass created in Erskinville.

Her stone women are owned by private collectors and museums around the world. Carol has managed to turn tough stories into beautiful works of art. This is why I asked her to join my selection of 30 people who make the world more beautiful. This is her interview.

Connect with Carol

@_carolcrawford_ | carolcrawfordsculpture.net

INTERVIEW

I’m known as Carol, but I was named Carolyn, after mother’s sister Lonya, who was murdered during the Holocaust - this is a Jewish tradition, to name your child after a relative who has died - it keeps their memory alive. My mother called me Carolinka, which I miss hearing - it’s a more endearing version of my name.
I was born in Sydney and I still live here.
Even though I grew up in a household that spoke a foreign language, I only speak English regrettably.
I am a sculptor, and the material I have the most affinity with is alabaster, a beautiful translucent, malleable stone. I treat the stone in a unique way, looking at the raw form (before I even touch it) to understand where to start the conversation and from there it is a back and forth (carving) conversation between the stone and myself. I also love interlocking soft forms and have worked with clay, wax or direct plaster to realise these forms - sometimes these forms get cast into bronze.
That’s a very hard question to answer. I have always had an interest in art history and I feel it hasn’t been one particular artwork that has had an impact on me - the influence is a sum of many parts. Nature has also influenced me strongly with its beautiful forms.
All I knew is that I loved drawing, painting and making things. I also knew that I wanted to get my hands ‘dirty’ and work in three dimensions - form has a much greater interest for me than two dimensional art. I am not so interested in colour as I am in form.
Too countless to name.
Obviously I’m going to say carving stone - it takes me to a different place, helps clear the mind and engages my brain in a very different way than the usual way I use my brain in everyday life.
I wouldn’t say I’ve had a big break - there have been many exciting developments such as the first time I was selected as a finalist in a sculpture prize, and then having that repeated.
I also consider each sculpture I sell as a ‘big break’, as each piece is so individual and personal to me - that someone who is attracted to one of them enough to want to take it home, is a great honour and surprises me each time this happens. Artists always have doubts, I’m sure even the most famous artists do too.
I try to focus close and not get too concerned about hurdles - they come up, you deal with them, and they recede. Life is full of ups and downs, the longer you live the more you see of this, it’s having innate optimism that pokes through eventually, that is important to remember.
Love - it is what we need more of in this world. It’s what I put into my sculptures. It was the last word that my mother said to me and everyone she saw, on her last day on earth. Sadly, the world is lacking ‘love’ and openness, there are those that choose to do the opposite, but good will prevail. We have to be optimistic, even though I have felt incredibly low this past two months.
Loyalty, tolerance and don’t make promises you can’t keep (and resilience, if I can put a fourth one in there).
When I travel I always try to collect a stone from that place, I have stones from all over the world, but unfortunately I haven’t ’named’ them, so they are all mixed up now, but beautiful forms.
It is not a ’thing’, things can get lost - it is my family and the importance of having love around me. Without them I am nothing.
Food wise, I love the traditional food I was brought up with - latkes, pancakes, schnitzel, delicious bupka and also honey cake. Food reminds me of places and people, and that’s why I love eating.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - a modern tale of our times
Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV - not as good as the book, but just as addictive.
Past Lives - a poignant and sensitive story and film
I have very eclectic taste - I love 'The American Songbook’, I love old Yiddish songs such as ‘Bei Mir Bistu Shein’ (My dear Mr Shein), Joseph Tawadros’ music is incredibly skilful and rhythmic and upbeat, I love listening to William Barton and his amazing earthy and grounded compositions, I love Troy Sivan and also Alma Zygier for young inspiration, and I love classical and Jazz music. Tunes are playing in my ears all the time.
There are so many incredible sculptors from antiquity all the way to modern times - Michelangelo would have to be up there with the greatest and also the late Tom Bass AM, my mentor, who was one of Australia’s greatest mid to late 20th Century public sculptors. He devoted his mid to latter part of his life to teaching sculpture and passing on his knowledge, and I was lucky enough to learn in his atelier studio in the early 2000’s.until his passing at the age of 93 in 2010. I always say that Tom taught me to see. Next year, 2024, is the 50th year since the establishment of the Tom Bass Sculpture School in Erskineville, an amazing feat.
Sydney, because I love the calm healing of water, and Melbourne because I have two of my children living there and my only grandchild. I am satisfied with my lot, I always say and feel how lucky I am.
I would love to do a full upscaled outdoor sculpture in a public space that could be admired and also touched and walked into and around. It would exude softness and empathy and fullness of form.
I’m an introvert, I love to work alone and be in my own headspace. I’m also a pain to work with, just ask my family, as I am very particular and like things done just so - and for this reason it’s easier if I work by myself. As much as I’d appreciate help sometimes.