Plastered

A little while back Kenji and I did a workshop with the wonderful staff at our local child care centre. They were really keen to find out more about clay and to experiment with different ways they might be able to use it with the kids. We’re no experts in this field so it was really a collaborative approach between them and us, using their knowledge of kids and our knowledge of clay. One of the things we showed them was how to make simple bowls and vessels using a slab of clay and a slump/hump mould. They were quite taken with this process and so a couple of days ago I made them a whole bunch of plaster moulds they could use with the kids.

I have a love hate relationship with plaster. So much can go right with it, but so much can go wrong with it too. But today when I went down into the studio and saw all the finished moulds on my workbench it was all about the love. There is an indescribable quality to plaster that sometimes just takes my breath away. A day or two after it has been cast, before it is completely dry, it has this amazing sheen to it and reflects a beautiful soft light. Its cool and so smooth and clean and white and I just want to hold it against my cheek! In my recent musings on process I have been toying with some new ideas of working with plaster as the end, rather than simply as the means to an end.

But for now these smooth little beauties are off to a different fate!!

Birdy Beakers

I've also been putting those hands of mine to use making a new range of birdy beakers.

tweet tweet.

By hand

Speaking of hands, this is what I’ve been using them for lately. These works are part of an exhibition coming up at Cudgegong Gallery in Gulgong. The show is called A New Look – Functional Ceramics and has been curated by Janet Mansfield. Forty ceramicists from across Australia were invited to show a piece from our current production, but also to create a second work that ‘presages a new look’, a new direction or extension of an idea for the future. And this is mine.

I've been off on a bit of a thread, which I’ve mentioned a little in earlier posts over the last year, about the idea of process and how we imbue the objects we make with our own marks and rythms. I’m enjoying stepping away from how I usually work and discovering (well actually, its more a case of re-discovering) some of these other processes/rythms/materials and ways of making. We’ll see where it takes me.

The text/images on the bowls are extracts from my sketchbook, where I hurriedly scribble and scrawl my ideas for work. This mostly consists of lots of text, lots of arrows, lots of asterix’s, and the occasional (bad) drawing – the first part of the process of making for me.

The show opens November 20^th until January 25th.

My Hands

I used to have a real thing about my hands. They’re big hands. With big knuckles. And compared to the rest of me look very out of proportion. They just kind of dangle off the end of my long skinny arms! I used to be so self-conscious about them, but over the years I’ve learned to love them. I think I just needed to figure out what to do with them!

Right now I wish I had a few extra ones.

Porcelain in Perth

Its been a couple of years since I've made any of my recipe bowls. And after labouring over these ones I remember why I stopped! But I must admit that despite the time-consuming, finicky, nerve-wracking process, every time I pull one of these finished pieces out of the kiln I still get a little thrill and am amazed by the versatility of clay. Bloody marvellous stuff it is!

I’ve just sent five of these bowls over to an exhibition in Perth.  Each bowl is decorated with a poem or a recipe in the handwriting of some pretty amazing women in my family. I got quite sentimental as they sat there all together on my workbench, this little collection of bowls covered in the handwriting of sisters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers.  

My favourite part of the process is getting up close and personal with the intricacies and intimacies of the handwriting.  I find it fascinating as I zoom in and cut and paste and fiddle with the scans of their recipe books, letters and poems on my computer, noticing the little nuances each of them has, the way they underline a word (curly, straight, wispy, defined) the frequent use of exclamation marks, or lack of, the little messages and notes to would-be readers (“enjoy!!”) and the slants, curls and whirls of each woman’s hand.  I am always left with a strange (and lovely) sense of having spent time with them.

This time I was also left with a grumbling tummy after working on my mum’s coffee cheesecake recipe…oooh, its amaaaazing! Brings back childhood memories of dinner parties where she would make her famous lasagne followed by the cheesecake, the dining room table crowded with women with hair down to their bums and men with afros and fuzzy beards and flares (it was the 70s).  Us kids would just hang around till we got our feed of cheesecake and then nick off back to the rare luxury of staying up late and watching telly!

