Artist’s body of work

By Tania Martin
KALLISTA artist Frank Cuming is causing a stir with his latest masterpiece.
Many local residents and visitors have called police fearing it is a dead body.
But residents are being told not to panic.
Although it may look like a human corpse, the cocoon-like art piece which is hanging from a tree in the Sherbrooke Forest is just the latest figment of Mr Cuming’s imagination.
Mr Cuming is known for his work with creating paintings, wooden sculptures and glass engravings.
But he is also fast becoming renowned for his ability to spin spider webs from bark.
This bark artist is surprised that his latest piece has created such a stir.
But it is not a laughing matter for police after sightings of what people thought was a human corpse in the forest where reported on Saturday 3 May. Senior Constable Glenn Barkway of Monbulk police said it was lucky that Mr Cuming’s came forward and admitted to knowing all about the sculpture.
He said police were puzzled by the cocoon and were considering sending a helicopter up to investigate.
Sen Const Barkway said that calling in the police helicopter could have cost $20,000 and would have been a massive waste of resources.
“We would have had to do something to find out what was hanging up there,” he said.
“There would have been nothing worse than having a dead body hanging there for a couple of weeks – we needed to know for sure what it was.”
However, calling in the helicopter and a search and rescue team was averted when Mr Cuming admitted to being responsible for causing the fuss.
Mr Cuming had snuck out in the dead of night, climbed a tree and suspended his cocoon sculpture the evening before.
“I love the idea of creating something that no one expects to see,” he said.
“I was expecting a little bit of a reaction but not this much.”
The cocoon of bark was made using a pair of old boots, a helmet and bicycle parts.
Mr Cuming said the idea first came to him when he was thinking what he could do with an old pair of boots.
For Mr Cuming, the environment is a blank canvas and this latest piece is no exception.
He says the natural environment and forest setting of the hills is what inspires him to create all manner of things from bark.
Mr Cuming is still reeling over the reaction to his bark inspired sculpture.
Police warn people who see the sculpture not to be alarmed as it’s not a dead body.