The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 52 No 3 November 2013

The Journal of 

AUSTRALIAN 

CERAMICS 

Vol 52 No 3 November 2013 $16

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Contents 


Australian Ceramics 

Vol 52 No 3 

November 2013 

$16 

Cover 

Charlie Sc.hneider 

The Last Recitation of Brick #4 

18 August 2013 

lake Berryessa, floating abolle the 

former town of Monticello 

Photo: Liz Tenuto 

Publicallon dates 

1 Apnl. 17 July, 20 NO\Iember 

Publisher 

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Edi10r 

Vicki Grima 

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2 EDITORIAL 

3 NOW AND THEN 

TRIBUTE 

4 Gwyn Hanssen Pigott by Damon Moon 

12 AWARDS & GALLERY 

FOCUS: ECOLOGY AND CERAMICS 

17 Guest Editorial: Julie Bartholomew 

18 Contributors Focus: Ecology and Ceramics 

19 Clare Twomey An interview with Dr Virginia Jones 

23 Virginia Jones' Recent Outdoor Installations Discussions with 

Carol Schwarzman 

28 Waking a Town Altair Roelants discusses Charlie Schneider's latest ceramic 

work The Wake Project 

35 Rivers of Slip Ruth Johnstone considers recent projects by Sally Cleary 

38 Ceramics and the Australian Botanical Narrative by Cathy Franzi 

45 land and Environment Liz Stops investigates neo-colonialism and practice 

50 Interrelated Worlds The recen t ceramic projects of Julie Bartholomew by 

Altair Roelants 

58 Overland: From the Cradle to the lake Margaret Farmer profiles the 

work of Barbara Campbell-Allen 

61 On the Edge: An exhibition by Vicki Hamilton Reviewed by 

Dr Pam Sinnott 

64 Pine - cathy Keys An introduction by Louise Martin-Chew 

67 Slower, Smaller, Quieter Towards a local terroir-based life and aesthetic 

by Steve Harrison 

REGULARS 

72 VIEW I: The Fuping Experience Megan Patey reports on an extraordinary 

twenty-day residency at Sturt 

76 VIEW II: Narratives in Blue and White Caterina Leone reviews the recent 

work of Vipoo Srivilasa 

80 VIEW III: Stephen Benwell: Beauty, Anarachy, Desire - A Retrospective 

Jason Smith, curator, gives a briel overview 

83 AWARD: The Janet Mansfield Ceramics Award 2013 

84 OVERSEAS: Editors, Emerging Artists and Fireworks Vicki Grima reports 

on ICMEA 2013 

86 EVENT: Clean Burn Belinda Piggott shares her observations about Yuri 

Wiedenhofer's recent fire performance 

PROMOTION 

88 Clayworks 

92 POCKET PhD: Base Processes by Fiona Murphy 

94 COMMUNITY: Open Studio Ceramics Australia Showcase 2013 

96 CERAMICS+: Enucleo Contemporary Clay Serena Rosevear reports 

100 UP THE PUBLIC ART PATH: Breathing Tree by Ken and Julia Yonetani 

102 POTTERS MARK5 

103 CERAMIC SHOTS: Ecological Ceramics 

106 STUDIO: Studio Safety Part 2 by Jeff Zamek 

109 TRADE: Selling Your Work - Wholesale or Consignment? 

Elisa Bartels and Vicki Grima take a look at the basics 

112 JOIN THE POTS: from The JAC archives - Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

114 COLLECTION: Miles Franklin's Waratah by Patsy Hely 

116 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Cultivate Helen Earl recounts her residency 

experience at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney 

118 WEDGE: Brown, Lumpy, and Scratches the Laminex! by John Dermer 

120 VIEWED & READ: Kay Alliband Lustre by Greg Daly 

121 AUSTRALIA WIDE: State Representative Reports 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 1

Ed itor: Vicki Grima 

J have been reminded a lot lately about the 

importance of community and the connections 

we make within them - locally, regionally, 

nationally and internationally. 