So, if you happen to be over in Perth you can check out this little collection at a show called “Highlights of Contemporary Australian Porcelain” at Gadfly Gallery, along with the work of Robin Best, Pippin Drysdale, Kirsten Coelho, Bruce Nuske and Jane Robertson. It opens this Friday (Sept 18^th) and runs until October 11^th. 

Two little cups

wheel thrown porcelain with decals, 9cm tall

Kenji and I haven’t been able to give The Little People over at Sandwich Mountain as much attention as we’d like over the last little (well…er…quite long actually) while. So we’re very excited that they are finally off on another big adventure, this time down to Sydney for…(yeah yeah, how did you guess?) the Australian Ceramics Triennale. The whole gang of Little People (except a few on ‘assignment’ in Japan) will be converging en masse at Object Gallery, where the nice folk there will be taking them out and about around Sydney and the conference venues.  

And they haven’t wasted anytime in showing the little folk around. A few just spent a delightful sounding weekend up in the Blue Mountains checking out the Three Sisters (below) and having Devonshire tea at very fancy hotels. 

Kenji has also put together a very cute little clip of them that you can watch over at Sandwich Mountain.  We’ll be updating the blog as the pics from Sydney come in over the next few weeks. And if you are going to the conference, keep your eyes out for them! They’ll be hanging out at Object and surrounds until July 26^th…..or longer if they’re having a nice time! 

Pourers

I've just sent off these little jugs to the Pourers Exhibition that is being held at Object Gallery during the Ceramics Triennale. 

I quite liked the bird on a wire jug, so I gave it a whirl on a bowl….

and a wall tile...

...and an old thrown cup I found in a box downstairs (which I've yet to photograph).  I went bird-on-a-wire craaaazy.  

The Pourers show is an extravaganza of functional pouring vessels - jugs, tea pots, bottles, creamers, decanters, gravy boats etc etc - by 40 Australian ceramicists.  Far too numerous to name here, but you can read all about it here.  The show runs from July 11th - 28th. 

Ceramic Revisions

Ceramic Revisions, another exhibition that's part of the plethora of shows going on during the Australian Ceramics Triennale, opened over the weekend. Some of my new yellow pigeons (above) winged their way down for it, as well as a new set of guns...

...and a few pieces from my Keep Calm and Carry On series.

The show is on at Brenda May Gallery in Waterloo, Sydney until July 26th, so please drop in if you're in the area.  More details on the show here and here.  And below are a couple of images of super works by fellow exhibitors Liz Stops and William Lungas. 

Liz Stops Home (2009) Porcelain, Charcoal, bone, recycled paper

William Lungas Arca-Type (2009) Ceramic tiles, black stained porcelain

Enough about me...

Vicki Grima, Cool Ice porcelain bowls, 8-10cm

I'm very taken by these porcelain pinch pots by Vicki Grima - artist, teacher, editor, and now blogger.  Vicki says: I enjoy making pinch pots. I like the process; I like the fact that my fingers leave marks on the pot. When you hold a pot, you can feel the process that went into making it. Because pinch pots tend to be small, they can be held in the palm of a hand - they are personal pots, and each bears my imprint." 

I'm relating to that at the moment. You can see more of her work on her website, and learn more about what she's reading, eating and making at her brand new blog! 

And some more stunning work by Kenji (below).  Showing at Andrew Baker Gallery here in Brisbane with Pamela See and Deborah Walker until July 4th. Opens tonight. 

White Heat

Well I’m all in a bit of tiz really. Work coming out of my ears at the moment, which is all good and lovely and you’ll hear no complaints from me about that, but my head is in a spin trying to meet deadlines and making sure things are where they should be when they should be. 

One thing I can now cross off the list-to-do is the Australian Ceramics Association exhibition White Heat , which opens tonight at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum in Sydney.  The show has been curated by Dr Julie Bartholomew and is part of a huge swag of shows opening over the next month in conjunction with the upcoming Australian Ceramics Triennale. 

