QUALITY TIME
CLOCK EXHIBITION AT FOX’S GALLERY, BATHURST
OPENING ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2007
Wind-up clocks have their own personalities. Anyone who has lived with an old clock, or even an old watch, will be familiar with its unique sound and idiosyncrasies. While ever they are ticking, clocks are like living things.
An exhibition of exquisite hand-made wooden clocks will be on show at Fox’s Gallery in Bathurst from October 16. The Quality Time exhibition will show about 40 beautiful timepieces created by artists including Paul Fox, Will Matthysen, Maurice Roberts, Ken Miles, David Watkins and Dave Jones.
Master clockmaker Will Matthysen (pictured), of Warrandyte near Melbourne has been producing clocks in wood, brass and steel full time for the past 16 years. Each clock is different, and each takes about six weeks of full-time work to complete.
“I think the thing about digital or quartz clocks is that you can’t see how they work,” Will Matthysen said. “With a clock like this, you can tell the time with elegance.”
One Matthysen wall clock is now on show at Fox’s Gallery in a sneak preview of the exhibition. It has a transparent door showing off a face and a mechanism made almost entirely out of contrasting native timbers.
“I go through phases and use a lot of different timbers,” Will says. “At the moment I’m using fiddleback blackwood, red gum, fiddleback sycamore and ancient red gum.”
Ancient red gum, rare and expensive, came to light in the 1990s, when quarrying operations around the Murray River brought massive trunks, some weighing more than 10 tonnes, to the surface. They were considered a nuisance until scientists revealed that they were the fossil remnants of forests aged between 5000 and 50,000 years. Their black wood, once cut and polished, has the appearance of ebony.
The Matthysen clock at Fox’s has ancient red gum on the clock hands and on the measuring stick down the side that marks off the gradually falling weight at four hourly intervals.
Making a beautiful object is one thing, but making sure it works correctly is another.
“It’s all about precision,” Will says. “You’ve got to go through the steps logically, you can’t cut corners. You’ve got to get the principles right. The gearing has to mesh, there has to be minimal friction. You only have to be a smidgeon out and it won’t work.”
The Quality Time exhibition will open at midday on Tuesday October 16, 2007, with a “group chime” from all of the clocks, with Bathurst Regional Councillor Norm Mann officiating.
Fox’s Gallery is at 108 William Street, Bathurst, phone 6331 8699, or check the web at www.foxsfurnituregallery.com.au.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL PAUL OR CATHERINE FOX ON (02) 6331 8699