Story of the Piece: Frog Song

In Far North Queensland, the wet season announces itself in a very specific way.

The rain comes first — heavy, warm, relentless. And then, as if on cue, the frogs begin. Barking tree frogs and green tree frogs, tucked into every corner, calling to each other across the dark with a noise that is somewhere between a chorus and a riot. I love them completely. Pete does not share this view.

This piece is my love letter to the frogs of FNQ. The log called to me the way they always do — I looked at it and saw immediately what it wanted to become. A wet season scene. A place where the moss grows thick and yellow-green the way it does after rain, where the mushrooms push up through the damp, and where the frogs have claimed the best spots and have absolutely no intention of moving.

The frogs are permanent residents here. The mushrooms are handmade, each one shaped and placed by hand. The moss is real. And somewhere in this piece, if you listen closely enough, you can almost hear them singing.

Frog Song is one of the last three small natural timber mushroom log pieces I will make. My practice is moving toward bigger stories, larger scales, more complex narratives. But these small worlds taught me something important about looking closely, about finding the life already waiting in a piece of timber, about the joy of making something just because it delights you. That's not nothing. That's actually everything.

The things that have lived get to live again — and become something that lives in another person's soul.

Materials: Found natural timber, preserved moss, resin frogs, handmade mushrooms, usb light.

Dimensions: 26cm (l) x 12 cm (h)

Price: $450