Come and see... Fiona Fell

An exhibtion of new work from Brian Doar, Steve Harrison, Gerry Wedd and Fiona Fell is opening on Friday the 7th of Jully at Legge Gallery.

Fiona Fell has been working with the figure for many years. Her sculptures tap into a collective subconscious where mermaids and two headed dogs roam the earth. For more on Fiona have a loook at this little interview.........

New Ceramic work by Brian Doar, Fiona Fell, Steve Harrison, Gerry Wedd

When:

07.07.2009 - 25.07.2009

Where:

Legge Gallery - Redfern, Sydney

Meet the Speakers- Ben Richardson

Ben Richardson's woodfired vessels are a distillation of the beautiful, rugged environment of his south-east Tasmanian home.

The process for Ben begins with collecting the clay and grinding local rocks for oxides. He chops black wattle for woodfirng. Ben's commitment to place and sensitivity to materials are evident in the stark beautiful forms he produces.

Ben Richardson is a speaker at the Australian Ceramics Triennale and will be showing his film "Ben Richardson- working fire" made by visual arts lecturer and academic Glen Dunn as part of his presentation. There is so much to love about this poetic evocation of a creative journey. From the southern Tasmanian landscapes and skies through to the simple potter's pleasures of stacking the kiln and magical transformation of wet clay to fired form. Do yourself a favor and watch this.....
Ben Richardson. Working Fire. Feature. from Glen Dunn on Vimeo.


Ben will be speaking on Saturday the 19th of July in the afternoon session.

Meet the Speakers- Simone Fraser

"I want my work to have a beauty that speaks for itself. I want the viewer to experience the mystery within the surface, the balance and proportion of the form and the harmony that each piece engenders." from Simone Fraser's website

Australian ceramicist Simone Fraser will be speaking at the Australian Ceramics Triennale. Fraser's vessels encompass both the delicate and the muscular with their strongly thrown forms and intricate, sometimes gold encrusted surfaces. References to history, nature and a material sensuality combine in these intriguing vessels where examination draws you into the surface, across the the form revealing layers of colour and texture, the sense of hidden mystery about to be revealled nagging at the edge of conciousness, then slipping away through sheer delight in the object.


"While viewing her work it is too simplistic to attribute the artist's motivation to the mimicking of age-encrusted surfaces. Her surfaces - colour and texture - are new; a deliberate refinement based on the artist's unique aesthetic judgement. Her colours and textures have no reference point, no equivalent in ancient ceramics. In this sense her work is contemporary. At the same time she has chosen to develop forms that are referential to the vessel. "
"Simone Fraser's Vessels Forms" by Alan Peascod
Article from: Ceramics Art and Perception No. 60 2005 pp 47-49

A view from the studio with- Mel Robson

"My studio is the underneath of my home, a big old rambling QLD'er. It overlooks my back garden (a work in progress) and always distracts me from the job at hand, especially during winter when my hands are numb from swirling buckets of slip and I spy a little sunny spot out there to sit in, or a patch that needs weeding, or a seedling that needs watering, or some rocket that needs munching!"

Mel Robson is a Brisbane based ceramicist exploring memory, nostalgia and the stories embedded in everyday objects. Her slip cast, vessels and conceptual installations utilizing water cut old plates can be seen at 3 group exhibitions during the Australian Ceramics Triennale.

White Heat - Australian Ceramics Association Exhibition

When:

12.06.2009 - 19.07.2009

Where:

Manly Art Gallery & Museum - Manly

Ceramic Revisions

When:

30.06.2009 - 26.07.2009

Where:

Brenda May Gallery - Waterloo, Sydney

Pourers: functional vessels

When:

11.07.2009 - 26.07.2009

Where:

Object Gallery - Surry Hills, Sydney

Meet the Speakers- the OTHER Kim Won Seok

You may have been surprised to find that the artist living in Australia by the name of Kim Won Seok is a professor at Kongju National University, I was surprised also!

Except that the Australian Kim Won Seok is not teaching in South Korea. We have the excellent fortune to have not one but TWO Kim Won Seok's attending the Australian Ceramics Triennale. The first Kim won Seok is the artist I have referred to in a previous post who will be demonstrating his beautiful Punchong ware.
The second is ......
Kim Won Seok, professor at Kongju National University, South Korea.