The success of the inaugural Open Studio 

Ceramics Australia Showcase in August showed 

what was possible with a simple idea: locally, 

potters joined together in one studio to share a 

common space; regionally, porters formed studio 

trails to connect their visitors and one another; 

and around the country the feeling of being part 

of a national event encouraged many to open 

their studios for the first time. 

Now with bush fires burning around NSW 

the feeling of support for the potters who live 

in threatened areas has come to the fore, with 

so many offers of assistance being made. Our 

ceramics community is once again ready to 

help those in need. The Australian Ceramics 

Association will keep you up to date with 

developments. 

And having recently returned from 

representing this journal at the JCMEA 

conference in Fuping, China (see pages 84 & 

85), I thought I'd share some words I wrote to 

conclude my presentation to the delegates: 

Clay is our common language 

connecting us through 

the objects we make 

the stories we write 

the words we read 

the images we take 

and the experiences we have. 

TOp: Coffee time in Fuping Pottery Art Village with (I. to r.) 

Rowena Hannan (AUS), Oave Cushway (UK), Gali t Golany 

(Israel), Creina Moore (AUS), me, Matilda and Gaylleake 

(AUS); September 2013 

Middle: Tina Byrne. editor of Ceramics Ireland and me at 

the opening of the Indian exhibition in Fuping 

Rather than saying, as I did in Fuping, 'Thank 

you for being part of my experience at ICMEA 

2013', I now say thank you for being part of the 

community we share here on these pages of The 

Journal of Australia Ceramics. 

Bottom: Friends gathered with Jane Crick (centre) at the 

Open studio Ceramics Australia Showcase, 18 August 2013 

at Moonshill, Hot to Pot workshop in Tarago NSW 

2 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

----------------_. . 

Now and Then 

I 

I 

I 

I 

article addresses aspects of these influences, 

highlighting some of the artists who draw 

inspiration from the Australian landscape and 

those who directly engage with environmental 

and ecological issues through their works. 

The Ceramic Study Group Inc. marked their 

50th Anniversary with the Celebration 

exhibition at Hornsby in October 2013. The 

CSG was formed in 1963 by a group of Peter 

Rushforth's students who, having graduated 

from their ceramics course, wished to continue 

their contact with potters. Peter was invited 

to become - and remains - the patron of the 

group. The CSG have published a DVD of images 

of their permanent collection, including works 

by Peter Rushforth, Janet Mansfield, Lucie Rie, 

Les Blakebrough, Shigeo Shiga, Milton Moon, 

Peter Travis and Gwyn Hanssen Pigott. For more 

information visit www.ceramicstudygroup.org.au. 

I 

I 

I 

I 

Below left: Pippin Drysdale, Autumn Haze 2010 

Australian Embassy Show, February 2010 

Photo: Robert Frith 

Go to www.australianceramics.com 

to read this web article. 

How can I be featured in The Journal? 

We know our readers are a talented bunch, and 

there are many ways to participate. We post 

numerous calls for participation throughout the 

year. Please visit our website, 

(www.australianceramics.com) or our blog, 

(http://australianceramics.wordpress.com), to see 

how you can contribute articles and images of 

your work or enter our photography competition. 

See page 131 for 2014 focus areas. 

Above: Nicky Coady, Peter and Bobby Rushforth I Here's a challenge! 

I 

Enter our Ceramic Shots photographic 

competition for the April 2014 issue of The 

Journal of Australian Ceramics. The best 

entries will be published, with the winner 

receiving a prize to the value of $200. 

#clayselfie: snap a selfie with one of your 

ceramic works, post it to Instagram tagged 

#clayselfie. 

