Pieces of History

A termite munches its way through the wood grain. The feeding process leaves behind a deep crevice, which snakes its way through the wood – a scar created sometime in the last 100 years. A scar that could not be more perfect to artist and ANU Facilities and Services officer Naomi Somerville.

Naomi Somerville inside the Buggy Shed. PHOTO BY BELINDA PRATTEN.

Somerville and fellow artist Maria Klingner have spent the last few months transforming items that would have ended up as rubbish into exquisite jewellery and accessories.

The termite-eaten section of wood now takes the shape of a brooch, a rusty nail completing the item.

But what makes this brooch truly unique is that the materials used to create the one-of-a-kind piece were leftovers from the restoration of the historic ANU Buggy Shed, nestled behind the Constable’s Cottage off Bachelors Lane.

The shed, built in 1913, is a relic of a time when people used a horse and buggy for transport. One of the oldest buildings to be found in Canberra, over the years it has housed horses, members of the Commonwealth police force, a large family of Hungarian migrants, students, an angry beehive, and a cantankerous possum or two – one of which can still be found curled up behind a newly mended door.

While more than 80 per cent of the original building materials were retained during the restoration project, Somerville and Klingner were granted permission to use the scraps. The pair were often to be seen rummaging through the worksite skip, collecting nails, sections of weatherboard, metal pipes and pieces of glass to turn into necklaces, rings and brooches.

“It was very intimate work, with such amazing historical materials,” says Somerville.

“On the first night I had so much fun playing with the materials, I just sat for hours engraving away in between the grains.

“It has been a heartfelt and rewarding project. I hope people appreciate the pieces as much as I have enjoyed making them.”

The pieces are part of the Buggy Shed Evolved project, which includes about 50 items of jewellery, hand-crafted by Somerville, a glass artist, and Klingner, a jeweller, silversmith and former ANU School of Art student.

The women dedicated up to 10 hours to each individual piece, removing rust, sanding back wooden panels and melting metal. They both agreed that there was something magical in transforming 100-year-old building materials into 21st century wearable art, especially in Canberra’s centenary year.

Somerville and Klingner hope the pieces will be loved for generations to come and say their work ensures that the buggy shed story lives on.

“They are pieces of a story that just keep giving,” says Klingner.

“When people buy one of these pieces they will be able to pass it on to family members and know that the story of the buggy shed continues with it.

“There is so much beauty in this material, even for something so old and dilapidated, and which otherwise would have ended up in the tip.

“It’s great to see such old materials live on, especially now as we live in such a throw-away society.”

As well as being a rewarding project, Klingner adds there were a number of challenges that had to be overcome.

“The wood was so hard and hardy to work with, the nails had to be heated and forged so many times; the materials were so tough, but so fragile at the same time,” she explains.

Despite a few setbacks, the women said not once did they want to give up on the project.

“It has been some of the most beautiful material to work with. The wood’s so old and so dry, you just can’t craft it as well as new wood. Working away on it and finding the beauty underneath, revealing the grain, just made the material come to life – that’s what I really enjoyed about the project,” says Somerville.

Sometimes it pays to see beyond an imperfection, because even a scar can be truly beautiful.

The Buggy Shed Evolved is part of the Random 9 100 exhibition, a display of works celebrating Canberra’s centenary. The pieces will be on show at Wollongong’s Project Contemporary Artspace from 3 to 16 June.

Tours of the buggy shed are included in the ANU Heritage Tours. Read more in the Autumn 2013 edition of ANU Reporter.