He will present a talk about Contemporary Korean ceramics during the morning session on Saturday the 18th of July.

Meet the Speakers- Tania Rollond

I once read a comment that said the novel is the best way we have of talking about ourselves. I believe that art is another way we have of talking about ourselves.

Contemporary craft in Australia illuminates and articulates our identity. Traditionally "The Bush" (as everywhere not in the city is known) has been a place of harsh landscapes and heroic sweaty, masculine types subduing or being beaten down by the unrelenting climate and isolation. Contemporary ceramicists are articulating the bush as a lyrical, poetic place of stillness, contemplation and subtlety.

Tania Rollond has been exploring landscape and memory for many years in her beautiful ceramics. Her latest work is a series of vessels. They reference human/nature interaction in their poetic titles such as "Bottle - An Autumn Crossing" and "Bottle - Rain & Light, Coming and Going" Rollond abstracts the landscape creating a meditation on our place in the land. This work is like a membrane, a conduit between culture and nature. Through Rollond's vessels the bush is redefined as a place of inspiration, and mystery not the be subdued or fought against but to be marvelled at. Rollond says that her work "do(es) not directly imitate nature, but parallel(s) its dynamics."


Tania Rollond is speaking and demonstrating at the Australian Ceramics
Triennale 16th -20th of July.

Her work is part of a group exhibition "Conversations"
Conversations

When:

15.07.2009 - 15.08.2009

Where:

Sabbia Gallery - Surry Hills, Sydney

Meet the Speakers- Kim Won Seok

Kim Won Seok is a professor at Kongju National University,(actually he is not a professor at the kongju university see here) South Korea, and will be speaking at the Australian Ceramics Triennale on contemporary Korean ceramics.

Kim Won Seok's gestural contempoary vessels reference tradition korean Punchong ware.
"In conversation with Kim it becomes apparent that an understanding of Korean ceramic history is fundamental to understanding his work. It provides the keys to its meaning. He has chosen, using a modern context, to draw upon his cultural traditions, rich with historical resonance, to provide the meaning in his own work and to build up artifacts that function on many levels. Won Seok Kim uses the dark claybody and celadon glazes that characterised Korean wares of the 15th century and, in particular, his work makes its strongest reference to the style of work called punch'ong. In doing this he has taken the turning point in Korea's history, a crossroad between two dynasties, two religions and two approaches to the potters' art as his starting point. "
(From an article by Gale Leake "Won Seok Kim's Australian Punch'ong Ware" published in Ceramics Art and Perception")


Kim Won Seok will be speaking at the Australian Ceramics Triennale on Saturday July the 18th.

Come and see.....Penny Byrne (and your eyes will pop out of your head!)

Artist: Penny Byrne
Title: If only Gay Sex caused Global Warming mused Mother Earth
Date: 2007
Materials: vintage ceramic figure group, tacks, lead, metal nails, epoxy resin, epoxy putty, plastic, re-touching medium, powder pigments.
Size: 80 x 40 x 40cm
Photographer: Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art
Private Collection.

This eye-popping piece is created by Australian artist Penny Byrne. Mild mannered art conservator by day Penny becomes destroyer/creator of Dresden figurines, myths, ballerinas and governments by night as she uses the tools of her trade to create these wicked, funny sculptures.


Penny Byrne, George and Laura simply adore the War on Terror

Byrne uses originals beyond repair but her conservation background kicks in when it comes to her creations "I won't destroy important decorative art," she says. "But the vintage ones, which are poor copies of the original, I think they're just asking for trouble." (from an article by Joyce Morgan in the Sydney Morning Herald, March 6, 2007)
I couldn't agree more!

Penny Byrne is part of the "White Heat" exhibition at the Australian Ceramics Triennale.

Curated by Julie Bartholemew "White Heat" explores
"Transformative practices that move beyond the object of utility, often take risks that propel the maker and viewer into unfamiliar territory. The exhibition titled White Heat offers a space for discourses of social, political and cultural concern."

White Heat - Australian Ceramics Association Exhibition
When:
12.06.2009 - 19.07.2009
Where:
Manly Art Gallery & Museum - Manly