Fragile Environments

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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....

Australian Ceramic Stories Opening

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Ebb and Flow

Well not much blogging of late. I have lots of deadlines looming and I’m jumping from one project to another in the studio, with my head in a bit of a spin! But somehow I seem to be making progress! Its 5am in the morning as I write this, and for some strange reason I am awake, alert and raring to go. I have been on FIRE in the studio the last couple of weeks, with new work and new ideas flowing out faster than I can make them or scribble them down. Oooooh I love these phases! The ebb and flow of inspiration and the process of making new work is always intriguing to me. Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth, like nothing is ever going to come together, and then suddenly things fall into place, one piece or one idea can be the key to open the floodgates. The down times are all part of the process I guess…bit by bit, trying and sifting and playing and discarding and breaking (oh always breaking!) and adding and building and rebuilding. For me developing and making new work is about finding the balance between discipline and play. It’s about persevering when you might not necessarily feel like it, recognising when you need to walk away for a while, and trying not to take it all too seriously. It’s a hard balance to get right!

No pics of the new stuff yet tho... still playing…and persevering…and trying not to take it all too seriously!

Bang Bang!

I've spent the last couple of days photographing some new work, and trying to get a bit of clarity on where I'm going with it all! Things are still a little fuzzy, but i'll just keep plodding along until the fog clears!! In the meantime, I'm having fun playing with guns! The porcelain gun above is the result of some experimenting I've been doing with water jet cutting. I've been cutting up glass and crystal platters and ceramic plates, and am about to start playing with melamine saucers and wooden bowls and all kinds of interesting little bits and bobs. The gun started life as a depression era glass platter. I had the gun shape cut out of the platter....

...made a plaster mould of it (and broke the original in the process - yep, I'm still in fine form!), and then cast it in porcelain. All a bit of a roundabout experiment, but I think I like it. Bang bang!

Back on Board

Holidays are always too short.

Nice though!

Toodlepip!

This is my sparkly clean desk in my sparkly clean office. And the reason it is all so sparkly is that I am DONE for the year! I'm about to pack my bags and we're heading off to New Zealand for three weeks, cruising the South Island in a little campervan!! Bliss! Big thanks to all who have visited my blog this last year - actually its almost a year to the day! It's been blogtastic! And if anyone has any hot tips for galleries, studios, artists, markets, towns, vistas, sights or any must-see's on the South Island, I'd love to hear about it! Feel free to leave a comment or email me! Happy New Year one and all! Hope its a ripper!!

An excellent adventure

Today me and the other mud slingers (bum crane, kamenendo and yet-to-blogged-up Ginny Jones) went on a little adventure, an exercise in random spatial experience! It was an attempt to step out of our usual environment without having to spend lots of money or take up too much time (you know, busy busy). Here’s how it worked. We all met at Central Station. Then we threw a dice to determine which platform to go to...

Then we had to get on the very next train that came along that platform, regardless of where it was going. Then we threw the dice twice more to determine how long we stayed on the train.

A three, followed by a four, meant 34 minutes. So we got off at the very next stop after 34 minutes. We ended up in a suburb none of us had ever heard of before, called Altandi. Its kind of amazing how far you can get in a mere 34 minutes on the train in Brisbane!! The deal was that wherever we ended up we had to stay a minimum of an hour, even if it was hell on earth! It didn’t look like anything special at first, which was fine - we had a whole hour to find special things! And it didn’t take long…..

Yep, hidden away out there in Altandi are MAGIC BINS! We’re forbidden to tell you anymore about them, but boy were they GREAT! Then we stumbled across some local ceramic sculpture….

...discovered a super yummy Indian restaurant….and a very special Golden Elephant...

...and then sadly our hour was up and we headed home with camera’s full of possibly useful/inspirational/kind of odd images, full bellies and all caught up on eachother’s recent goings on! A most excellent adventure indeed!

Light on a cloudy day