The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 49 No 3 November 2010

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Focus: Architectural Ceramics
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1 Bert Flugelman and les Blakebrough, ceramic
figures, Sturt Pottery; Pottery in Australia, Vol 1, No 2,
November 1962
2 Deborah Halpern, Angel. 1987-89, since 2006
Birrarung Marr; 1987-2002 NGV moat, Melbourne
3 Al eks Danko, Songs of Australia Volume 3,
At Home, Adelaide SA; photo: Damon Moon
more contemporary example, Deborah Halpern's well-known artwork Angel (not to be confused with
the Percival ones), originally sited at the entrance to the National Gallery of Victoria and now found
at Birrarung Marr park on the banks of the Yarra River, is architectural in nature not only because of
its scale but through its intent, in that it was commissioned to be a part of a building or its immediate
surrounds. This is seen quite literally in the visual pun of the sculptor Aleks Danko's, Songs of Australia
Volume 3, At Home sited in the courtyard facing the JamFactory Craft and Design Centre, the
Experimental Art Foundation and the entrance to UniSA's City West Campus in Adelaide."
It seems likely that the emphasis has shifted in contemporary arch itectural ceramics in Australia, from
large-scale public commissions to community-based projects. However, given the obdurate nature of the
material and its intrinsic connections to the built environment, ceramics will probably always find some
place in the architecture of the day.
Damon Moon Willunga 2010
1 I feel II IS reasonable to claim RomaJdo Guirgola as Austrahan Since, although he was born and trained in Italy and has spent much lime living
In America, he took up Australian atizenship In the 1980s
THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2010 21