Web article: Ceramics, the environment 

and ecology: 'Craft arts' in an age of 

environmentalism by Jade Wildy 

While ceramics in Australia is influenced by 

many traditions cultivated in other countries 

('Skangaroovian Funk' drawing from the 

Californian Funk styles, or the Eastern inspired 

traditions of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada), 

the Australian ceramics cultural landscape 

brings forth styles imbued with a distinctly 

Australian essence - inspired by the Australian 

landscape and by environmental concerns. This 


Tribute: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

by Damon Moon 

"Instead, the things ... seep deliberately into one's attention. They start vaguely, as little more than 

silhouettes, a vibration of one low colour against another. Gradually they 'develop' on the eye, and 

one begins to grasp their internal relationships: how articulate the subtle sequence of tones may be, 

in a form that once looked flat and brown; how many colours may be contained, as dusty hints and 

pearly afterimages of themselves, in what seemed to be a sequence of grey patches. If the straight side 

of a bottle seems to waver, it does so only to remind us how mutable and hard to fix the act of seeing 

really is. And if the shapes look simple, their simplicity is extremely deceptive; one recognises in it the 

distillation of an intensely pure sensibility, under whose gaze the size . . the silence of the motif and the 

inwardness of the vision are as one. "1 

If not for the omission of six words in the passage above it might be assumed this article was one of 

the many recent tributes to the work of the late Australian potter Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, who passed 

away in London in July this year at the age of 78. 

The missing words are 'in his pa intings' and 'of the painting' and the 198 1 essay by Robert 

Hughes is about the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, an artist who profoundly influenced Hanssen 

Pigott's work and to whom history may apply a similar judgement of being a petit-maitre, an artist 

who " . . although (they) said it very well, had only one thing to say" .2 

These assessments w ill be made and contested over time, but it is true to say that the reputation of 

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott as Australia's most significant, internationally recognised ceramicist, is predicated 

on a body of work that took one idea and, balancing a sound knowledge of her craft with an acute 

sensibility, parlayed that work into a career that I doubt she could ever have foreseen . 

In contrast to the rather hagiographic tributes being written about her life in ceramics, Gwyn's 

progress did not always chart a smooth and steady rise . Nonetheless, her beginnings in ceramics are not 

so far removed from where they ended, especially when one takes into account the myriad digressions 

that have characterised the field over the last sixty years. 

Several factors influenced her early career. As a student of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne 

she had ready access to the Kent Collection of Chinese ceramics at the National Gallery of Victoria, 

which at the time was the only readily accessible holding of historically significant Asian ceramics in the 

country. In an unusual but prescient move, Joseph Burke, then Head of Art History at the university, 

allowed her to research contemporary Australian pottery for her thesis. The Melbourne potter Harold 

Hughan introduced her to Bernard Leach's A Potter's Book, and so Leach's persuasive arguments for 

the virtues of hand-made pottery, with its apotheosis in the 'Sung standard', could be immediately 

reinforced - 'proved' almost - by simply viewing the objects laid out before her in the gallery. 

With Hanssen Pigott's vision of ceramics having been realised (almost before it was formed) by the 

timeless beauty of classical Chinese wares, she quickly navigated the sea of rambunctious and gaudy 

earthenware that dominated Australian ceramics until " a very young nineteen-year-old in a dirndl skirt") 

arrived at the Sturt craft workshops in New South Wales where she met the potter Ivan McMeekin. 

There would be no turning back. 


Gwyn Hanssen Pigott. Pale Shadow, 2011, glazed, woodfired porcellaneous stoneware; Gift of the Newcastle Region Art 

Gallery Foundation 201 1, Newcastle Region Art Gallery collection; Less is more - G;orgio Morandi and Gwyn Hanssen 

Pigott; Newcastle Art Gallery exhibition, 2011; photo: courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 201)


Gwyn Hanssen (Pigott), stoneware punch set 

London, circa 1962: photo credit: Pottery Quarterly 

Vol 7 No 28; edited Murray Fieldhouse 

For Ivan McMeekin, who spent time in 

China before studying in England with Leach 

and Michael Cardew, the 'Sung standard' was 

accepted without question. When MCMeekin 

returned to Australia from England to set up 

the ceramics workshop at Sturt, he sought 

to reproduce as closely as possible the classic 

wares of China, despite being separated from 

that originating culture by vast stretches of time 

and distance, and perhaps even of need. But 

McMeekin was tenacious and utterly convinced 

of his path and where he single-mindedly led, his 

young student followed. She took pressure off 

McMeekin by assuming responsibility for some of 

the teaching at Sturt, helpfully translating from 

the French the letters of the seventeenth-century 

Jesuit missionary Pere D'Entrocolles concerning Chinese porcelain manufacture, while digging for clay 

amongst the gum trees of the Southern Highlands in New South Wales. 

