feffakookan

I heART Japan

2011-04-04T14:31:00.010+10:00

Japan holds a special place in my heart. I spent 3 years at university studying its culture and language, an amazing couple of years living and working there in my early 20s, and many of my family and friends hail from Japan. So it has been distressing, to say the least, watching events unfold there over the last few weeks. Kenji Uranishi - my dear friend, co-collaborator, studio buddy and all-round super guy - and his equally awesome wife Sonia have organised the I heART Japan online charity art auction to raise money for the Red Cross Japan and Pacific Appeal 2011. They have gathered together a wonderful collection of work from 20 artists from across the country (ceramics, painting, photography, design, sculpture) to be auctioned on eBay from 7-10th April. I'm so glad to be able to be a part of this and have donated the two bowls pictured below for auction.

It has been a tragic and surreal start to the year and the magnitude of the disaster(s) is hard to comprehend. But if you can, please support the I heART Japan auction and help out whilst also getting yourself some wonderful artworks.

The work of all participating artists can be previewed HERE in advance of the auction and bidding starts HERE on Thursday April 7th (8pm EST) and ends Sunday April 10th (8pm EST).

Forming Words

2011-02-17T18:07:00.019+10:00

Well you know I love a bit of text, and I'm quite keen on ceramics too, so its nice to be part of a show that celebrates all things ceramicky AND texty. Here's the exhibition blurb, and a big thank you to Sophie Milne and Ingrid Tufts for organising the show. Its at Pan Gallery in Melbourne, and opens March 3rd. Pop along if you can!

"Text on ceramics has a long and rich history, from ancient pictograms scratched on clay tablets to provocative works from the conceptual art movement of the 60s and 70s. Forming Words is an exhibition designed to explore and articulate ideas within this popular movement in ceramic practice.

Ceramic art has the ability to communicate without words, through touch, sight and use, making the decision to incorporate text a deliberate and potentially provocative choice. Eight Australian ceramicists exhibit works that explore how the written word furthers our appreciation of a three dimensional artwork, merging text and form to convey a cohesive idea."

Exhibiting artists: Jane Walton, Connie Lichti, Kylie Johnson, Mel Robson, Jan Downes, Ingrid Tufts, Wendy Hadfield-Smith, Sarit Cohen

Waltjim Bat Matilda

2011-02-01T20:24:00.011+10:00

We came across this the other night on NITV (National Indigenous Television). Its the best version of Waltzing Matilda I've heard! Keep an ear out for the baaaaaaaa.

Waltjim Bat Matilda - Ali Mills from Skinnyfish Music on Vimeo.

Flood Relief Ceramic Auction

2011-02-01T13:33:00.006+10:00

I am sure many of you are aware of the devastating floods that affected QLD (and other parts of the country) recently. To help raise funds for The Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal the indefatigable Melbourne-based ceramicist Vipoo Srivilasa has galvanised and organised over 40 ceramic artists to donate work to be auctioned on ebay, with all proceeds going to the flood fund.

The auction goes live on Thursday February 3rd and will end on Sunday February 6th at 9pm. Its a pretty impressive list of both Australian and international artists so please go and have a look and support Vipoo's fantastic efforts and those affected by the floods.

You can preview some of the works here, and find out more information about the auction here.

Things i'm coveting from afar

2011-01-28T13:59:00.017+10:00

I have been coveting this chair for a couple of months now, ever since my friend Laura, half of the dynamic duo of Lismore-based chair lovers Fourish and Blume, emailed me a pic of it. They’ve just started a blog, documenting the transformation of their finds of musty old chairs and couches (nicked from the roadside or garnered from the iconic Lismore Tender Centre) into beautiful pieces like this. Little dynamos they are! While the process of transformation is fascinating, one of the most interesting things is the astonishing amount of stuff they find down the back of the chairs and couches - everything from ten dollar notes, pens and keys through to miniature plastic tennis rackets and embroidered kookaburras.

Have a look at their brand new blog.

And this beauuuuuuutiful bowl from ceramic artist Maria Kristofersson (found via a plate a day). See more of her lovely work here.

Helter swelter

2011-01-19T11:32:00.015+10:00

Geez....its hot out here. 42 degrees today. But strangely bearable.

This picture was taken out at Simpson's Gap. I wasn't trying to be all special effectsy with it. My daughter dropped my camera on the ground and now all the photos come out with this slightly pyschadelic blurry edge. Sometimes it kind of works!

Fio and me

2010-12-03T11:37:00.015+10:00

Brisbane based jeweller and object maker Matt Dwyer (FIO) and I have been working together over the last few months on some collaborative pieces for a client of his - a series of little porcelain, ebony and sterling silver cups to go with a very beautiful ebony and sterling silver teapot he made last year (see pic below). I've left the finished porcelain pieces with him in Brisbane to work his magic on them, inlaying the ebony and sterling silver, and can't wait to see the final result.

We were hoping to do a few more things together but now that I have headed bush it will have to wait-a-while. As much as its nice to be pulling back a little from work, its so hard walking away from things like this! Matt has a beautiful shop/studio/workshop called Fio in at James Street in Brisbane. Drop in if you can, or check out his work here. I'll post images of the final pieces when they are done.

Off to the desert!

2010-11-25T08:07:00.013+10:00

We’ve just come back from a few days in Alice Springs, checking out the town and surrounds, which in just a few short weeks is going to be our new home! Yep, Central Australia here we come! Its all very exciting! The Engineer (in collaboration with the sun) will be working on solving the world’s energy problems, and me and the little lady…well, we haven’t quite worked out what we’ll be doing there yet!

The desert certainly did a good job of wooing us though – after all the near record rainfall it was a mild 28 degrees, the Todd river was flowing, the hills were covered in green (!!!), and purple and yellow wildflowers were sprouting everywhere! Somehow I don’t think January is going to be quite like that, but it was magic and any small anxieties I had about leaving the big smoke dissipated within 5 minutes of arriving.