One of my exploding gun plates (above) is included in the show, and I'm keeping some very fine company including my very own local buddies Pru Morrison (image below - Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Costello and Joe Hockey I believe?!!), Kenji Uranishi (image below), Virginia Jones and Kathy Keys. Nice to see such a strong QLD contingent. You can read more about the premise of the show and the artists selected here.  The show opens today but there is also a shindig being held (July 19th) during the conference itself. So drop in if you can and have a cocktail (or twelve) for me!

Pru Morrison

Kenji Uranishi

More details on the conference and the exhibitions, speakers and demonstrators can be found at the conference website and the conference blog (administered by Shannon Garson). 

Going Native

We've been doing a lot of work in our garden over the last few months, clearing out the silly plants (ie: ones that require lots of water) and replanting with more sensible ones, mostly natives.  Its been so interesting, despite having grown up around many of these trees, learning more about them - which ones attract butterflies and birds, which ones you can eat or make tea from, which ones are drought resistant, which ones are native to our specific area etc. 

I find myself looking so much more closely at what is growing around me.  So many of the native trees flower in winter and our neighbourhood is just full of these flowering beauties at the moment. 

Winter round these parts really does rock. 

Bigger Uns?

Doesn't quite have the same ring as Little Uns.  These bowls are a bit of a follow on from my Little Uns series. I'm upping the scale a little (yes, they are a huge 9cm tall!) and playing around with forms and the natural colours and tones of the clay bodies. I've really been enjoying making these pieces - pushing and prodding and rubbing and poking, instead of pouring and polishing. I've been using my slipcasting moulds and a slab of clay, slowly working it into the mould, letting the process show a little more. I have to stop myself from smoothing out all the marks and folds and creases and fingerprints. Old habits die hard. But I couldn't help myself and just had to give them a quick once over with the wet and dry after I'd fired them. Just to give them that nice velvety finish....

They feel nice in my hand - heavy and bumpy. This is quite novel for me. I think its working as a counter balance to the hands-off approach of my waterjet cut pieces of late too. Getting my hands back in the clay. 

Ceramic Journeys

I first started messing around with clay way back in 1996.  I did a night class in wheel throwing and was struck by the proverbial bolt of lightning from the sky. Wham bam. I quit my job as an English teacher and enrolled to study ceramics at the Southbank Institute of TAFE. I spent 5 years studying there and soaked up every bit of information and all the skills I could from the amazingly talented and committed staff who, even years after I left, continue to support me in my ceramic endeavours. To this day I frequently refer to my TAFE text books and handouts, and to all the experiments and tests and notes I took during that time. It was the best grounding I could have asked for. 

So its really lovely to be part of the Ceramic Journeys exhibition that is opening tomorrow night at Fusions Gallery.  Curated by Ronelle Clark, one of my first ever teachers, the exhibition showcases the work of a number of Southbank Tafe graduates, alongside the work of current students. It really highlights the diverse approaches to the medium and the varying pathways people have taken.

I popped in to the gallery earlier this week to help set up my work and it was like a mini-reunion! Within minutes everyone had slipped into technical jargon and chat about what everyone else was doing and making.  So i'm looking forward to the opening to catch up with more old friends and faces. In the face of ever diminishing ceramics departments and facilities, being part of this show has also reminded me how lucky I am to have been able to study there when I did, and with whom I did - both students and teachers. 

The show opens tomorrow, June 5th until June 20th, and the exhibitors include Terry Bouton, Irene Brown, Ky Curran, Denise Douglas, Tim Fry, Shannon Garson, Grant Hodges, Creina Moore, Pru Morrison, Pattie Murray, Isaac Patmore, Julie Shepherd, Emma Trigg, Rikke Weibel and myself. 

On a brighter note...