When, with McMeekin's blessing, she went to England in the late 1950s, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott set 

about furthering her education in ceramics at a time when Bernard Leach was the dominant figure and 

when his early apprentices were now leaders in their own right. Despite her commitment to this rather 

conservative approach to studio pottery, she also brushed up against a gentle version of modernism in 

London, where potters like Lucie Rie and Hans Coper had brought a 'Continental' sensibility to the field. 

Gwyn Hanssen, as she was then, began to make a name for herself in London. Contemporary 

commentators remarked on her work as being" ... completely acceptable .. a potter's potter .. ." 4 

whose work" ... more or less summarises the Leach-Cardew-Davis-Finch field .. akin to the work of 

the Mackenzie's in the USA and McMeekin in Australia" S Pottery that belonged to the tradition of 

"Workshop potters versus art school potters. Useful-ware potters versus sculptor-painter-potters"6, this 

last observation having particular resonance when viewed in the light of her later work. 

A typical example of her output at the time, from a 1962 exhibition at Primavera gallery in London, 

was almost a craft cliche: a 'punch set' consisting of cups with handles, a large, footed bowl and a 

ceramic ladle, all in muted, ash-glazed stoneware. And although Alison Britten, writing of this period 

in her essay 'Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: a view from her second home", recalls that she represented a " .. 

benchmark of sound and sensitive practice .."8, other commentators had a different view, with Robert 

Melville, writing a few years earlier in Architectural Review, remarking that much of the ceramics 

coming out of the crafts movement seemed to belong to a " ... village and market town community of 

highly aesthetic peasants .. ."9 

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott would soon reinforce this commitment to tradition (and here the word 

'tradition' needs to be understood as being as much notional as factual) and by the mid-sixties, inspired 

by the simple beauty of French domestic pottery, she had settled in the district of Haut-Berry a few 

hours south of Paris . She built a large woodfired kiln and used local materials in a direct extension of 

McMeekin's purist methodologies, which he in turn had inherited from Leach. (In truth, Leach was 

quite willing to modify his purist approach for the sake of expediency - it was more the early students 

like Michael Cardew and Harry Davis who took some of his ph ilosophical urgings to what can only be 

described as fanatical extremes.) 


--------------------- -------------- ---- ---------- 


She made pots in France and travelled often to England, where she supplemented her income by 

teaching at various art schools. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott had become a highly regarded maker of functional 

pottery, as good as any in the business. She was also very aware of the contradictions and paradoxes 

t hat ran through this modern, la rgely middle-class obsession with traditions that had faded away, when 

as early as 1969 she wrote that" ... we younger potters .. . can never be 'potters of Haut-Berry' .. we 

can never recapture the spirit that has passed. We remain, as ever, our immigrant selves, alone always, 

our work our own personal struggle and delight" .10 

Later she recalled that she had" ... tried ... to make something which would be real. I hoped that if 

I lived like a traditional potter somehow I would make pots like those unpretentious craftsmen in times 

gone by. But in fact I wasn't unpretentious at all - nor simple ... I was acting a part that I hadn't the 

strength for, and I was caught in a very subtle ambition to which I saw no end" .11 

What is apparent from this statement is that Hanssen Pigott already had the ability to see beyond the 

objects she was making in order to interrogate their place in the world and, by extension, to question 

her own role as a contemporary craftsperson. This ability (which is rarer than one might think) does not 

necessarily lead to comf ortable conclusions, and it probably contributed to her decision to leave her" .. 

French idyll taking only what I could carry in my bag".1 2 

In 1973 Gwyn Hanssen Pigott returned to Australia. She worked for a while in New South Wales, and 

in 1974 moved to Tasmania where, with her student and future husband John Pigott, she established 

a pottery near Hobart. During this time she returned to the methodologies that had characterised her 

work in France, making functional ceramics from locally sourced materials. The curator of Hanssen 

Pigott's 2006 retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Jason Smith, states that this 

time shows her "starting again" 13, but she was also repeating herself, just in another place. 