So, I will be hanging up the overalls for a while, and I must confess that I am quite excited about the prospect of a break from making - its been an exhausting couple of years! I will still be doing some work to finish off my Australia Council project, and a few other projects that are already underway, but it will be nice to pull back a little and soak up some new scenery, some new experiences and some new adventures.

The next few weeks are all about the mammoth task of packing up my studio and our house….or I could just keep sitting here blogging. Four posts in one day…I think that’s more than I’ve done all year!

I believe this is called procrastination.

Chop chop!

It tastes (and looks) better

2010-11-25T07:58:00.020+10:00

Kylie Kwong's latest book is jam packed with handmade ceramics from makers such as Kirsten Coelho, Lesa Farant and myself. Its nice to see my work filled with such yumminess! And nice to see a celeb chef using so many handmade pots.

(pickled rainbow chard)

Sewing Circle

2010-11-25T07:00:00.005+10:00

If you're in Murwillumbah, or feel like a jaunt to a beautiful part of the world, be sure to check out another very clever designer and artist Belinda Smith's new work in her exhibition Sewing Circle at the Tweed River Art Gallery. December 3 - January 23.

Kenji the Great!

2010-11-24T16:00:00.005+10:00

Have a look at Kenji Uranishi's beautiful public art works on the front (and back) cover of the latest Journal of Australian Ceramics. Such a clever lad he is!

Happy Holidays

2010-10-28T13:12:00.023+10:00

Hawaii has never really been on my list of places to go, so when an unexpected series of events led us there recently, I wasn't really sure what to expect. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. W.O.W. So after a few much-needed weeks of lazing in the sun and hiking around volcanoes and rainforests, I'm feeling refreshed and ready for our next adventure. Which I will tell you about shortly. From one extreme to the other....

The Ipswich House:Heritage House Portraits

2010-09-30T09:38:00.015+10:00

A couple of years ago I worked on a fantastic project with the Ipswich Art Gallery, who over the last few years have been commissioning QLD artists to create “house portraits” of some of the heritage houses of the area. They invited artists across a range of different mediums to respond to these houses, resulting in an amazing collection of diverse artworks all currently on show at the gallery. This was a bit of dream project for me and I really lost myself in researching the history of the house, the area and its past occupants (more about that here and here and here). The show is summed up nicely with the gallery blurb:

A picturesque and illuminating foray into the history and vision of Queensland’s early domestic architecture as seen through the eyes of 13 contemporary Queensland artists, "The Ipswich House" examines the city’s significant architectural heritage through a selection of commissioned ‘house portraits’ across a diverse range of mediums.

These house portraits are more than mere pictorial representations of the city’s heritage-listed buildings, instead offering explorations into the architectural design, construction and fabrication methods while also exposing more than a hint of the personal histories and memories of their former residents.

So please drop by the Ipswich Art Gallery if you can to see the results of this most excellent project. The show includes works by Noel McKenna, Jane Burton, Barbara Heath, Michael Zavros, Richard Stringer, Maureen Hansen, Carl Warner, Annie Hogan, Christina Waterson , Madeleine Kelly, Bruce Buchanan, Judy Barrass and myself. There is also a very beautiful catalogue available with some great insights into each artists’ approach.

Exhibition runs until November 14^th 2010

(image above: Jane Burton MacFarlane's House #1,2010, Pigment print, 43 cm x 43 cm)

Moving Forward...

2010-09-10T15:25:00.013+10:00

My studio is gleeeeeeeaming. Aaah, such a nice feeling. It took me almost two days to clean it out. A massive spring clean. I almost didn’t want to use it again, so nice was it to have it in such sparkling order!! But I am about to embark on a new adventure and, along with the buying of shiny new journals and sketchbooks, the studio spring clean is an essential part of the ritual. I recently received an Australia Council grant to make some new work for a solo show next year, and so I am just starting to turn my attention to this, getting ready for the rollercoaster ride that inevitably accompanies the development of new work! I have a starting point, but as always there are a kazillion directions I could go in, so many half formed ideas from the last couple of distracted years, and so many processes and techniques I want to experiment with.

So I’ve spent the last few weeks madly scribbling down all my ideas and thoughts, trying to sift through it all, distill it down and work out a clearer direction. It’s a slow process, especially when you have a two year old vying for your attention and constantly demanding to play dress ups!

Developing new work is a process I both love and hate. It’s a process I know so well and yet one I can never take for granted. For me, the thrill and freedom of experimenting and researching and playing goes hand in hand with a kind of anxiety, because the whole way along you never quite know what the outcome will be. There are so many unknowns - and that can be both exciting and unnerving.

Rebecca Solnit writes in her book A Field Guide to Getting Lost (recently recommended to me by Marianne Huhn) that when it comes to discovery “it seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforseen, of keeping your balance amid surprises, of collaborating with chance, of recognizing that there are some essential mysteries in the world and thereby a limit to calculation, to plan, to control”.

That’s kind of it in a nutshell! So, here goes. Time to mess the studio up again.

Elle Interiors Norway

2010-09-09T08:41:00.018+10:00

A feature on me in last month's Elle Interiors magazine, Norway. Its all in Norwegian, so I have no idea what it says... but it looks nice! As does the rest of the mag, full of covetable objects and abodes - such style those Norwegians.

FORM

2010-08-16T14:53:00.021+10:00

I’m currently working my way through a commissioned series of beakers to be used as gifts for new members of FORM. It’s part of a membership drive that has already seen 400 very lovely Marianne Huhn cups go out to lucky new members (including me). Like many of our organisations advocating for craft/design/creativity in this country, FORM play a really important and crucial role in supporting artists and fostering awareness and creativity in the community. I’ve received a lot of support from these organisations over the years, for which I am eternally grateful. Not sure if I would have been able to steer my way through the sometimes overwhelming journey from wide eyed student to a professional practice without them.

