Bernadette Klavins
Artist Statement // A yard could be considered as a space for cultivation and comfort, a domain for one to express themselves through earthly matter. In my grandparents’ yard, I remember the quality of golden sunlight that travelled through the leafy canopies of two oak trees, late on Sunday afternoons when we visited. These trees were planted by my paternal grandfather, Juris Klavins, a Latvian national who migrated to Australia following World War II, from an occupied country to a colonised one. Over time in our family, oak trees became synonymous with Juris. When he passed, leaves and acorns were gathered from the yard’s floor, and this ritual was repeated when the family home changed hands. Through the act of recalling memories, I attempt to access parts of my familial identity in response to my grandfather’s experiences of war, migration, and physical disconnection from his home country. These works aim to interpret and connect with my family’s heritage, and make what is intangible, physical. Here the process of casting could be considered akin to an act of recalling, through its ability to record and embody transient moments through Time.
Bernadette Klavins is an artist based in Tartanya, Adelaide working in the field of sculpture. Working in a process-based manner, Klavins draws out the poetic potential of materials and considers our human relationship to deep time and geologic forces. In 2016, Klavins graduated from Adelaide Central School of Art with First Class Honours and received a Major Travel Award. In 2017, she completed an international residency at The Icelandic Association of Visual Art in Reykjavik. Klavins has since exhibited at spaces including: Watch This Space NT, Canberra Contemporary Art Space ACT, Cool Change Contemporary WA, and in SA at Post Office Projects, Adelaide Central Gallery, FELTspace, Floating Goose Studios , Art Pod and Carclew. Klavins makes from Switchboard Studios in Norwood. She is currently on Guildhouse's Artist Advisory Board and was previously a Co-Director of FELTspace from 2017 to 2019.
Kathie Stove writes about Bernadette Klavins in Neoterica 2024.
Bernadette Klavins, Study of a memory, 2024, resin, synthetic polymer paint, thread,letter, plaster, light, fixings, installation dimensions variable. Sam Roberts Photography.
