2009 AAANZ Conference Abstracts - The Art Association of Australia ...

objects.
Renee Joyce is an early career researcher investigating the
practices of collection; collection and compartmentalisation
of contemporary Australian artists with reference to historical
(museological) practices and international artists. Having
graduated from a Bachelor of Arts (Art History), University of
Queensland and a Masters in Arts and Creative Industries
Management, Queensland University of Technology she worked
at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and is currently undertaking a
Masters in Creative Arts, James Cook University.
3. Clean, Green, Lumpy & Brown: Challenges,
Opportunities & Persistent Values in Ceramics
Roderick Bamford
Ceramics and Design share much parallel history, particularly
since the emerging Arts & Crafts movements agitated to improve
working conditions for craftspeople. In the post war 20th
century Australia, ceramics re emerged with a philosophical
perspective embedded in the Arts & Crafts movement.
More than an aesthetic of the hand made alone – it was the
expression of purpose that valued individual cultural contribution
as an antidote to the impersonality of mass production and
consumption.
Much has changed since then, and whilst it can be argued
that professionally, such practice is economically marginal, its
contribution has to an extent been recognised. It has been more
recently argued that designers should consider the implications
of their actions more broadly, in terms of its impact on society
and future quality of life. This is highlighted in globalisation where
the economic benefits of mass production and consumption
of generic manufactured goods results in an increased degree
of cultural homogenisation and socio economic disparity.
More recently, the term “Responsible Design” has emerged to
describe a “Social Model” for design directed towards improving
the physical and social environment as well as individual human
needs, and there is a strong current emphasis on a design
paradigm where creative and critical thinking is framed by a
recognition that we should work to address the negative impact
of human actions on the environment.
Contemporary art & design is creatively instrumental in
increasing digital environments. Embedded within these new
digital languages of representation and materialisation is an
unprecedented array of coded and organised information
which can be extracted, exchanged and utilised in a multitude
of ways. Apart from the potential effectiveness of streamlining
conventional processes, new possibilities arise from the
corresponding reconfiguration of information. The reciprocity
between what can be drawn and what can be made, between
what can be represented and what can be produced has
changed in the digital age where direct “file to factory” creation
is a reality.
Despite these changing opportunities for expression in a
range of technologies, markets, accompanying identities,
social and economic conditions, the pursuit for purpose
remains compelling. Values associated with more traditional
and emerging media and their characteristic processes collide
more frequently, making the identification of directions for
ceramic practice less clearly defined. This paper discusses
the emergence two significant contemporary identities, that of
Design and Sustainability and how they may inform ceramic
futures.
Roderick Bamford is from the College of Fine Arts, University of
New South Wales.
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