I was a little daunted by this commission at first. I start going a bit loopy repeating the same process over and over again and would never cut it as a production potter. But it has actually proven to be quite a relaxing and enjoyable process so far. I set myself up at my work table with everything laid out, make a nice cup of tea and a few snacks to keep me going, turn on Radio National and away I go. Pour wipe polish paint cut paste stick pour wipe polish paint cut paste stick. Its nice to just focus on the one thing for a change, instead of flying around trying to do ten things at once, which is how it usually is in my studio these days.

So now, not only do you get all the information, invitations, publications and benefits of being a member of FORM, you’ll also receive a little ole Mel Robson beaker too. Now if that’s not a reason to join, then I don’t know what is….!

127 down, 73 to go!

And just a bit more blue...

2010-07-29T13:04:00.007+10:00

And some blue themed wall tiles. Available through Object/Collect during the Blue exhibition.

My Endless Loooooove

2010-07-22T13:27:00.032+10:00

I've just sent off the last of my work for the upcoming BLUE show at Object Gallery, which opens next week. I've had a ball working on these pieces and despite numerous technical hiccups (making large round flat things from porcelain can be a little challenging sometimes) I got there in the end. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was working with the phrase something old something new something borrowed something blue, which refers to a wedding tradition for good luck that apparently goes back to Victorian times. Blue was said to symbolise love, loyalty and fidelity and the works I've made explore some ideas around love and marriage and the rituals and traditions that go with that. I came across some fantastic stuff in researching this, but some of my favourites were the endless lists of top ten wedding songs.

Here's just one of them.

Top 10 Wedding Songs

 1 Everything I do (I Do It For You) Brian Adams

2 Tonight I Celebrate My Love (Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack)

3 My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion)

4 Light Up My Life (Debby Boone)

5 I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston)

6 Hoplessly Devoted To You (Olivia Newton John)

7 The Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler)

8 Can't Smile Without You (Barry Manilow)

9 I Just Called To Say I Love You (Stevie Wonder)

10 I Got You Babe (Sonny & Cher)

Not so sure about number 6... I would have thought a song about a girl being dumped and nursing her broken heart might not be such a good omen as a wedding song, although always happy to see Livvy on a list.

A glaring omission from this list is of course that all-time classic love song "My Endless Love" which (according to Wikipedia) is "the greatest love song of all time" (must be true then). Think Blue Lagoon, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, lots of breathy singing and extended wavering vowels, long looks and dramatic crescendos. When it comes to wedding songs it doesn't get much better than this....???!!

BLUE opens July 31st and kicks off Object's Spring Series 2010. You can read a little more about the show and the artists involved here.

And her e's some fascinating facts about the song My Endless Love, and a live rendition by Lionel and Di (wearing a very fetching frock). Go on, you know you want to.

Pru at Ray's

2010-07-21T23:10:00.006+10:00

If you're in Sydney over the next few weeks you really should go and have a look at Pru Morrison's show at Ray Hughes Gallery. There's some absolute pearlers in this one! Apart from her witty and off the wall social and political observations, the technical elements of this body of work are mighty impressive. She's a wizz!

The show runs from July 23rd to August 18th and you can see more images of the work here.

Something old something new....

2010-06-02T12:04:00.016+10:00

I have been to more weddings in the last 6 months than I have in my entire life. It seems that getting married is big right now! Which is fine by me - love a good wedding I do! So when Object asked me earlier this year if I wanted to be part of an exhibition called BLUE, where each artist was asked to make some work responding to a saying or a phrase containing the word blue, I jumped at the chance to get some of this marriage business out of my system and into some work - and to knock off a few overdue wedding presents at the same time! So working with the phrase Something Old Something New Something Borrowed Something Blue I've been playing around with some pieces that are a bit of a mixture of all that. Here's a sneak peak of what i've come up with for starters.

The show opens at Object in Sydney at the end of July.

Pee Bear Teapot!

2010-06-02T11:03:00.004+10:00

Yet another fabulous offering from Melbourne Ceramicist Vipoo Srivilasa.

The teapot is the result of a collaboration between Vipoo and a Thai Celadon Factory, made during his residency in Chang Mai in Northern Thailand last year. If you're in Sydney more of Vipoo's work can be seen at Depot Gallery (2 Danks St, Waterloo) from 15-26 of June.

What a Caulker (corker)!

2010-05-21T14:58:00.010+10:00

Now when it comes to tools I know there are a lot of people out there who like to make their own. I admire that, but I’m not one of them. I’m more than happy to pop down to the shop and buy myself a shiny new ready made tool. So I must say I was rather proud of myself recently for doing a bit of DIY in the tool department.

I’ve been playing around with some new work that will require handles. Now I can pull handles from clay, but I seem to be only ever able to pull one kind of handle. Every time I try to make them a little differently they just don’t look quite right. So I decided to save myself a whole lot of time and frustration and whip myself up a little hand extruder with the help of this video (via ceramic arts daily) and a very amusing character called Dave Henry. A quick trip to Bunnings for a caulking gun and some PVC pipe, a bit of drilling and sawing, and voila, my very own hand extruder with 3 different handle forms (so far). It’s a corker! I keep hearing James Bond and Mission Impossible soundtracks in my head as I aim at the bench and watch the handles ooze out!

A few new bits

2010-05-19T15:17:00.009+10:00

Some new pieces for an upcoming show at The Jam Factory.

I've had that too ra loo ra loo ra tune (irish lullaby) stuck in my head for weeks.

More to come soon....!

Time Travel

2010-05-19T15:01:00.014+10:00

I’m part of an exhibition that is currently showing at the Tweed River Regional Gallery called Time Travel: reimagining the past. It’s a selection of works from contemporary Australian artists who draw on past eras for inspiration. Curated by Susi Muddiman and Gail McDermott it’s a really amazing collection of works from artists across the country.

The Tweed River Gallery is in the very beautiful town of Murwillumbah, which is where I grew up. A lot of my work draws on that time of my life, and images from that era feature frequently in my pieces. We moved away when I was 15, and at the time I was SO glad to get out of there and move on to bigger and better things (like…er…the Gold Coast!!!). Of course, these days I dream of living back in that area! So I’m really looking forward to heading down on June 6^th to give a talk about my work, along with a few other artists from the show, so if you are in the area please pop along!

