The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 50 no 1 April 2011

Focus: Ce ra mics + Body
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Juz Kitson, It's beautiful and deadly up there, you would hate it, 2010, Southern Ice and Imperial White porcelain with
wax, resin, flocking, diamond python skin, glass, lace, ink, horse and goat hair, bone, alpaca wool, natural materials, 1300°C
and raku firing, h. , 40cm, w.320cm, d.' 3cm; photo: Brett East
The Wonder of Juz Kitson's
Curiosities
Prue Gibson investigates the allure of the unnatural in nature
The habit of collecting can be an obsession, not exclusive to the human condition. Birds, squirrels
and monkeys share our instinct to gather and assemble, For some of us, collecting can be a chronic
preoccupation. The ritual of amassing strange, repulsive and exquisite objects from nature reflects a
curious mind, a desire for answers and for the pleasurable sensation of discovery,
Juz Kitson is a young artist, only two years out of Sydney's National Art School, whose work involves
collecting objects then disconnecting, manipulating and re-inventing them. Southern Ice porcelain is the
dominant medium for this artist who also utilises wax, bone, latex, flocking, alpaca wool and human,
goat and fox hair for her installations. Her tiny detailed porcelain pieces are cluster-hung on the gallery
wall in the manner of a Victorian parlour - recalling the fervent desire during that century to gather
possessions into the home, in abundance.
Wunderkammer, meaning 'chamber of wonder', began as a Renaissance investigation into foreign
relics . Souvenirs were collected from faraway places to prove the colonial dominance (a means of empire
building) of the European country. Only those with the resources and adequate scientific interest were
THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2011 21