Aaaah, the long awaited-for chill is in the air! Every year I look forward to this change of season, the crisp coolness in the air that heralds the beginning of the beautiful Brisbane winter.  The sky is bluer, the sun loses its summer harshness and the humidity starts dropping nice and low. Unlike summer, when my energy flags and the humidity makes me feel sluggish and slow, winter puts a bounce in my step and clears my head.  I’ve been waiting for this! Cups of tea in the morning taste nicer and seem more ceremonial as the wisps of steam curl up and my hands are warmed from the (Kirsten Coehlo) cup.  And it seems that whenever this time of year comes around I am drawn to blue and yellow in my work.  It’s the blue blue skies and the softer sun I think. 

I’m working on another group of homeing pigeons for an upcoming show and they are all in yellow. So I’ve spent the last few weeks scouring op shops, flea markets and antique stores for just the right plates.  Despite the rather disappointing closure of my favourite (Sandgate) antique store and my most yielding op shop (Lutwyche) I’ve still managed to score a few most excellent finds that should do the trick! 

Not-so-good Friday

I get very excited about public holidays as they are rare times when I get to work in the studio for longer than an hour and a half at a time! So excited was I last (Good) Friday about having the Engineer home on a week day to look after the little lady that I had stayed up late the night before just to get everything in my studio ready for a big glaze-off. Benches cleaned, oodles of pots awaiting, containers of water, sponges, underglaze pencils and brushes laid out, glazes sieved and ready to rock. 

Down I went and glazed and glazed and glazed and glazed. It’s a fiddly job and I'm very particular about it. My patchwork range of beakers in particular have detailed little squares that get painted in by hand in a couple of different glazes, tiny little holes that need to be filled in so light can get through but liquid can’t get out.  Its probably the most finicky and tedious process of all, and it’s a job I just like to get out of the way really.

So how good did I feel when I resurfaced after a good few hours with shelves full of perfectly glazed pieces ready to pack into the kiln? Pretty damn good! That is until I glanced down at my glaze bucket as I was hanging up my apron and realised I had glazed EVERYTHING in the wrong glaze. 

Oh MY there were a LOT of four letter expletives tumbling out of my mouth let me tell you! My precious precious studio time so horribly wasted! I almost cried! I sat with my head in my hands and then slowly placed each and every piece into buckets full of water to soak the glaze off so I could start ALL OVER AGAIN!!! Groan. 

Not-so-good Friday!

Cressida and I

Cressida Campbell, Bowls, 2001

I spent Monday afternoon installing my work at the QUT Art Museum where a selection of pieces will be on display for the next two months.  QUT is one of my favourite Brisbane galleries.  They always have such interesting shows and cut a perfect balance between the contemporary and the historical.  Their team of curators are really on the ball and also have their antennaes finely tuned to craft and design. We like that. 

The gallery itself was closed for the day for installation, so I had the Cressida Campbell show all to myself. Blown away is putting it mildly. As I wandered from room to room my jaw dropped lower and lower until by the third room and the work Eucalyptus Forest it really did hit the floor. Her woodblock prints of the interiors of houses, still lifes, urban Sydney and Australian landscapes are so skillfully and beautifully executed - the exquisite details in each print, the mottled colours, the texture of the prints, ever so slightly raised but giving the pieces such depth, the way she carves subtly into the surface of the plywood she prints on, the adaptation of a typical Japanese technique to truly Australian circumstances and subject matter...oh I could go on and on and on!! Its been a long time since i've been so affected by an exhibition.  I had to take a quick nap on the couch to recover before resuming the installation. 

Cressida Campbell, Nasturtiums, 2002, woodblock

A show not to be missed. It finishes April 19th. And you may as well have a gander at my work while you're in there! It's up until May 31st. 

Lots of Little Uns

Lots of Little Uns from my recent firing. I got a bit carried away photographing these pieces - stacking and unstacking, rearranging and playing with colour combinations... 

                                

Most of these are making their way down to Victoria for an exhibition with Kenji Uranishi and Shannon Garson at the very beautiful Pomme. The show is called (funnily enough) Little Uns - small pots for a small space, and runs from April 4th to 24th. 


