William Ricketts
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William Ricketts (1898-1993) was an Australian sculptor.
Born in Richmond, Victoria in 1898, William settled permanently in Mount Dandenong, Victoria in 1934. From 1949 - 1960 he made frequent trips into Central Australia to live with Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte Aboriginal people whose traditions and culture inspired his sculpture. He was not an Aboriginal by blood but considered himself adopted by Pitjantjatjara nation
From 1912 to 1920 William developed skills in playing violin, crafting jewelry and clay modelling. In 1934 he started his major artistic work - creating the sculpture park now named William Ricketts Sanctuary. He worked on this project until his death in 1993. In 1970 he went to India. He spent two years there, mostly at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram spiritual center in Pondicherry, developing spiritual empathy with Indian people and knowledge of their philosophy.
[edit] William Ricketts Sanctuary
The main work of William Ricketts is the sculpture park that he named Potter's sanctuary, but is now known as William Ricketts Sanctuary. He worked for more than fifty years on the transformation of a natural old-growth eucalyptus forest into a unique place of spiritual renewal and quiet reflection. The sanctuary reflects a spirit of place expressed through one man’s dream. Deeply felt connections to the earthly mother and the spirit of the land are explored in 92 ceramic sculptures of people and animals which merge with the natural surroundings: a wise elder is as one with an ancient tree, his beard flowing into its trunk and roots; young children play with native animals among ferns and flowing water; and the human and natural spirit become one.
In the 1960s th Victorian Government bought this place from William Ricketts and made it a public park. William Ricketts still lived in this place until his death in 1993.
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