Artists in the show include: Julie Bartholomew, Gordon Bennett, Penny Byrne, Samantha Everton, Anna Ferran, Rew Hanks, Neil Jenkins, Jonathon Jones, Lindy Lee, Keith Looby, Fiona Lowry, Alasdair Macintyre, Dean Manning, Danie Mellor, VR Morrison, Kate O’Brien, Ben Quilty, Valerie Sparks, Robyn Stacey, Arlene TextaQueen, Christine Wilcocks and Anne Zahalka.

A pic of the lovely old house I grew up in

Making a start...

2010-04-25T09:35:00.011+10:00

Once a week Kenji (his hands above) and I get together and catch up on the week’s goings on while our littlies run around creating havoc together. We drink tea and talk a lot about what we’re up to in the studio. Collaboration is a frequent topic and over the years we’ve come up with numerous ideas of things we’d like to do together - but actually getting around to doing any of these things is another matter entirely! Apart from the Little People (sadly neglected for a long while) we haven’t made a lot of progress! So we were both quite excited today to have finally been able to organise an afternoon in the studio together to work on a collaborative idea we’ve been talking about for a long time. It was just a start, a chance to play around with a few things and to look at how our processes, techniques and ideas might be able to work together in a way that fits for both of us, but also in a way that pushes both of us a little. After a lot of excited chatter and some pushing and prodding and pouring of clay we dragged ourselves away from the moulds and tools and clay and slip and wandered around the corner to pick the kids up. It was short but sweet, and it might be weeks (or months) before we get another chance to play, but at least we finally made a start!

Musing About Mud

2010-04-09T15:53:00.018+10:00

If you're interested in ceramics Carole Epp's blog Musing About Mud is probably the most comprehensive guide to what is going on in the world of ceramics - from artists and exhibitions to opportunities, grants, competitions, residencies, conferences and job vacancies. She has her finger on the pulse! As well as keeping up to date with all of this she also manages to make some pretty fantastic work of her own, which will be showing at Centre Materia in Quebec in May (16th-30th). So if you are in the area it would be well worth checking out. If not you can also see some of her work here and here. I'm lucky enough to have one of her figurative works. It both disturbs me and makes me smile every time I see it! I like that in an artwork.

Boo!

2010-04-09T15:50:00.017+10:00

Well now how did that happen? I took a blogging break over christmas and next thing I know its April! Oops.

I’ve been having a lovely time in the studio of late. I’ve spent the last few weeks mixing up glaze tests. I’ve been working with the same tried and trusted glazes for years. They’ve been perfect for the kind of work I’ve been doing (and there’s nothing like reliability when it comes to meeting deadlines), but I’m after something a little different. Not wild and crazy different, just different to before. So I dug out all my old notes on glaze chemistry, hunted down my dusty glaze text books, set up my scales and sieves, and donned my dust mask (which is always a good look, especially after wearing it for an hour or so when its just that weeeee bit too tight).

When I started studying ceramics I remember dreading the glaze chemistry subjects. Those baffling charts and calculations were a bit overwhelming to start with. But I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed it. Really, its kind of amazing what you can create by mixing up a few simple substances, and the possibilities are endless. So I’ve been having a ball getting back into it after all these years. All I need now is for a nice big gas kiln to drop from the sky and install itself in my studio. My trusty electric kilns are great, but electricity just doesn’t cut it when it comes to certain glazes. Ah well. Sometimes you just gotta work with what you’ve got.

I’ve also been working on some new wall tiles (pics above and below). I’ve refined the form a little, made them bigger (a whopping great 10cm x 10cm), and have been playing with inlaying different stoneware clay bodies into porcelain and combining it all with drawings and decals. There's a bit more work to be done on these, but as with most things I make these days…slowly slowly.

A few exhibitions coming up in the next couple of months (which I am shamefully behind in and starting to freak out about just a little bit!) but all going well I’ll have some images of new work to show you soon! And who knows, I might even blog a bit in between that!

Plastered

2009-11-18T12:33:00.007+10:00

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

2009-11-11T12:30:00.019+10:00

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

tweet tweet.

By hand

2009-11-11T11:27:00.028+10:00

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

2009-11-03T13:38:00.014+10:00

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

2009-09-15T11:57:00.031+10:00

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

2009-08-05T11:46:00.007+10:00

wheel thrown porcelain with decals, 9cm tall

2009-07-10T11:20:00.007+10:00

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

2009-07-08T20:56:00.013+10:00

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

2009-07-04T17:39:00.019+10:00

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...

2009-06-18T12:35:00.020+10:00

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

2009-06-11T12:38:00.038+10:00

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

2009-06-08T20:17:00.012+10:00

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?

2009-06-05T13:57:00.016+10:00

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

2009-06-04T13:39:00.014+10:00

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...

2009-04-20T13:21:00.006+10:00

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

2009-04-17T12:46:00.010+10:00

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

2009-04-08T09:37:00.015+10:00

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

2009-03-17T15:19:00.020+10:00

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

2009-03-10T21:01:00.016+10:00

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

2009-03-03T15:35:00.008+10:00

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...

2009-03-02T14:45:00.019+10:00

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

2009-02-18T08:36:00.015+10:00

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

2008-12-14T15:20:00.020+10:00

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

2008-12-05T08:52:00.027+10:00

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

2008-12-04T05:08:00.012+10:00

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

2008-11-27T14:48:00.010+10:00

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

2008-11-27T14:19:00.008+10:00

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

2008-11-21T13:44:00.022+10:00

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

2008-11-19T09:33:00.008+10:00

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

2008-10-27T15:30:00.010+10:00

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....!!