So if you're lucky enough to be in the Mornington Peninsula around then please drop by!  And if you haven't already, have a browse around Pomme's website.  The home page alone will make you want to pack your bags and head on down!  A beautiful gallery full of beautiful objects. 

Lots of good ideas

As part of Brisbane's super fantastic upcoming Ideas Festival (a veritable smorgasboard of lectures, discussions, debates and events on all things inventive and innovative in science, art, culture, ethics and the environment) Artisan is hosting a studio tour to give the curious an insight into the workings of some of Brisbane's best studios. Its not everyday you get to have a peek at jeweller Barbara Heath doing her thing, or stick your nose into the work spaces of those super ceramicists Pru Morrison, Virginia Jones and Sharon Muir, or gawk at the intriguing processes and public art-works-in-progress at Urban Art Projects. The best bit is that you apparently get to drink champagne while you're doing it (careful in the ceramics studio). Details on where, when and why here.

And while you're at it you may as well check out the rest of the program for the Ideas Festival. Even if you're not in Brisbane there's all kinds of links to lots of interesting people and podcasts. It's well worth a scout around. One of this year's speakers is (well, was...they got him in early) Australian philosopher Peter Singer. Man of the moment. And with good reason. Really worth listening to his lecture. You gotta love Radio National. No really, you do. 

Patience

I am very impatiently waiting for my kiln to cool. I'm not very good at this and mostly end up juggling steaming hot pots in my gloved hands, so impatient am I to see them. I never get over the excitement and anticipation (and anxiety) of opening up a kiln, no matter how many times I do it. But this firing I am forcing myself to wait until its stone cold - and its killing me!! I've been having a curious problem with one of my trusty glazes and this is an experiment to try and narrow down the cause. I've been prowling around the house and studio like a restless tiger all day, sitting on my hands, gardening like a woman possessed as I try to distract myself from the unbearable temptation of taking a peek! Just one quick peek!! But as torturous as it is, I'm kind of enjoying the challenge!

Bad Blogger...

Aaaaah well it seems I've lost my blogging mojo of late! I've been roused on by a few of you the last couple of weeks for my long lapse! But it's been a hectic start to the year as I try to juggle making work for some upcoming shows with chasing around after a crawling and curious 11 month old. Faster than a speeding bullet she is too! So I'm afraid blogging just slipped down the list of priorities. But its been two posts in two weeks now, so lets see how we go. I might just be back on the wagon! 

I've just finished packing my kiln, Big Red. I love the process of packing, the journey from a messy studio full of pots to a neatly stacked, shiny and humming red box!  This firing is jam packed with goodies so there was a lot of packing and unpacking, rearranging, and packing again, trying to squeeze it all in. Oh but such a feeling of satisfaction when I finally got the last pot to fit snuggly into the last little bit of remaining space! 

So its simmering away now, doing its thing. I've always wished there was such a thing as a see-through kiln. Imagine a kiln with transparent heat-resistant walls that would enable you to watch as the pots got hotter and redder and glowing and molten! Alas for now I can only peek through the spy hole and watch as my cones slowly bend and the little glittering dots sparkle on the rims of my bowls. So purty.

Ann Linnemann

If you're in Sydney I highly recommend getting along to see Danish Ceramicist Ann Linnemann's work at Helen Stephens Gallery. I first came across Ann's work at a Gulgong Woodfire Conference many moons ago and have been kicking myself ever since for not snapping up her exquisite pieces at the time. Fortunately for me Virginia Jones did, so I at least get to oooh and aaah over them now and then!

 

My second attempt at getting a piece of her work was foiled when I begged a friend who was traveling in Europe to drop by her beautiful gallery and studio in Copenhagen. She got very lost, and I ended up with a Hella Jongerius piece instead - which I certainly am not complaining about!

I'm particularly enamoured by her delicate functional works and tableware (images above), but she also works sculpturally and has done some beautiful collaborative works with Paul Scott (images below).

You can see more of Ann's work and what she is up to here.  The show opens tonight and runs until March 15th. Third time lucky perhaps? 