Her move in 1980 to the Jam Factory workshops in South Australia resulted in a more substantial shift 

in her working practice, in that she found a way by which the effects she sought could be achieved 

more efficiently, albeit without any significant alteration to the final product. As ever, change in Hanssen 

Pigott's work came incrementally. Change in location happened more frequently. 

In 1981 she moved to Brisbane, becoming a residen t potter at the Kelvin Grove campus of what is 

now the Queensland University of Technology. Over the next eight years, Hanssen Pigott continued to 

make functional pottery, even pursuing the decorated surface before" .. reinvesting in simplicity " 14 

If functional, production-based pottery had maintained a certain cachet during the sixties and 

seventies, by the 1980s its allure was wearing a bit thin. The challenges first mounted on the Leachderived 

studio pottery tradition by modernism and the Funk movement had evolved into a myriad of 

divergent styles; all clamouring for attention, all given equal time within the ceramics community, all 

suffering from the same lack of critical analysis that typified the discourses surrounding the Crafts and - 

with one or two possible exceptions - all being ignored by those working in the fine arts. 

Working in the environment of an art school, the widening rift between ceramics made as art and 

studio-pottery was apparent. As Jeff Shaw, then Head of Kelvin Grove CAE, wrote of a 1983 exhibition 

of Hanssen Pigott's work at Blackfriars Gallery in Sydney: "Gwyn's ware is simply practical and simply 

beautiful, unpretentious but carefully considered. It is a pleasure to use and view." lS Which is all very 

nice, but it doesn't make it art and it meant that, as Jason Smith notes, Hanssen Pigott was increasingly 

being written out of the critical discourse'6 

THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAM1CS NOVEMBER 201) 7


----- 

And then something happened. 

The precise moment that Gwyn 

Hanssen Pigott began to group her 

pots together as a statement may 

never be known. The transition 

from casually observing thousands 

of pots sitting side by side on wareboards 

or in the kiln, a familiar 

sight to anyone who, like Hanssen 

Pigott, was a production potter, to 

the conscious grouping together of 

objects so that the whole was more 

than the sum of the parts probably 

happened slowly. Those who knew 

her from earlier times comment that 

she often would take great care in 

selecting and placing objects in her 

own home, with the same degree 

of care and control that typified her 

approach to all aspects of her craft. 

Three Inseparable Bowls, Pottery in Australia, February 1988 

Vol 27 No 1, page 16 

A grouping titled Three Inseparable Bowls was exhibited at the Gary Anderson Gallery in Sydney in 

November 1987 and her adoption by this dealer gallery, more known for representing fine artists than 

craftspeople, certainly played its part in situating her work within a wider context. (interestingly, the 

Gary Anderson Gallery staged a group exhibition in 1990 titled Homage to Morandi which featured 

many well-known artists, including Alan Mittleman, John Peart, Leonard Brown and Kevin Lincoln.) 

A picture of Hanssen Pigott's 1987 work, together with a short artist's statement, can be found in the 

February 1988 edition of Pottery in Australia and it marks a bellwether moment in Australian ceramic 

history. Hanssen Pigott states that the" .. . bowls, bottles, beakers or teapots (are) .. . meant as much for 

contemplation as for use; but whether studying them will yield any sense of meaning is questionable. 

They are only about themselves and about the years of needing to make them ... I can't offer them 

as new, surprising, noble or comfortable. I have to make them because they are beautiful, worth the 

trouble" . 17 

There may be some argument as to whether these three bowls, taken individually, were new 

(metaphorically if not literally). The term 'surprising' doesn't spring to mind; they were comfortable in 

the sense that were in no way challenging, and as to the question of nobility - well, "What poor an 

instrument, may do a noble deed"'8 probably sums it up, if one takes poor to mean humble, or even 

self-effacing . 

But that is if the pieces are seen individually, which of course they can't be because they were 

'inseparable', and therefore were one. 

