Pottery In Australia Vol 36 No 2 Winter 1997

'Feed me'. Raku fired. h34cm x w17cm.
'Tree as Decoration' (Garden Folly Series).
Ceramic and Bronze.
Sandy Johnson recently
exhibited her ceramic
sculptures at the Contemporary
Art & Design Gallery, Queensland.
Th e show seemed to whispe r
clearly about her love of nature.
The ex hibition included both
free standing and wall mounted
ceramic forms, mostly raku fired .
She used slips, underglazes, glazes
and occassionall y gold leaf [Q
decorate the surfac es. The green
and earthy colours were calm and
subtle. The surface textures were
built up with layers of slip, carved
and worked intricately. The scale
of the work varied from 15cm [Q
50cm.
The tree or bra nches of trees
were used with human imagery to
suggest the unbreakable
connection between humankind
'Unclean Forest'. Clay & Wood - Raku
fired. 60 x 25cm.
and nature. 'Feed Me' was a tree
whic h was feeding a ba by its
essence with breast shaped fruit;
'Tree of Knowledge' sprang from
pink and ora nge flames.
The piece 'Man as Animal, Man
is Animal' suggested the ways of
survival in nature. 'Tree as
Decoration', 'Token Tree' and
'Becoming Gold' were imitation
nature, nature for man's profit.
The artist realised there was no
going back. The work 'Knowing'
showed a cave which contained
paradise, but a piece of wire mesh
and two swords were ohstructing
the way. The only solution was to
find a new way.
This exhibition confirmed the
potency of natu re, not only for
th e cerami c artist bu t for the
viewers of the works. Q!)
3617. WlNTER 1997 + POTTERY IN AUSTRALIA 49