2008-10-14T12:35:00.056+10:00

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

2008-09-15T18:09:00.018+10:00

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

2008-09-12T14:33:00.025+10:00

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

2008-08-30T16:07:00.039+10:00

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

2008-08-07T13:31:00.006+10:00

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

2008-08-06T16:24:00.009+10:00

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

2008-08-06T11:12:00.019+10:00

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

2008-08-01T09:57:00.005+10:00

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

2008-07-31T19:37:00.023+10:00

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!

2008-07-31T18:43:00.004+10:00

Narratives at Sabbia

2008-07-29T20:39:00.008+10:00

Now here's a show not to be missed. A sweeeeeeeeet line up of some of Australia's best (and some of my favourite) ceramic artists - Julie Bartholomew, Janet DeBoos, Honor Freeman, Patsy Hely, Ruth McMillan and Angela Valmanesh. The show Narratives runs from August 7th - September 6th at Sabbia Gallery, and there's an opening event and floor talk by some of the artists on August the 8th. More info here. Should be a ripper!

Gun Love 2

2008-07-24T21:11:00.013+10:00

A few more images of the work in my show. This piece above almost didn't make it in. Something about it just wasn't sitting right with me and I umm'd and ah'd for weeks about whether to include it. I set it up in my lounge room and walked past it every day, and every time I walked past it I changed my mind about it! But after some convincing from the gallery and a few other folks, in it went. And it went down a treat! A big thank you to bum crane for her help and patience in setting this work up. She can roll a mean ball of museum wax i tell ya!

The guns above have been cut from old plates using a water jet process. I'm a tad enamoured by this technique at the moment and have spent the last six months op-shopping like a mad woman and have accrued quite the collection of plates and saucers just awaiting the chop!

Coo Coo

2008-07-24T21:10:00.010+10:00

Yep, more pigeons. This is the last of them! All of these were cut from small saucers and I've used both the front and the back of them. I love the back of old plates, the markings, the stamps, the symbols, the text and fonts they use. They're often a lot more interesting than the front of the plates! One of the pigeons has an extract from my grandfather's war service record decal'd onto it, and another a map of PNG where he served in the Second World War.

Coo coo......

Keep Calm and Carry On

2008-07-13T20:04:00.017+10:00

Well FINALLY it's here - this show I've been rabbiting on about for months now it seems! The invites are out, the catalogue is ready to go, and most of the works are packed up ready for set-up next week. Time to down a few glasses of much needed champagne - it's been a while between drinks I tell ya! Opening night is Saturday 26th July 5-7pm at Jan Manton Art and the show runs till August 16th. Susan Lincoln (image below) is also exhibiting so it should be a good old shindig! Hope to see some of you there!

Susan Lincoln, The Immaculate Conception, 30 x 22 x 18cm

Art Monthly

2008-07-12T12:03:00.009+10:00

Well I'm sure most of you (in Australia at least) are aware of the recent hullaballoo over the latest issue of Art Monthly. But just a few pages on from THAT front cover and THOSE articles is an article by Louise Martin-Chew on me and the work in my upcoming show!

Formargruppen

2008-06-30T20:50:00.012+10:00

Formargruppen is an arts & crafts collective in Malmö, Sweden and they are currently holding an exhibition of functional cups by makers from around the world, including me. I’m exhibiting alongside some wonderful makers, including Karin Eriksson (image left), Ayumi Hori, Scott Rench, Anne Linneman (I swoon over her work), Kenji Uranishi, Virginia Jones and lots more good folk too numerous to name here! So if you happen to be living in or passing through the area go and check it out. Wish I could! The show runs until August 28th.

Ceramics and Print

2008-06-30T16:43:00.014+10:00

Well it seems that ‘ceramics and print’ is like so hot right now. There's a lot of activity going on in this field at the moment, from workshops, conferences and symposiums to books and exhibitions. And why not, it’s a damn fine way to make art/craft/design!

I spent most of last week freezing my ass off in Canberra at a ceramics and print symposium held at the ANU School of Art (that fantastic building pictured above). My talk/demo was up first so I was footloose and fancy free after that to watch other workshops, talks and demonstrations, to catch up with lots of my nearests and dearests who call Canberra home, and to show off my latest work. A fine (albeit exhausting) week indeed!

Sydney based artist Petra Svoboda (image above) is also running a 'Printing on Clay' workshop at Sturt from July 7th to 11th. Sorry for the late notice with this one…it has been in my inbox for weeks but I just haven’t had a chance to get it up here…should be a goody though - she works with a pretty extensive range of techniques. More info here.

But wait…there’s more!!! I’m off to Hungary in September for a month to take part in an international symposium on ceramics and print called Hot Off The Press. Can’t WAIT!!! I was very excited to receive an invitation a few months back from the International Ceramics Studio in Hungary to be part of the symposium. I’ll be working alongside some super folks - Paul Scott, Scott Rench, Maria Gesler and Antal Andras. You can check out more details on the symposium and the artists involved here...

Ceramics and print-a-rama.

Fragile Environments

2008-06-11T12:31:00.012+10:00

Dawn Stetzel Between Two of Us (porcelain, carved twigs, felted wool)

A few years ago when I was a visiting artist at the University of Massachusetts, I met a woman called Dawn Stetzel (sounds like pretzel). Her studio was directly across from mine and every day I would watch amused as she would scoot in on her bicycle laden with all kinds of weird and wonderful things she had found down by the waterside….pieces of worn styrofoam, nets and little plants, samples of murky water....her studio was like a science laboratory with things growing out of tubes and pipes and fermenting in trays and buckets. It was most curious! So I was pretty excited to see the outcome of all this, which she has recently posted on her blog. Her work is about noticing, paying attention and taking care and shows a beautiful sensitivity towards both the fragile nature of ceramics and our relationship with the natural world. She is currently gallavanting around this wide brown land of ours having all kinds of adventures, slowly making her way up here to Brisvegas. Check out more of her work here.

Dawn Stetzel Drip Bird (polluted water, porcelain pipes, bird)

Rice Boy Sleeps

2008-06-03T18:50:00.005+10:00

My friend Jo (she of the beautiful ceramic twigs) sent me this link. Nothing to do with ceramics, but make yourself a cup of tea/coffee/gin and tonic and put your feet up and listen/watch this. Beautiful.

