A walk through the trees
Ken Unsworth AM
Artist working drawing
Ken Unsworth has had numerous solo exhibitions, in Australia and overseas, including a major survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1998. In his first ever appearance at Sculpture by the Sea, Ken exhibited his work A walk through the trees, as one of the NAB Distinguished Invited Artists.
Born in Bendigo in 1931, Ken Unsworth started as a painter but began making sculpture when he was working at Bathurst Teachers College in 1966. Often bitterly funny, Unsworth's work mixes light and darkness in ways that keep us off-balance.
His works have been included in the Mildura Sculpture Triennial, 1973 and 1978; the Australian Sculpture Triennial, Melbourne, 1981, 1984 and 1993; and the Biennale of Sydney, 1976, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990 and 2000. He has also participated in major international exhibitions including the Paris Biennale, 1985; Magiciens de la Terre, Paris, 1989; and the Biennale of Istanbul, Turkey, 1995. In 1978 Unsworth represented Australia at the Venice Biennale.
He has received numerous awards including the Bi-centenary Sculpture Competition Award in 1970, and the DAAD Scholarship, Berlin, in 1987. In 1989 he was awarded an Australian Creative Fellowship, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to sculpture. Ken Unsworth lives in Sydney.
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