The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 50 No 2 July 2011

Australia Wide
and 8 May. Previous events, which feature a wide
array of handmade and designed items, have
been very well attended.
In late May, Lesa Farrant and Louise Flaherty
exhibited new work in an exh ibition w ith Chris
De Rosa and Stephanie Raddock at Artroom,
Henley Beach .
Studio Potters are hosting a visiting artists
workshop w ith Owen Rye on 9 and 10 July.
Owen w ill demonstrate many wheel-based
techniques. A three-day exhibition of his work
will be runn ing concurrently at the Studio Potters
Gallery, Klemzig.
Planning continues for the 2012 Australian
Ceramics Trienniale to be held in Adelaide
from 28 September to 1 Odober; email
subversiveclay@craftsouth.org.au or phone
0884101822.
Kirsten Coelho; E: kandd@chariot.net.au
tas
Woodfire TAS 2011 was a mixture of ta lks,
demonstrations and gallery openings. Among
the exhibitions were International Woodfired
Tableware, Continental Drift: Anagama in
South India and Early Career USA Woodfirers,
Josh Copus and Eric Knoche amongst them.
Inside Woodfire - Fifty Australian Stories,
curated by Ben Richardson, included work by
Chester Nealie, Gwyn Hanssen-Pigott. Janet
Mansfield, Owen Rye, Peter Pilven, Graeme
Wilkie, Neil Hoffman and 43 others.
Malina Monks sang old Scottish songs from
the weavers and spoke of her work inspired by
her heritage, a piece of which was in the Fifty
Australian Stories exhibition.
Graeme W ilkie's talk was full of things on which
to contemplate deeply - he spoke of the need to
develop intuition and to be still. "What informs
my work is emptiness," he said.
Shiro Otani from Sh igaraki, Japan gave a very
informative presentation of the history of
Japanese ceramics. His own work is made with
the red clay of Shigaraki, and he is well known
in Japan for his beautiful glazes. Torbj0rn Kvasb0
from Norway demonstrated and showed images
of his amazing work, much of which is formed
from extruded sections, enormous and very
dynamic, often built and glazed directly on the
kiln shelves. " The stronger the frustration the
closer you are to a breakthrough, " he said .
Other moments to remember (too many to
mention all) came from Hillary Kane from Gaya
Art Centre in Bali, Steve Williams with his large
soft slabs from a thrown cylinder draped over a
stacking of sticks, Chester Nealie demonstrating
" bundle stacking " (he recommends the Auckland
Studio Potters Playing with Fire book), and Gail
Nichols talking of her chance discoveries when
teaching herself soda-firing .
Vitrify is a new ceramics award sponsored by
the Alcorso Foundation. It attracted entries from
several states. The judges, Les Blakebrough, Noel
Frankham and Tetsuya Wakuda, awarded the
$10,000 prize to Tasmanian Ben Richardson for
his wood-fired sculptural vessels. The three other
finalists were Belinda Winkler, Prue Venables and
Kim-Anh Nguyen .
Other recent exhibitions of note have been by
Derek Smith, whose work is always inspirational,
and another Tea for Two exhibition by members
of the Tasman ian Ceramics Association. The
Offcentre cooperative is currently in the throes of
changing premises to a more accessible location.
John Watson; E: john@dmink.net
vic
Once again the Manningham Victorian Ceramic
Art Award Exhibition was a beautifully displayed
exhibition of diverse, ma inly conceptual
works. Christopher Headley won first prize, an
acquisitive award with Forgotten Words 2010,
a group of works incorporating decals and
lustre. The Valley of the Arts Acquisitive Award
went to Paul Wood w ith L N Fowler 2010, an
assemblage of found ceramic and glass objects.
Other acquisit ions were by Brian Keyte, Phi
Triptych, Robyne Latham Strange Fruits, Tina
Lee The Karens', and Vipoo Srivi lasa, Child's
Play.
Crosshatched, an exhibition and auction of
traditional Indian mudka (water pots) was held
at Pan Gallery in April to help raise funds to
build an energy efficient kiln in Kumhaar Gram,
India. Traditional Indian potters Manori Lal and
Dharmveer visited Australia with support from
the South Asia Foundation, Goa Handicrafts
Rural and Small Scale Industries Development
104 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 20U