While most people walk past steel without ever imagining it could breathe, local resident Gabriel Parker has spent more than 30 years bringing it to life in his large-scale works, including those featured at Swell Sculpture Festival, Pine Rivers Gallery, Sculpture Outback and many other exhibitions.
In a quiet pocket of Brighton, where the coastal air softens the edges of industry, Gabe continues a life shaped by fire, rhythm and raw materials – now sharing his craft through steel sculpture classes after a long career with the Brisbane Institute of Art, alongside his work as a musician.
According to Gabe, growing up in Springwood meant bushland at his back door and a family of metalworkers who instilled a lasting respect for the skill and dignity of the trade.
“Most of this culture originated from my grandfather, Samuel L Killips, a fitter and turner in his working days who had fixed aeroplanes at Archerfield during WW2 (and made toys for all of us grandkids).”
Gabe said that after a short career in screen printing, he eventually completed a trade as a fitter and turner and worked in steel, learning skill sets for later use.
“It was the early nineties, and I was starting to make sculpture from scrap steel for fun for myself and my friends who were mostly artists and musicians,” Gabe said.
From Industrial Roots to Creative Expression
“I was always immersed in nature, balancing the industrial environment I was in to make my living, meaning a lot of bushwalking, climbing, camping, surfing and scuba diving with a strong fascination with the arts.”
The artist said that through sculpture, he is able to study aesthetic ratios, connections and movements gestured by the oceans with their plants, animals and rock formations.
“For me, steel isn’t a cold, hard industrial material because, like people, it can be rigid but also softened and shaped by many elements – weathering over time and shaped by the environment.”
Gabe said now that he has his own teaching business and space in Gabesculpt Studios, he has been able to form his main connection point for other artists in the area.
For more information regarding Gabriel Parker’s work and sculpture class bookings, visit Gabesculpt.com.
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