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).