The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 52 No 1 April 2013
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<strong>Ceramics</strong> +<br />
As my children grew, family holidays involved visiting those three sites as well as Niki de Saint Phalle's<br />
Queen Califia's Mosaic Garden in San Diego, Jean Linard's Cathedral in France and, locally, the Old<br />
Curiosity Shop in Ballarat. <strong>The</strong>se places have been enormously inspirational for me. Other travels took<br />
us to the classic Roman mosaics <strong>of</strong> Pompeii, to Carthage and EI Jem (Tunisia), <strong>Vol</strong>ubilis (Morocco) and<br />
Italica (Spain). Inspiration from the modern mosaic environments has combined with my fascination for<br />
ancient Roman pottery and mosaics to inform my current ceramic practice.<br />
In 2010, I received a large commission from the Luna Park Trust. It came about quite serendipitously. I<br />
was travelling with my husband in Tunisia at the time, looking at Roman mosaics in the Bardo Museum,<br />
when I received an email from the Executive Director <strong>of</strong> Luna Park, Mary Stuart. Mary had visited my<br />
gallery/studio in my absence and fell in love with my courtyard, a space encrusted with scores <strong>of</strong> bird<br />
mosaics and bird ornaments. She felt my quirky, playful style would be a perfect fit for Luna Park.<br />
<strong>The</strong> front arches <strong>of</strong> the Luna Palace Building, housing the famous dodgem cars w ith a reception area<br />
upstairs, presented as the ideal site. Located in the centre <strong>of</strong> the Luna Park complex, it is approximately<br />
2 S metres wide and one metre in height. I was given free reign as to the content <strong>of</strong> the work, as my<br />
playful style was already anticipated.<br />
I decided to make large, giggly heads - a reference to the Giggle Palace that adorned the Park before<br />
a fire destroyed it in 1981. I also used my vocabulary <strong>of</strong> animals and characters which inhabit my prints<br />
and drawings. <strong>The</strong> workers at Luna Park (sometimes referred to as '<strong>The</strong> Carnie People', as in 'carnival')<br />
also provided inspiration.<br />
This installation also makes reference to pottery and ceram ic history. On one archway is the SI. Kilda<br />
Mermaid, which is a 2.S-metre reclining figure. Her tail is made from the bottom <strong>of</strong> c<strong>of</strong>fee mugs cut<br />
Installing the HA HA figure<br />
Mermaid tail detail
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