Quack Quack

Quacking is big in our house right now. There's a whole lot of quacking going on. So I made these little fellas... to help me get in touch with my inner duck. 

Guess I better get started on the cows. 

Making the cut

I haven't been spending a whole lot of time making in the studio over the last few months, but I have been working on a few things using the waterjet cutting process I used for the work in my last show. It's been an interesting experience for me, handing over a large part of my process to someone else. I'm used to being very hands on with my work, and really enjoy the making process and the problem solving and experimentation that goes with it. But i've also really enjoyed the process of working with industry- as frustrating and nerve-wracking as it has been at times, it's been a great learning curve and the process has opened up a whole new world of ideas and possibilities. 

It's been a rocky road between me and the cutters, but after a lot of trial and error I am so grateful for their perseverance and commitment to what were very small but very complicated jobs for them, and after muddling our way through a few failures and misunderstandings it's reassuring to know that they are still up for the challenge and willing to work with me on whatever takes my fancy. Bless em!! 

They have now perfected the very tricky art of cutting tiny pigeon feet from my little nana plates. There's a few legless pigeons hobbling around my studio, but mostly they're all now in good working order. All the ones above are roosting in the newly refurbished Rialto Hotel in Sydney, and the little fellas below have just been acquired by the Redland Art Gallery. 

And here's a close-up...a lovely bit o crazing don't you think? 

New works still in progress. Stay tuned.

Salon 08

My gallery here in Brisvegas are holding what promises to be a really beautiful christmas show of small works by some of their artists including Joachim Froese, Carl Warner, Kim DeMuth, Juan Ford, Judith Wright, Samuel Tupou, Daniel Mafe, Tony Albert, Jennie Jackson, Janet Laurence, Jonathan Kimberley, Stephen Hart and moi.  A pretty sweet line up. It opens Saturday December 13th. And you can check out all these artists work here. Go on! 

On the move

Image Left: Pru Morrison, Rodney, slipcast porcelain, Image Right: Immbolised, slipcast porcelain

If you're in the area don't miss Pru Morrison's exhibition at Marks and Gardner gallery up on Mt Tambourine opening this weekend. Guaranteed to be a corker of a show. Opening event is this Saturday November 29th from 3pm, and the show runs until December 31st.  

The sound of one plate smashing

The other night I was jolted awake at about 3 o'clock in the morning by an almighty crashing and smashing from under my house...my studio. My heart sank as my head filled with visions of collapsed kiln shelves and months of work smashed to pieces. I'd only just packed the kiln the day before, ready for a long-awaited firing. After a fitful sleep full of dreams of broken pots and tiles I finally dragged myself out of bed and down to the studio to check out the carnage.  Oh the joy as I walked in and saw that a cute little second hand plate I'd hurriedly hung on the wall a few days before had slipped off its moorings and smashed to the floor! It must have been the quiet of 3am that made it sound more like twenty plates smashing! I checked the kiln just in case, and was still a little jumpy all day until the firing had finished! It all went swimmingly in the end. Here's a few pieces from it. A few new ranges of wall tiles (below) and some variations on an old range (above). Love a bird I do. 

Studio Visit

Yesterday Kenji, Li'l chubba and I paid a visit to Pru Morrison   and Virginia Jones' new studio. They've set up house at the (relatively) new Metro Arts studio, which is housed in a great old renovated substation. I love visiting people in their studios.  There is always so much to look at and so many intriguing objects lying around. The studio was piled high with half unpacked boxes of materials and tools and pots and paraphernalia and works in progress. And despite the fact that they'd scoffed most of the lamingtons by the time we got there (we were very late after getting stuck in a traffic jam) it was all forgiven when we got a sneak peak at Pru's new work for her upcoming show at Marks and Gardner. Pretty spiffy stuff. Way better than a lamington. 

 

The Colonisers

Well if two major ceramics exhibitions aren't enough for those of you in Brisbane, then get thee back to Artisan to check out the latest Ivory Street Window exhibition, a collaborative work called The Colonisers by Lismore diva's Liz Stops and Laura McEwan.  Laura and Liz are both interested in aspects of the colonisation of Australia by Europeans and its impact on both the land and the people.  

