R.I.P

I was giving the house a bit of a spruce up, as I am want to do on a Sunday morning, vacuuming away and humming along merrily, when a quick flick of the vaccuum cleaner cord brought my world crashing down on me…literally. It was like one of those slow motion shots in a movie as, realising the cord had somehow flicked up onto the bench and knocked my all-time favourite teapot off, I threw myself across the room to try and save it. I sailed through the air - it was one of those super human moves people do in times of emergency, desperation and stress - and did manage to grasp the bottom of it, but alas, not in time to save it from smashing into a million (well ok,about 9) pieces on the floor.

Devastated is an understatement. I stood there for about 20 seconds in absolute stunned disbelief… and then burst into tears! Yes, I know that might seem a bit pathetic, a bit melodramatic even, over a teapot, but I have had that teapot for SIXTEEN years - I don’t think I’ve owned anything for 16 years! And it was given to me by two of my oldest and dearest friends. It was the first thing that piqued my interest in ceramics, the first ceramic object I ever really loved and cherished. And it’s not even about the teapot necessarily. Sure, it’s a nice enough teapot, but it’s about all the stories embedded in it. That teapot has moved with me from country to country, house to house, studio to studio, and I have drunk tea with just about every person I know from that teapot! Working with ceramics you have to develop a fairly philosophical approach to breakages. They’re inevitable, and I don’t normally get too upset about it. But not this one…this one was baaaaad. I was meant to grow old with this teapot. A sad and sorry Sunday it was indeed...

THE teapot, on the left...back in the glory days...

Lost and Found

After my talk at GoMA yesterday (which despite my nerves and jitters went really well and was actually lots of fun!), I got chatting to a man who had bought a few of my pieces. A lover and collector of glass and ceramics I was excited to discover that he owned my all time favourite piece!! I made this little tape measure vessel (pictured above, about 4cm high) a couple of years ago and it still remains one of my favs. I like the way the imagery works with the form, how it wraps around the cylindrical shape. But there is also an element of nostalgia for me in this piece, memories of being a teenager in the 80s learning how to sew drop waist dresses (oh yes, I was very fashionable) with my mum, most of them ending up half-finished, shoved in my sewing box never to be seen again! My mum remembers me having a very short attention span for sewing and she can’t quite believe I have the patience to make the work I make now! But even though I may not be very good at sewing and I may not have a lot of patience for it, I absolutely love it. I’m a total sucker for anything to do with textiles and this is reflected in a lot of my work. I use old sewing patterns as imagery on some of my pieces, pattern wheels to make lines of perforations in my vessels and wall pieces, old crochet patterns and knitting instructions.

Visually I’m really drawn to the dotted lines, the dashes, the sweeping arcs and angles in sewing patterns, the tea colour of the old tracing paper they were printed on. It all reminds me of hot summers in our beautiful old house in Murwillumbah sewing with my mum. Although if you ask her I don’t think she’d remember it quite as fondly….a tantrum throwing huffy little teenager frustrated by how DUMB the sewing machine was!! Anyway, I’ve been hankering lately to do something with textiles. I’m very curious to see if my attention span and patience threshold has increased from when I was 14. I’ll keep you posted!

After the talk we went and had a (much needed) drink and I was talking to some other artists about how nice it is to know where your work ends up, and to meet the people who own it. I keep track of certain pieces, mostly my exhibition works, but I had somehow lost track of that little tape measure vessel and had actually wondered a few times where it got to! And now I know! So you can all stop worrying...

A bit of housekeeping

Just a reminder that I'm going to be speaking at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) this Sunday at 1.30pm so if anyone is in the Brisvegas area feel free to come along for a chat! More details here and here.

We've also just posted some brand new Little People over at Sandwich Mountain.

Cloth and Wrap

Last night Kenji, Pru and I went to listen to Julie Patterson of CLOTH (images above) give an artist talk in at Deka Furniture . Great talk, great work and a great find in a rubbish bin on the way home...we love bubble wrap we do! So all in all a very successful mission!

The more the merrier!

Well the list of ceramic artists blogging is slowly but surely getting longer and longer. The more the merrier I say, especially when they are of the ilk of Carol Epp and Pru Morrison! And yes, perhaps I am just a little biased because they are both very good friends of mine, but I like to think that I can still make objective judgements regardless of that! These two covergirls wow me with their work, their ideas and their sense of humour and compassion. All rolled up together it makes for two super artists whose brand new blogs will no doubt be good reading! Make sure you go and visit and pop them on your little lists of bumper blogs.