Male emus incubate the eggs and do not eat, drink, or pass waste for up to 2 months. The chicks are raised by the father. Likewise, our lives have been ‘cracked’ open, by fire, drought and a pandemic. We have been ‘grounded, Fathers have spent more time with their children. People are caring for each other and have learnt to live with less. It is a time of change; new ideas are emerging. How we can live in our environment more successfully? It is an opportunity of life, our phoenix, the Emu.
Gaskell is an emerging artist who enjoys representing nature in a variety of media. It is clay, however, that allows Karen to give full expression to form. Karen trials new methods, glazes, and techniques and in Emu, various clays, colouring oxides, and glazes are used to create the effects of fire, drought, and more recently the coronavirus.