Stops' work Fenceline, Defining a (white) Landscape is an undulating series of vessels that have been cast from old fence posts and represent the horizon line viewed from the windows of her house. It refers to the way "the landscape has been carved up and compartmentalised with little regard for sustainability or prior habitation".  McEwan's work is made up of stylised porcelain flowers cast from a decorative iron cornice found in the 120 year old house in which she lives.  The works are set on a backdrop of a hand drawn "wallpaper" pattern derived from an insidious creeper called mile-a-minute which McEwan says "is an apt metaphor for colonisation in its prolific growth and tendency to smother everything in its path". Thought provoking AND beautiful. Definitely worth a look. It's up until December 1st (and I'll post more pics shortly).

Blue n White

Gerry Wedd and I will be having a chat about our work and all things blue and white this Thursday night at Artisan from 5:30pm - 7pm. So if you find yourself sitting around twiddling your thumbs, come and have a chat and a drink with us! 

I'm still here....!!

Well my word its a been a while between posts! I've been a little blogged out and a little pre-occupied of late!! But i find myself sitting here with a rare few spare hours, and instead of flying down to the studio and madly trying to get some work done, I am going to put my feet up, drink a cup of tea and tell you about a few upcoming ceramicky things. 

Firstly, the ceramic world is all a-buzz here in Brisvegas right now.  It's been a while in the coming, and a lot of dedicated people have worked many long hours over many long years to make this happen.  The long-awaited shiny new Fusions gallery is finally opening this Friday night. Fusions (formerly known as the QLD Potters Association) has been advocating for ceramic artists in QLD, and now nationally, for over 40 years and the opening exhibition, SALUTE, is a celebration of that milestone and the launch of the new facility.  Curated by  Janet Mansfield (doyenne of the international ceramics world and founder and editor of the journal Ceramics Art and Perception) it showcases work by 100 Australian ceramic artists (including yours truly)...so it should provide an amazingly comprehensive cross-section of ceramics in this country (just don't make any sudden moves while you're in there)!! The opening event is this Friday night (corner of Brunswick and Malt St, Fortitude Valley) from 6-9pm and the exhibition runs until November 22nd. Should be a good shindig and a good opportunity to check out the redevelopment. 

And just to top off those heady ceramic vibes, "A Secret History of Blue and White" has just opened at Artisan.  I have been anticipating the arrival of this show for months and am chomping at the bit to get in there and see it! The show has been curated by Stephen Bowers and includes works by Stephen Benwell, Robin Best, Bronwyn Kemp, Vipoo Srivilasa and Gerry Wedd. Bound to be a goody! Exhibition runs until November 8th. 

And in case you were wondering why I haven't been regaling you with pictures and details of my trip to Hungary....it has unfortunately been postponed. So instead of swanning about eating goulash I have been playing in my garden (I have lettuce coming out of my ears right now!), pottering about in the studio and catching up on some much needed sleep! Which isn't such a bad alternative! 

Bird Watching

There's flocks of pigeons flying in and out of my studio at the moment. One little flock is heading off to this show at Redlands Art Gallery. Curated by Emma Bain it is a selection of works by QLD artists who find inspiration in the bird motif. I had a sneak peak at the show today and it is looking pretty spectacular- paintings, prints, jewellery, paper cutting, sculpture, ceramics...some very beautiful work by the other exhibiting artists including Nick Ashby, Madeleine Brown, Meryn Jones, Tiffany Shafran, Glen Skien and Pamela Mei-Leng See. The show opens this Sunday 21st September at 11:30am and runs until October 26th. 

Virginia Jones (was) at Metro Arts

I've been trying to get to this post for the last week but alas time eluded me and the show finishes today! So instead of urging you to go and check out the work of Virginia Jones at Metro Arts, I'm just going to show you the photos and tell you how great it was!! The show is a part of Ginny's PhD research into art and nature and was made up of various installations as well as photographs and other documentation of some of her ephemeral works. The gallery itself is one of my favourites, a huge space full of character smack bang in the middle of the city.  It was all a bit impressive really!