Madonna Del Rosario

2008-06-03T12:54:00.010+10:00

I went to the opening of Madonna Del Rosario last week at Artisan, a collection of objects and jewellery inspired by the rosary. Love a good religious theme I do! There’s some interesting work in this show, but the opening was so jam packed I only got the briefest of looks at everything. So I’ll have to get back in for a quieter look another time. A few pieces particularly caught my eye though - Gerry Wedd’s crown of roses (image above), Julia Moretti's giant rosary made from uncooked pasta shells, Madeline Brown’s beautifully “tatted” rosary, and local ceramicist Ky Curran’s Madonna tile installation…definitely worth a look if you're in the neighbourhood.

Another sneak peak

2008-05-29T14:46:00.003+10:00

Here’s a little sneak peak of some more work in my upcoming show. Yes folks, more pigeons. The text on the vase is from a little gem of a book I found one day whilst randomly wandering around the state library. It’s called “The Flower Garden in Australia” (a gardening book for ladies and amateurs) written by a Mrs Rolf Boldrewood back in the 1890s. It is a delightful little book and the way she writes about the flowers is both beautiful and amusing. This vase is about the Camelia, and I’m currently finishing off another one on Hydrangeas. I’ve always loved hydrangeas. They’re so old fashioned, and they remind me of those funny little swimming caps women used to wear back in the ‘olden days’!

Fun and Games

2008-05-28T20:34:00.003+10:00

Well it’s been fun and games around here lately I tell ya!! What a wonderful whirlwind life has become! In between being a mum (it still seems quite surreal!) I have managed a few little bursts in the studio, finishing off work for my solo show and tidying up some other odds and ends. It’s been quite an interesting experience having to work in small fits and bursts. Gone is the luxury of 5 (and sometimes 7) long days a week playing in the studio! So when those rare moments happen and I can steal away for a couple of hours I just turn into a whirling blur…faster than a speeding bullet! Its amazing how quickly you can work when you have to. And how much time I used to spend faffing around! There'll be no faffing for a while now. I’m faff-free.

In Vogue (living)

2008-05-06T16:46:00.010+10:00

A fancy little page in the latest Vogue Living - Margie Fraser has written a lovely article on both mine and Andrea Higgin's work. We've both been dabbling with crystal and glass platters of late - Andrea photographing it and me casting it. Andrea makes beautiful images of domestic objects called photograms - no camera involved, just the object, a dark room and sensitised paper. We're about to embark on a collaborative piece which I am very excited about - crystal guns and photograms...can't WAIT to see the results. Hopefully not too far away.

This Coat of Arms piece featured in the article is part of my upcoming solo show Keep Calm and Carry On (as in the World War 2 poster) in July at Jan Manton Art.

A very nice cup of tea

2008-04-26T15:45:00.012+10:00

A cup of tea never tasted so good....from my new Kirsten Coelho cup (and bowl). Thank you Kirsten!

8th International Ceramics Competition, Mino, Japan

2008-04-22T16:47:00.003+10:00

I’ve just had some work selected for the 8th International Ceramics Competition in Mino, Japan. I have been meaning to enter work in that show for a while now, and kept missing the deadlines. This year I made it with just a couple of hours to spare (thank god for online applications!). I’ve had 2 of my translucent bowls selected for the ceramic art section, one with a recipe for my nana’s pumpkin, pineapple and prune cake on it - I know, sounds kind of gross doesn’t it??! What was it with that generation and prunes? - the other a letter written by my grandmother to my father relaying a story about my uncle almost shooting himself in the foot when he was a kid (image above). Its my favourite letter of my grandmother’s – it just oozes with the characteristic sense of humour and mischief and larrikinism of that side of the family, as well as their knack for story telling. I also had a group of 4 of my patchwork beakers cast in Southern Ice porcelain (below) selected for the ceramic design section. All packed up and posted off today.

In Situ

2008-04-15T08:11:00.008+10:00

A few install shots of two of my works in the Australian Ceramic Stories exhibition, compliments of the documenter extraordinaire Vipoo! You can see a clip of a walk-thru of the whole show at Vipoo's Blog.

My latest work....

2008-04-14T15:19:00.008+10:00

Australian Ceramic Stories Opening

2008-04-10T20:01:00.007+10:00

Just a little reminder that the Australian Ceramic Stories exhibition that I am a part of opens this Friday (April 11th ) at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in Dubbo. The forum is on Saturday 12th of April and is choc full of interesting speakers such as Canadian-based ceramicist and author Matthius Ostermann, Janet Mansfield, Janet DeBoos, Julia Jones (the curator), and Megan Martin (curator of the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, which just so happens to be my ALL TIME FAVOURITE Library in which I could happily lose myself - and have done - for days on end)! Some of the exhibiting artists are also speaking – Gerry Wedd, Vipoo Srivilasa, Gudrun Klix and Louise Boscacci. Should be a fine shindig if you can get yourself out to Dubbo.

Vipoo Srivilasa

2008-04-10T19:43:00.004+10:00

Vipoo Srivilasa is a Thai-born ceramicist who is now based in Melbourne. He draws on his Thai heritage and his Australian experiences to create work that explores the commonalities of the two cultures. I’m a fan. If you’re in Melbourne you can catch his upcoming show For the FUTURE at Uber Gallery. This new work has evolved from Vipoo’s concern for the coral reefs of both Australia and Thailand and the damage that is being done to them as a result of greed and over consumption. Despite the serious subject matter it looks like Vipoo has brought his usual sense of humour to this work!! The show runs from April 30 - June 1. Vipoo also has a very comprehensive website with lots of great images of his work, as well as a new blog!

Diem Chau

2008-03-27T15:11:00.004+10:00

I came across the work of Diem Chau (via bloesem) today. This is a woman after my own heart, combining ceramics and textiles the way she does - embroidering on to ceramic plates and cups. I'm really not quite sure how she does it, but its working for me! You can check out more of her work here.

