Lump Leaf Skeleton Sculpture

Every sculpture has a story but our Leaf Skeleton Sculpture has many.

In the beginning…. 

I think Chris and I were sketching the leaf skeleton for about 6 months before it even came to the trial stage of actually making it. We experimented with different heights, widths and shapes and went through what seemed like a never-ending adjustment period of the internal vein design. Eventually, the meticulously hand drawn design of the Leaf Skeleton was transformed into four different sized freestanding steel sculptures.

The inspiration for the Leaf Skeleton Sculpture was the notion that every leaf plays a small but significant role in the larger ecological process. Giving life to the tree that gave it life, returning to the earth and supporting other life on the ground.

As the Leaf Skeleton Sculpture progressed and gained in popularity we began to customize it. Altering it slightly for each individual commission. And in some cases, like in the winter roof top garden on Collins St, if you look closely you can see that each leaf has a different level of decomposition, designed to represent the four seasons, themes of transformation and renewal.

I talked about the Leaf Skeleton sculpture commission for Altona Memorial Park on the blog just recently. And we amplified the height, width and overall vein design of the Leaf Skeleton for this particular site. But what was amplified for me was not the shear size of the finished piece, but the strength of the connotations of what the sculpture symbolized standing within this particular site. The leaf skeleton sculpture is this situation is a simple representation of natural organic beauty and fragility. The sculpture is sympathetic and unimposing to its surroundings and displays an undeniable significance of returning to the earth.

On the opposite side to that, we developed a “play scape” for Westfield’s from one of our initial drawings of the Leaf Skeleton design. This particular drawing or idea was kept on the back burner literally for years and was eventually blown up into a life size Leaf Skeleton Dome that could be used as a meeting point, as a sculptural display and as play equipment. And on the contrary to transformation, renewal or returning to the earth it is representative of now, of hope, imagination and community. In this case our Leaf Skeleton is many things, folded and floating in a puddle it is a boat on a vast ocean following a new adventure. Propped up with twigs it’s a shelter and meeting place for fairies, bugs and imagined creatures. Imagined worlds and societies like our own that live just beneath our noses are something as children we believe we are part of. As adults we need to remember we ARE part of a world of many creatures. The Leaf Skeleton dome represents a meeting place for our community. A safe and imaginative place for children and a meeting place for a solid, intertwined and supportive community.

These are but a few of the stories about our Lump Leaf Skeleton Sculptures that exist out in our local and extended community. And unbeknown to us in the beginning that with the support of many we have been able to create our very own little flurry of fallen leaves made by Lump. Scattered randomly and with their very own story to tell.