Earth Shapers by artist Catherine Phillips is now on show

Earth Shapers, by artist Catherine Phillips, looks at the way humans use the natural world and its resources.

Phillips said the idea came as an extension of her project for her Masters of Fine Art degree.

"[During my Masters] I was heavily into investigating how artists can respond to climate change and big issues in the world, and open them up to people that may find them really daunting and confronting," she said.

"Art provides a way where people can think about those big issues by seeing something visually that will provoke a thought in their mind ... and Earth Shapers came as an extension of that.

"The main theme behind most of what I do is the relationship between humans and the natural world, and how they use it in different ways."

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The artwork from Phillips consists of several elements including a dirt landscape which she said plays on the theme of Earth Shapers in a literal way by "shaping the earth".

Some parts of the dirt are raised into plinth like structures to hold her sculptures, and her paintings that accompany the work are placed around the room on the walls.

Phillips said her medium of choice is normally painting but sometimes she feels that other practices express what she wants to say in another way.

"I'm using different mediums to elicit different reactions from people when they look at it," she said.

Phillips said the main message of the exhibit was to realise the Earth's resources are finite and not everlasting, and people should think about what's going to happen beyond "the now".

"If you're interested in experimental art and perhaps not something you see every day in a traditional gallery setting, come to Sawtooth, not just to see my show [but other works too]."

Phillips said after a year where many artists had to exhibit online due to COVID-19, it was great to have the opportunity to see her art as a body of work in a gallery space.

The exhibition will run until February 28 at Sawtooth ARI, and is free to attend.

After the exhibition is uninstalled on March 1, the soil used in the artwork is able to be taken by community groups - first in best dressed according to Phillips - by contacting Sawtooth ARI.