Sculpture is an important part of Johanna's art practice and is possibly the nearest expression of her love of the New Forest. Using wood found in the forest such as gorsewood and heartoak each sculpture is created over a long timescale and each piece seems to possess a life of its own.
Stormheart, Johanna's latest sculpture, is created from heart oak (also known as bone oak). It is the innermost part of a deceased oak tree, the strongest, densest part.
This heart oak is sourced from the deepest parts of the New Forest where the oldest, most beautiful trees are located; those quiet places where you see fleeting shadows of deer and feel the presence of other secret creatures of the woods.
That is where I might come across a piece that looks like an eye looking up from the forest floor or a limb reaching out from a fallen oak. This is where the sculpture begins.
Stormheart will soon be on view to the public at
10 Castle Street Cranborne Dorset