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2009
FEBRUARY 10 – MARCH 7
Owen Rye
The essence of wood firing is to place good forms in the kiln in
such a position that the firing will add considerable value to them.
My idea of a good form is one that firstly has some intrinsic
interest compared with the millions of ceramic forms I have seen in
my lifetime, aided by an educated intuition, and secondly one that
looks ‘underdone’, like something is missing, with something lacking
somewhere. What is missing is the surface richness from the firing
so that after the firing everything becomes an inseparable whole,
‘resolved’. The resolution of the work has come from studying it in
an abstract kind of way that is very difficult to describe because
it does not involve words. The easy answer is to call the process
intuition but its not really ‘immediate mental apprehension without
reasoning’. It involves a kind of sensory reasoning that takes into
account the strength of a line, the blend of a colour with a form,
the run of ash, the negative space and most important the feeling of
rightness or wrongness in the way it all hangs together. I guess if
your work is abstract (and I think mine has always been about
abstraction, in the sense of not concrete or representational) then
it must be evaluated in the terms of abstraction.
MARCH 10 – MARCH 28
Brian Keyte
Exploration of form and glaze
This exhibition is once again about tightly controlled form and
glaze and their relationship, but with more than a hint of the
independent voices of the clay and the kiln in the overall chorus.
Clay is a plastic almost fluid material in its raw form but a hard,
vitreous one in its finished form. This dual nature is what I hope
to express here. I have managed to loosen the control a little in
the making of the form to allow the clay to show itself and hand
some control to the kiln in the firing.
Whilst my traditional work can speak of the vitreous nature of the
medium, of the bell like ring of a wave rim bowl, of the break of
the copper red on a rim, of a pared back, rhythmic form, the new
work speaks of the plastic, malleable, flowing nature of the clay,
moving to a different rhythm. This is the clay showing that it has
been formed more to its nature and most times, the rhythm of the
potter’s wheel, than to the wants of the human eye. In some cases
even abandoning the wheel entirely to hand build. It can also speak
more plainly of its journey through the kiln. A slight soda
scorching here and there and a movement of glaze and form at the
peak of the fire when the clay is once again plastic and the glaze
fluid. These pieces, informed by tranquil nature and the properties
of the clay were made in a more relaxed mood of contemplation rather
than concentration and this is showing in some of the small bowls,
many of which in some way, I hope are not bought. I rather fancy
taking them home again as I suspect I will not see the likes of some
of them again, as much as I may visit that same place in the making
of others.
All of this is not to say that I have abandoned my roots of the
“engineered” pieces, of the calculated rhythm of a wave formed rim,
of the careful forming of a bowl to a predetermined shape, a
catenary, parabolic or even semi hyperbolic curve. I still enjoy
that. Those forms are here again, and though some may see them as
clinical in their calculated almost industrial aesthetic, they too
are informed by nature as the mathematics behind them is simply the
mathematics that falls out of the natural world when we study it. It
is the mathematics of Bernoulli, Newton, Venturi and countless
others who simply observed nature in fine detail and sought to
explain it in their language of numbers. I have taken these a little
further now, some are more pronounced, a contraction of only one
axis, leading to a more amplified rhythm whilst others have become
more symmetrical, almost a sine wave form. I am studying rim curves
versus bowl curve and finding that there seems to be a relationship.
Certain bowl shapes are better served visually by certain rim
shapes. There may even be a relationship to the tone of the ring of
the piece when flicked with the knuckle.
Some of the glazes too are closer to nature – one or two ingredients
or rocks and allowing the kiln to change the glaze. This means you
will see shino types, long fired and short fired, refired, lightly
reduced and heavily reduced, and even carbon trapping, but the
copper reds and other classics are still there too, slightly changed
to frustrate the glaze pixies, but still of the same spirit.
MARCH 31 – APRIL 18
Barbara Campbell-Allen, Kwi-rak Choung
These two wood-fire artists explore the dynamic possibilities of
form, before function or finish in ravaged sculptural forms and
minimalist vessels.
APRIL 21 – MAY 9
Barry Singleton
At 70 years of age I’ve opened a kiln that has stopped me, or you
could say has gained my attention. I can see the shinos dark and
light, the light ones with the lighter clay body and the thicker
glaze application, and the darker ones glowing like a piece of old
polished leather that are the result of the application of a local
red clay, which is the waste from the gold miners workings over 100
years ago. This I apply as a slip with a thinner shino poured over
the top. It’s very satisfying to take a material from the local
area, prepare it, use it and see the results.
But there’s cause for more excitement as pots in the lower part of
the kiln appear. These pots with the shino glaze have the basic red
and other local white slips underneath and the breadth of variation
becomes evident. The question arises: with the use of local slips
and their blending in combination with the three shinos I’m using,
what variables are possible?
Same kiln same shelf, I’m confronted with a lavender blue glaze
breaking through to a pale classical celadon blue. The pot this
glaze is on is a fullbodied form asking for a sheath of glaze that
will enhance it. This is the glaze this pot needed. These glazes are
the result of testing over a period of 10 years. I have tested small
amounts of oxides and combinations of oxides in a base glaze. The
base glaze itself had a lengthy gestation period.
The glazes were also fired in a variety of reducing atmospheres and
it is satisfying to finally achieve the goal I’ve been seeking for
so long. So given this result, knowledge and materials, how long
will I pursue this path before boredom sets in and the little worm
of curiosity starts to tickle and urges me to ask questions?
Questions such as if I change the balance of the glaze, or introduce
other elements into the glaze – what will the result be? I do know
that it is not in my nature to be bored, for that little worm of
curiosity is rampant in my psyche.
MAY 12 – MAY 30
Tania Rollond, Don Court
Magpie Songs
An exhibition of wheel thrown porcelain that has been hand drawn and
painted with oxides and stains, and wood fired stoneware ceramics.
As I lean over the wheel, magpie songs swell outside and then
flood through the open door. As my pencil searches for a line, the
lightning flash of a rosella cuts across the window. As I take up my
paintbrush, a passing storm stains the sky and stirs the ants - I
take a deep breath as the first swollen drops land.
I shape the forms, draw out the lines and paint the colours that
trace these rhythms on each white surface; patterns of this place
and time.
Tania Rollond, 2009
Clay comes from rocks; some rocks melt and can be used as
glazes. I’ve collected the materials for these works from all around
NSW. It’s the kiln and fire where things become one. Understanding
this process and utilising the fire is where the magic is.
Nature is the inspiration, and I interpret along the way. Light, the
seasons and colour are important, but it seems feelings and
responses are again where the magic is. The magpie sings and I
listen.
Don Court, 2009
JUNE 2 – JUNE 20
Fuping - In Good Company
18 Australian and New Zealand ceramic artists come together in
celebration of their experiences at Fuping, China. In 2006 and 2007
these 18 artists journeyed to Fuping, to create works at the Fuping
Village Ceramic Art Centre, using its clays, glazes, kilns and
technologies. The ceramics produced were then selected for a
permanent collection at the Australasian Museum in Fuping.
The 18 artists in this exhibition are: Janet Deboos, Rowley
Drysdale, Fiona Fell, Steven Goldate, Grant Hodges, Michael Keighery,
Cheryl Lucas, Janet Mansfield, Susie McMeekin, Mark Mitchell,
Chester Nealie, Isaac Patmore, John Parker, Richard Parker, Owen
Rye, Toni Warburton, Chris Weaver, Steve Williams.
View artwork »
JULY 1 – JULY 25
Victor Greenaway
italy with soul :: reflections in figure and form
Victor Greenaway currently resides in Orvieto in Umbria returning to
Australia for several months each year to work in the Lakes Studio
at Nungurner, Victoria.
In Italy he paints the sights and sounds and people of this amazing
architectural landscape as well as producing ceramics (terracotta
and porcelain) in the castle studio at Viceno, conducting workshops
and Master Classes in Europe on invitation as well as at Viceno for
small groups and private clients. As part of the “Discovering Italy”
itineraries he also conducts private, group programmes and, on
request, Master Classes, in ceramics and drawing in Rome, Florence
and Umbria.
Greenaway says: “With constant access to the many major museums
that offer up the most amazing inspirational works, it is possible
to be surrounded by the most wondrous influences on a regular basis.
Especially important for me are the Renaissance paintings by Raphael
with his social references and warm, sometimes challenging, humanity
and the stark confronting reality in the post-Renaissance works of
Caravaggio. Together with the Michelangelo and Bernini marbles,
classical sculptures and architecture: marble columns, stone,
texture, layers of time, these all combine in a great mix of
inspiration in both the paintings and the ceramics. This also
combines with living amidst the art and myths that abound in the
many, many churches and cathedrals that are part of our daily life.”
On ceramics
The new ceramic forms have been influenced greatly by the
traditional shapes that emerged from the Etruscan society 2,500
years ago, especially in the larger, stemmed open bowls or "calice"
and the decorative friezes that chase abstract shapes around the
surfaces. But the surfaces too arise from the smooth surfaces of
marble and classical forms that are everywhere.
In contrast, the Bucchero pieces are made from an Italian volcanic
clay, mostly wheel-turned and polished, then smoke-fumed in a
reduction atmosphere to permeate the black colour through the clay
body which, when polished and fired, has the appearance of
metalware. Bucchero is a distinctively Etruscan product that emerged
around the 7th century BC in Southern Etruria (central Italy).
Regardless of the medium, as in a quick sketch or abstraction, the
outcome relies on experience, intuition and a confidence in
technique. Often the result is uncertain and the work lost or
discarded but the journey is an exciting one and constantly
rewarding.
On painting
Painting has always been a personal and private passion and is a
significant addition to my development as a complete artist. It does
not replace or impede my work as a ceramic artist, on the contrary,
it enhances the creative process by introducing new elements to my
work such as colour and pictorial expression. Inspiration for this
body of work undoubtedly derives from living and working in Italy
over the past number of years. Stimulation comes from everywhere, we
are surrounded by it, living in a medieval hill top town that rises
over Etruscan ruins, with Renaissance overlays, piazzas and palazzi
infiltrating throughout. This close city dwelling means we are
intimately involved in people's lives, customs, traditions and daily
routines and this certainly shows in many of the subjects of the
paintings.
After 2 years of living and working in Italy, Victor Greenaway
returns with an inspirational body of paintings and ceramics that
reflect the people and environment of Italy.
View artwork »
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