CAMILLA BLISS (b.1989, London) regularly draws on motifs found in historical craftsmanship, myth and folklore to communicate ideas about the modern world. She utilises a wide range of materials, placing an importance on the handmade and the sculptural, yet at the same time referencing our relationship to digital technology.
Bliss completed her MA in Fine Art Sculpture at the Royal College of Art (2021). Her work has been exhibited across platforms such as 'Lying in a Grape', YSP/CoLab 2021 award, Artist's Garden at Temple, London; Radical Craft 3, Direktorenhaus Berlin; The Royal Academy, Chisenhale Studios, and The Barbican Arts Group Trust, as well as making ceramic pieces for The New Craftsmen.
Selected recent solo exhibitions include Swell, 87 Gallery, Hull (2021) and Camilla Bliss // Closed Curtain, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London (2017). In 2021, Bliss was awarded with the Yorkshire Sculpture graduate award and then in 2022, attended a residency at Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, Radical Residency VII, London.
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The Woodcutter is based on a fable called ‘The Woodcutter and His Axe’. It tells the story of a woodcutter that works very hard each day, cutting down many trees. As time passes he finds he is not able to cut down as many as he originally could however hard he tries. This is because he has not taken the time to sit and rest and sharpen his Axe.
The Axe represents our mind. If we do not take the time to rest our bodies and sharpen our tools we do not perform as well. The sculpture becomes a reminder of the importance to pause and take a moment to relax.
The totem was originally created to be cleansed by having water poured over it. The ritualistic action allows water to fill the bowl-shaped head and flow out of two holes where the ears would be, and onto the rest of the totem. Not only are we purifying the mind, but the body.