Race against time

2008-03-26T10:54:00.013+10:00

It's a race against time in my studio at the moment - but I think I'm winning! I've just put the final finishing touches on the Ipswich Houses Project and it is all ready to rock! I haven't had a chance to photograph it properly yet though, just a few dodgy home shots, but will post images of the final work once it's all been photographed (by someone who knows what they're doing!!) In the meantime, here's a few little sneak peaks (above).

One of my favourite pieces is a vessel that has an excerpt from the memoirs of Tom Welsby, the son of the original owner and builder of the house. His memoirs begin in 1863 with a vivid (and sensitive) recollection of the local indigenous people, who would congregate for days at a time on a field out the front of the house (now the Ipswich Grammar School). As a four year old child the scenes left a vivid and lasting impression on him. I was riveted by his recollections of life as a young boy in Ipswich in the 1860s, and pored over them for hours, all beautifully handwritten in a big old book in the collection of the Royal Historical Society of QLD.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the other artists involved in this project - jewellers, photographers, painters - have responded to their houses. A little bit of a wait though - the works won't be exhibited until 2009!

Kenji Uranishi at Spiral

2008-03-25T13:54:00.008+10:00

If you happen to be living in or passing through Tokyo in the next couple of weeks (and I know some of you are!) make sure you hunt down Kenji Uranishi’s show at Spiral Market from March 31st to April 13th. It is sure to be a beautiful exhibition - they always are! And if you can read Japanese there’s a little bit more info here!

Two Fat Ladies

2008-03-20T11:19:00.008+10:00

Our latest batch of little people have just come out of the kiln. Looks like they’ve been getting up to a bit of mischief while our backs were turned huh!! Actually, the one on the right looks remarkably like me at the moment, with only a couple of weeks to go before having my very own (real life) little person! Yikes! So it might go a little quiet on the blogging front for a while....!!

You can check out a few recent updates of the Little People's adventures here.

Juicy Debate

2008-03-20T11:06:00.003+10:00

I jumped on the computer this morning to have a quick look at some blogs, and two and a half hours later I am still glued to the screen by a discussion I found (via Extreme Craft) on alternative craft and the indie craft movement. It all began with a lecture presented by Bruce Metcalfe and Andrew Wagner (editor-in-chief of American Craft Magazine) at the recent SNAG conference in America. A post on this blog led to a much larger discussion, which has since been picked up and fuelled further by Extreme Craft and American Craft , with all kinds of interesting folks weighing in on the discussion. It’s choc-full of interesting observations, arguments and debates - my brain is a-whizzing!

Sew Sophisticated!

2008-03-12T18:45:00.010+10:00

My friend Alex (maker of my all time favourite cups) just sent me the best little package from the U.S. of A containing (among other things) this hilarious picture from an old womens magazine...

I bet that little cardigan she’s knitting will smell real nice when she’s done smoking those ciggies!! And don’t you think she looks more like she should be out milking a cow rather than knitting cardigans?? And this little picture below was on the back in the “Pick of the month in smart, artistic needlework” section….this smart little collar and cuff set is really something, and that woman…so sophisticated!!

White Pigeons

2008-03-12T09:26:00.011+10:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a white porcelain pigeon I made (and here's another little one above). There’s quite a lot of pigeons, in various forms, in this upcoming show of mine. My nana’s second husband was a pigeon fancier, and during the Second World War he served in New Guinea in the Australian Corps of Signals Pigeon Service looking after the messenger pigeons. There are some incredible stories surrounding the feats of these little birds in World War Two, some of them even being awarded medals of bravery after surviving against incredible odds (exhaustion, tropical storms, being shot down by snipers, attacks by hawks and falcons) to deliver messages that sometimes resulted in saving the lives of hundreds of people. Clever little birds.

As kids we used to climb up the wonky narrow steps to his huge pigeon loft and peer in at the cooing (and stinky) birds, and a shelf in my nana's lounge room was packed high with shiny golden pigeon racing trophies that he had won over the years! We always thought his obsession with them was just a little bit strange, but the more I read about these little critters, the more I can understand his fascination!

Kamenendo and I were having a cuppa at Bum Crane’s house a couple of weeks ago when in flew this little beauty.

I’ve never seen a white pigeon before, and it was kind of spooky she flew in just after I’d made one. I’m thinking I might make a big porcelain pot of gold next…you never know what might turn up!!

Australian Ceramic Stories

2008-03-10T19:06:00.011+10:00

I’ve just sent off some work to the upcoming exhibition Australian Ceramic Stories that is being held at the Western Plains Cultural Centre (Dubbo Regional Gallery). That’s a nice big red line through my things-to-do list. I’m really excited about being part of this show, not only because of the amazing line up of ceramic artists I’m exhibiting with, but because the whole theme of the show is right up my alley. The curatorial premise was inspired by Matthius Ostermann’s book “The Ceramic Narrative” and looks at the ways in which Australian ceramic artists are using clay to tell their stories. Love a good yarn I do! And Australians really do have such a distinctive and unique way of story telling. Here’s the fancy official blurb:

Australian Ceramic Stories explores the use of narrative in contemporary Australian ceramics. Surveying the work of artists from across the country, the exhibition will include many new works by some of Australia’s most highly regarded ceramic artists. Dubbo Regional Gallery - The Armati Bequest is staging the exhibition from 5 April - 18 May 2008 at Western Plains Cultural Centre. Curated by Dr Julia Jones, the exhibition brings together the work of artists from all parts of Australia, offering a unique view of contemporary ceramic practice. The curatorial concept is inspired by international ceramicist Matthias Ostermann’s research which resulted in the book The Ceramic Narrative in 2006. The exhibition will explore how “stories” are told in Australian ceramics, highlighting the various ways that clay is used to express them. All of the ceramicists tell stories about Australia in ways that stretch the narrative capabilities of clay, and draw our attention to the versatility of the medium. The exhibition will seek to engage with contemporary themes and ideas in the broader visual arts and ceramic practices and examine the various ways in which narrative is a crucial element in their work.

