- Glimpse Art Space
- May 17
- 4 min read
‘...the personal or backyard shed is ubiquitous and culturally iconic in Australia and several other Anglophone nations.’
— Barry Golding, ‘The men’s shed movement: the company of men’ (2015).
‘All Australian boys need a shed, a place where he can go, somewhere to clear his head.’
— John Williamson, ‘The Shed’, (song lyrics, 1986)
The oxford dictionary defines the toolshed as, ‘a small detached building used for storing tools and other gardening equipment’, the shed as a noun for ‘a small simple building typically used for storage’, and as a verb ‘to cast off or give off or make something flow’. Prior to the 15th century, it was a ‘shade’ and then ‘a light, temporary shelter’ by the 1850s.
This simple structure holds many connotations beyond the workspace of common objects held within. A man’s hidden space, a refuge or retreat, a place for self-reflection and relaxation, a safe haven to decompress away from life’s chaos. A place to pursue interests, to make, repair and maintain. A place for self expression and autonomy. A place to find value and meet the needs of men beyond paid work and the workplace.
The shed provides shelter for our hidden worlds. Born from the autonomous secret spaces of our youth. Hidden from the prying eyes of adult supervision. The anticipation of worlds brought into being in tiny treehouses, cubby houses, dens and pillow forts. Imaginary landscapes unfurl in the space outside while inside plans are hatched, scenarios built and played out. Whole worlds created and recreated with infinite possibility unbridled and unburdened by any physical constraints of its original form.
Dean Haywood’s ‘High Street Shed’ (2025) is a mixed media installation consisting of wooden shelves and ceramic objects. Nestled into the doorway gallery of Glimpse Art Space on High Street in Northcote, Haywood transforms the gallery into a toolshed. High Street Shed consists of wooden shelving attached to the gallery walls and ceramic objects replicating the everyday commonplace tools and objects found inside. The gallery glass door provides a provocative glimpse into the usually unseen or hidden and tucked away sanctuary of a man’s space. The infamous shed.
The viewer may imagine this space as a glimpse of a larger workshop or as a small shed on High Street which may be providing locals with access to a shed or providing the idea of a men’s shed to those without one. We can imagine a public space for gatherings, discussion, workshops and companionship. Creating a High Street Shed for the ‘shedless’ man to encourage social activities, friendship and wellbeing in the same manner the first ‘Men’s Shed’ was created in Tongala, Victoria, on July 26th 1998, by founder Dick McGowan. In 2015 the men’s shed became a social movement in Australia. Described by Golding (2015) as the ‘informal grouping of individuals and organizations that focus on a specific social issue: the broad community involvement and wellbeing of men in community settings.’ The Australian Men’s Shed Association (AMSA) expands on the definition, recognising a Men’s Shed as ‘any community-based, non-profit, non-commercial organisation that is accessible to all men and whose primary activity is the provision of a safe and friendly environment where men are able to work on projects at their own pace in their own time in the company of other men. A major objective is to advance the wellbeing and health of their male members.’
While viewing this installation the sounds of industrial tinkering and the thick throaty drawl of Tom Waits’ 1999 song plays in my mind. The constant question being asked, ‘What’s he building in there?’ Echoed by the ceramic tools and hard wooden surfaces of Haywoods work.
Haywood’s installation uses our imagination to disrupt our sensory experience. The viewer is simultaneously inside and outside of the space. We are both outside the gallery and therefore outside the shed, surrounded by the noise and constant stimuli on High Street. By viewing the installation we are transported inside the shed and can imagine the quiet and peaceful pause the space provides behind the thick glass of the gallery door.
By shedding the usual opaque shed door, metaphorically, and replacing it with a glass one, the viewer is granted access behind a closed door and the possibility of glimpsing more than one man’s shed? Glancing into a hidden space or gaining access to a secret realm? Where agency has been given to everyday objects by reworking them into ceramic forms. Where a man might sit for hours at a time pondering life and the worldlier issues beyond. A shed that provides shelter and a space for self-reflection, relaxation and self-expression. A shed that provides psychological well being. A human need and ingrained desire for a personal space that is uniquely our own. A space that brings forth the value of agency and autonomy. A space that holds so much more value than the tools and equipment seen within.
— Dean Haywood is a mixed media artist working with drawing, printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Haywood’s recent art practice prominates ceramic sculptural forms. Winner of the Abstract Encouragement Award for a ceramic/mixed media piece in the Linden Gallery Postcard Show 2023-2024. Haywood has had previous drawings published in magazines and artworks sold to private collections. His current exhibition, High Street Shed, is on view at Glimpse Art Space, 273 High Street, Northcote, until May 16th 2025.
— Kannitha Lim is an emerging arts writer, interdisciplinary artist and volunteer gallery assistant at Glimpse Art Space, living and working remotely in Bunurong Country.
For more information visit:
MENS SHED ASSOCIATION
MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH
