The Magnificent Three

Three Ceramicists From Three States

Craft 

23 October - 29 November 2014

Sarah O'Sullivan

Vestige

http://www.craft.org.au/See/exhibitions/sarah-osullivan/

Vestige by Sarah O'Sullivan calls on the nostalgia of modernist ceramic installed in a reproduction Edwardian sitting room. Accomplished decorative technique ranged across vase forms, framed images and domestic utensils.

Gerry Wedd

Pot Culture

 Gerry Wedd's Pot Culture celebrates Melbourne's independent & alternative rock roots. The exhibition includes a flowchart of musical influences, punctuated with cobalt painted portraits.

Nick Cave was a compulsory inclusion and an ode to Gerry's passion for surfing in this substantial feat of hand building & painting.

http://www.craft.org.au/See/exhibitions/pot-culture/

 

Kate Jones

Being

http://www.craft.org.au/See/exhibitions/being/

Being Kate Jone's exhibition displayed her increasing prowess with enlarged scale & the addition of darkly gloss glazes alongside her sensitive use of subtly coloured engobes and terrasigillata.

  

Big Ceramics

Big Ceramics
Federation Square
curated by Jane Scott the recently appointed CEO & Artistic Director of Craft.

BIG CERAMICS is
Artitst included: Robert Baron / Kris Coad / David Ray / Andrei Davidoff / Janetta Kerr-Grant / Fiona Hiscock / Owen Rye / Vipoo Srivilasa / Mark Stoner / Jane Sawyer / Jill SymesThe quality of big-ness or scale in the chosen works is assumed by lack of domestic scale pottery represented. The vessel remains a dominant presence in all but Kris Coad's work. Kris' flagstone's mimic the plaza of Federation Square just outside the gallery door, a connection that is difficult to link in the works location.

 

It was certainly a treat to see so many accomplished potters in the heart of Melbourne's cultural district, Federation Square. Jane brought together well-established, large-scale workers such as Mark Stoner & Robert Barron with a newer breed of muscle-flexers, Andrei Davidoff. 

Janetta Kerr Grant, Fiona Hiscok, Jill Symes & Jane Sawyer's work highlighted the brilliant range of surface decoration available to the skilled, observant potter.

Vipoo Srivilasa presented the type of participatory work that he is known & loved for. The image here has a week's worth of additions in blue & white plasticine.
 

In the exhibition brief, Scott talks about influences of contemporary & international trends in the use of the ceramic process. Missing in BIG CERAMICS are the exciting explorations into ceramics process by these international artist: Marek Cercula-esque site specific works, De Waal-like use of multiple, mass and weight, Anton Reijnders-ish mixed media sculptures, Clare Twomey-inspired negotiations with museum culture or the use of over-scaled figures as in Akio Takamori. I have fingers crossed in hope for CRAFT's next foray into contemporary ceramics which I suggest could be called BIGGER CERAMICS. An exhibition where time would allow for more far reaching research and response to contemporary Australian ceramics. 

Gerry Wedd @ Basil Sellers

Art Nite 

Staying out all night, wandering around chilly, beautiful Melbourne, looking at art, architecture & creative spaces including:

Gerry Wedd's work in Basil Sellers Art Prize at the Ian Potter Gallery, Carlton.

Have been watching these fellas being decorated for months on Gerry's Facebook listing. It was great to meet them in person.

Brilliant work Gerry.

A thing for the past - Underground Cinema & Kryal Castle

Night of nights at Underground Cinema. Theme: LaGuerre, 1940s. Secret movie: Casablanca.

Brilliant!

Almost snowing at Kryal Castle, Ballarat.
Theme: Medieval life. Secret: Torturing offspring.

Porcelain + Jewellery = Julie Holmes

Jeweller Julie Holmes has been sensitive to the timeless, earthy qualities of clay and the making possibilities inherent in the material.

Her porcelain creations are treated as 'found' objects but one is very aware that they have been 'made' by Julie to be a consistent and beautiful material that seems precious and rare.

These 'found' remnants have a sense of being uncovered in archaeological digs, collected along a beach or skeletal remains. 

This porcelain exploits the ease of creating texture & imprint and the ability to create holes for attachment & wearing. 

It's a shame there are no images of the fittings for these brooches as they are incredible.

Give it up for Margaret - an astounding collection of contemporary ceramics

 Chapter House Gallery

1-31 May 2015

Stumbled upon a new-ish public art space Chapter House Gallery off Flinders Lane.

A wonderful 'Melbourne-lanes' experience to see a selection of the very wonderful Margaret Lawrence's ceramics collection. 

Read here about Margaret's generous, philanthropic life being celebrated in a program of events created by VCA called Give it Up For Margaret

Also this in The Age. 

The exhibition has been sensitively curated by Tina Lee and spans across three windows giving a sense of Margaret's breadth of collection and a feeling of how her home might have felt with shelves jam-packed with work.

Vessel a Ceramics Victoria Exhibition @ Herring Island

The punt across the Yarra River

It’s always a treat to make the pilgrimage across water to Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park, a 3.2 hectare artificial island constructed in the Yarra River adjacent to South Yarra and Richmond. https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=17877#.Uy-Ip9wkXqA

The location makes this year’s Ceramics Victoria members’ exhibition even more appropriate. Entitled Vessel, Ceramics Victoria member works fall into three loose categories:

 1. The vessel which looks at the formal qualities of volume, weight, balance between foot & rim.

Maria Pribaz, Pilbara - Contemplation
The eloquent combination of simple vessel and decoration.

Lene Kuhl Jakobsen, Allusive Landscape,
a tranquil grouping.

David Kerr, Bowls of Thought
A geometric balancing act with a delightful row of throw cups across the back of this sculpture.

2. The vessel as a hollow container, one that has a long history linked to domestic ceramics use.

Sandra Bowkett, Shards From Latitude-37.117035, longitude 145.133412
Here remnant and recovered vessels and assembled in categories encourages us to ponder on their long lost utility and form.

Amanda Christians, Treading Water
This earthy vessel recalls functional indigenous water carriers
Amanda has won the 2014 Herring Island Summer Arts Festival Prize
http://www.herringislandfestival.org.au

3. The vessel as means of transporting and travelling on water

Ann Ferguson, Vessel@doc.com
 This freighter is laden metaphorical possibilities, from Australia's reliance on imported goods to the MV Tampa rescue of Hazara refugees in 2001

Hedley Potts, Seven Dawns Swarmed at Sea
is a poetic interpretation of people at sea

John O'Loughlin, Vessel for Hope? What Makes It Go Series Has a sensitive empathy for and the trepidation of refugees and migration