Participating artists are Stephen Benwell, Louise Boscacci, Kris Coad, Patrick Collins, Bern Emmerichs, Gudrun Klix, Pip McManus, Fleur Schell, Vipoo Srivilasa, Thanakupi, Gerry Wedd, and me! There's also a great forum being held in conjunction with the show, and you can read all about that here.

(images above: From left - Gerry Wedd, Pip McManus, Mel Robson)

Sifting and Sorting

2008-02-21T16:24:00.011+10:00

home-ing pigeon, slipcast porcelain, 21cm

All this new work I keep rambling on about is for a solo show I am having later this year (July) at Jan Manton Art, here in Brisvegas. I am way ahead of myself and for once am not going to be pulling hot pieces out of the kiln a day before the opening. In fact, I am MONTHS ahead of myself and have almost finished the whole show! There is a very good reason for my weird and miraculous state of organisation, but I will tell you about that another time.

I am lucky enough to have the super duper freelance writer and art critic for The Australian, Louise Martin-Chew, writing the essay for my catalogue, and spent a lovely morning with her yesterday looking at and talking about the work. It’s the first time I’ve really shown anyone outside of my immediate circle, so I must admit I was a little nervous! It’s always a little scary when you first put new things out there. I was also curious to see what would come out of my mouth in talking about the work, because although I’ve chatted to oodles of people about bits and pieces of it, this was the first time I had really sat down and comprehensively spoken about what was behind it all – which to be honest has only really just started to become clear. It was fantastic to sit down with someone for a few hours and just mull it all over, having someone fire questions at me, inquiring about this, giving their own interpretations and readings about that. I find that process of talking (or sometimes writing) about my work incredibly useful in sifting through the myriad influences and ideas that float around while you’re making it all. It really helps me to clarify things, and also raises lots of new questions to pursue. In my bygone days of shared studios these kinds of conversations happened a lot more in the natural course of the studio environment, but working from home, and mostly alone (violins playing in the background now) they are fewer and farther between. So opportunities like yesterday, especially with people like Louise, are damn great!

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon in a mad frenzy of inspired decal design! I’m rolling with this inspired phase while it lasts!

Mistaken Identity

2008-02-20T18:19:00.004+10:00

Some of the new work I’m making at the moment is based on some research I’ve been doing into the Second World War (thus the guns), and some of the experiences of my family during that time. I was talking to my Dad about it recently and he told me a great story that is too good not to share.

My grandfather was shot in the leg during the Milne Bay campaign in Papua New Guinea and was sent home for a few months to recuperate, during which time my dear old dad was conceived. Unfortunately, just before he was due to be born they sent my Grandfather right back there. A telegram was sent off not long after to let him know that his son had arrived and mum and baby were A-OK. However, along with our own Lieutenant Colonel Robson, there happened to also be a Captain Robson serving in PNG at the time, and the telegram was mistakenly sent to him! He was a bit surprised to receive a telegram telling him his wife had just given birth to a healthy baby boy… especially when he hadn't actually been home in over a year!!! Apparently he requested leave immediately and hightailed it home before they realised it had been sent to the wrong man! Oops!

(That handsome fella above is my Grandad! )

Trouble

2008-02-20T09:57:00.007+10:00

Ky Curran , slipcast beakers, decals

I recieved a very nice present from local ceramicist and girl-about-town Ky Curran over the weekend. I'd been eyeing these little babies off in at Artisan recently (gun love), and now they're mine....aaaallllll mine.....woohoohaaaahaaaa. Thanks Ky!!

The real trouble is that I'm starting to run out of shelf space in my house!

Patsy Hely

2008-02-19T07:53:00.008+10:00

Those of you lucky enough to be in Sydney over the next month best pop along to see Patsy Hely's show at Helen Stephens Gallery, which opened last week. Alas and alack I was stuck up here in Brisvegas and missed all the fun! Patsy is one of Australia's finest if you ask me, so make sure you get over and have a look. It's on until March 31st. A good excuse to also have a look at the new Helen Stephens (All Handmade) Gallery.

(image above: Patsy Hely, 'Noisy Miner Jug', slipcast porcelain, china paint, photo by Michel Brouet)

On The Trail

2008-02-15T08:53:00.011+10:00

Well I’ve been on the research trail today. It’s the first bright sunny day we’ve had in a while, and I went and spent it all in dark rooms with artificial lighting! I’m knee deep in research for the Ipswich Houses Project at the moment (which is coming along swimmingly) and with the help of the poet Thomas Shapcott himself, I have just unearthed a minefield of material.

I arrived at the Fryer Library at the University of QLD (after negotiating a course through a 2km stream of medical students in very bizarre theatre attire) to find a stack of archive boxes ready and waiting for me. I tell ya, librarians are the BEST! The first box I went through was filled with Thomas Shapcott’s beautiful poetry, original typed copies on old thin typing paper with lovely handwritten scribbles all over them, some very poignant poems, a selection of amusing personal correspondences, and some hilarious parodies hidden away in the back!

One box down, 56 to go…..geez!! Hopefully those helpful librarians will be able to track down the one other thing I’m looking for without me having to pore through ALL those boxes!!

Virginia Jones

2008-02-05T11:06:00.000+10:00

Virginia Jones is another top shelf Australian ceramicist. She’s also an old friend, and an old teacher of mine. Last week she brought over some of her new work (above and below) which I was so taken with I just had to share them with you!

A lot of Ginny’s works are ephemeral outdoor installations using unfired clay, as well as lots of other interesting materials such as bamboo, beans, toothpicks and plaster! She often leaves them out to interact with the environment in which they’ve been made, documenting the process and the impact of the cycles of nature on the work. She’s also a clever little woodfirer and makes super functional pieces as well. A fine all-rounder!

These pieces are a little more permanent than usual, part of a larger installation that will be showing at Metro Arts later this year, and then hopefully some of them are coming to live with me…! You can see some more of Ginny’s work here and here.