You can read a little more about Ginny and her work here. 

Yoshihiro Suda

I was taking a stroll along the river the other day and stopped to have a drink from a bubbler. As I leaned over to drink I saw these little fellas (above) creeping up through the cracks in the boardwalk. I was instantly reminded of the work of Yoshihiro Suda (below) who I recently came across in a publication called Spectacular Craft. This guy has some serious patience! Each tiny piece is carved by hand from magnolia wood and they are so incredibly executed that it's almost impossible to distinguish them from the real thing. Craftsmanship like this just leaves me speechless. You can find out more about him and the exhibition Spectacular Craft here.

And speaking of fine craftsmanship...don't miss this one. Kirsten Coelho (image below) at Helen Stephens Gallery. September 17th -October 12th. (Where IS that damn tardis!!!!)

Collaboration

I mentioned a little while back that Andrea Higgins and I were working on some collaborative pieces with my cut glass guns and her photogram process. Well here's the first prints. The three guns were cut from glass platters (using my new favourite water jet process) and then placed on to photosensitive paper and exposed.  I love the way the process highlights the variations and faults and bubbles and scratches in the glass. A bit like an x-ray.

Gore in the garden

I spent the morning in my sunny back garden sitting under the poinciana tree with bumcrane and Li'l chubba. As we drank tea and scoffed Shingle Inn cupcakes (mmmm) bumcrane regaled us with gory stories of Brisbane's early history that she had recently unearthed - gold diggers chopped to bits, murderous butchers, wrongly hanged cooks and dark family secrets of the well-to-do! Lovely!!

six hundred degrees

Another blogger on the block! Sophie Milne is a Melbourne-based ceramicist based at the Northcote Pottery studios in Melbourne. She makes lovely functional and decorative vessels that you can now read more about at her new blog six hundred degrees. Sophie has also taken on the challenge of developing and managing the sparkly new Pan ceramics gallery housed in the pottery complex that opened with what sounds like a fine shindig the other night. Check out her blog and her website, and if you're in Melbourne check out the gallery!

Wedd at Waverley

Sometimes I wish I had a little blue telephone box like Doctor Who so that I could just nip down to see all these shows in Sydney, Melbourne and beyond. The next one I’m going to miss out on is Gerry Wedd’s show at Helen Stephens new gallery this month. Gerry has just posted some interesting background info on his work on his blog which you can check out here. Another ripper I reckon. Opening night Wednesday 13th August and the show runs till September 7th . Catch it if you can.

At journeys end

This work was the title piece for my show - Keep Calm and Carry On, a slogan from a British World War II poster. It was inspired by the stories of some of the women in my family and their experiences of war time (mostly the Second World War). One aspect of the stories that really interested me was what it was like for the women who stayed home, the women who had to carry on their daily lives while their husbands and sons and fathers and brothers were fighting. I was drawn into this subject by a show I was involved in a couple of years ago and despite my best efforts was not able to let it lie. It just kept coming back to me. I could never attempt to take on this subject in any universal sense, but found myself drawn into it in the context of my own family story. One way I explored this was by taking objects and symbols related to these stories about the war and recasting them in (or having them cut from) old, and sometimes iconic, domestic objects, some of which belonged to members of my family. It was a fascinating and confronting and puzzling and often unresolvable process that had some unexpected resonances and conflicts for me in the context of todays political climate.

I always get really nervous before an exhibition when people want to know what my work is about, or you're asked to write an artist statement or press release. I usually don't know what to say and get myself all tongue tied and ramble on a bit incoherently! Its not until its up and I've had some time to reflect on it and get a bit of distance from it that I start to work out where I'm coming from. So i'm still pondering and digesting all of this. Now that I'm feeling remotely human again. Geez, its been a big 4 months!! Oh to sleeeeeeeeep! For more than 5 hours at a stretch!