8 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 201)


Viewed through the finely tuned lens of Hanssen Pigott's later work, these three bowls are very much 

a beginning. They only hint at what might come, but their significance to the artist is demonstrated by 

her reference to a poem which reads: 

Some men go ten years without crying 

and when they do cry 

it's only because they feel utterly helpless. 

(Gerry Gilbert) 

Here, she is wrapping the work in text, and the reader is to understand that the pots are inseparable 

not only from each other but from meaning with a capital 'M'. She had found a way for her pots to be 

something other than just objects of use, an ambition which she had held for some time. It wasn't a 

major work, but all the elements were there - it Just took a few more years to refine things. 

For a good part of her life, in Australia, England and France, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott made beautifully 

crafted domestic pottery when most attention was being paid and most accolades were being given to 

work that existed at the extremes of aesthetics. She made quiet pots during a period when the volume 

was turned up to eleven. Lou Reed once said to a heckler in an audience, "I can drown you out", and 

there was a time in Gwyn Hanssen Pigott's mid-career when that seemed to be her fate. 

As Steve Dow noted in his article on Hanssen Pigott, although she" ... never called herself an artist 

and hated the word ceramist ... " !9. it was only when her work became contextualised as art that the 

mainstream arts commentators - those whose purview extends beyond the confines of the ceramics 

world, or simply exists outside it - began to vociferously proclaim the value of its craft origins, neatly 

packaged as it was within a familiar and highly recognisable pictorial language. 

When the critic Christopher Allen, recently writing in The Australian in an article tellingly titled 

'Ceramist's picture-perfect suites'lO, states that" ... in the 1980s, a particularly ill-conceived hybrid art 

form arose, known as ceramic sculpture, embraced largely by women and supported by an ill-digested 

mixture of theories about craft, folk-art and feminism" Z!, the products of which" .. varied from 

faux-naif whimsy to ideological kitsch '" almost (all) uniformly dreadful"22, one gets a pretty accurate 

appraisal of how many in the art world viewed much of what was celebrated within the ceramics world. 

Those who worked in the fine arts wanted potters to be potters, while many of those in the ceramics 

world desperately wanted to be considered artists. Paradoxically, the fine arts contingent felt quite 

content to relegate all ceramics to a position somewhat below art, until a potter presented them with 

work which, quite literally, looked like art, while still being pottery. 

By the early 1990s Hanssen Pigott's work had arrived at its final configuration. 

The groupings of pots now included taller shapes as well as bowls and beakers, teapots and cups. The 

early work, made at Netherdale in Queensland where Hanssen Pigott had moved in 1989, was a little 

clunky - the odd, elongated cone shapes of the vases were more smoke-stack than fragile Morandi, 

especially when glazed in the darker tenmoku blacks and browns; but by the mid-1990s it was pretty 

well all there, with the fine porcelain clays clothed in exquisitely nuanced whites and ivory creams 

through the palest blues, greens and yellows. The bottle shapes were more resolved, the cylindrical 

beakers and bowls had lost the broad French peasant foot and, seen individually, each piece became 

almost the idea of a pot, or perhaps the ideal. All of Gwyn Hanssen Pigott's considerable technical skills 

were brought to bear on the simplest and most pared-down of objects, which, when gathered together 



in groups of three or four or even twenty or more, achieved a kind of critical mass fuelled by their 

shared simplicity. It was a case of less is more and more of less, more or less. 

As the groupings became increasingly larger, so did her reputation. She showed extensively in 

both Australia and overseas and obtained representation at galleries that had hitherto been merely 

unobtainable goals for Australian ceramics artists, or indeed any Australian artist. 

In 2000 she moved back to South East Queensland, and over the next decade exhibited her pots at 

the highest level in Canada, the USA, England, Europe and Asia . In Australia her work broke boundaries 

as well as records for the kind of prices a living potter could achieve. She was the one who made it, and 

in doing so she paved the way for others to follow. 

There is much to analyse in Gwyn Hanssen Pigott's later work, far more than can be done in an 

essay like this. Her arrangements of historical collections at museums like the Smithsonian are just one 

example of an artist whose oeuvre straddles art, craft, curatorial intervention and in terior design in a 

bravura display of ... well, that is still to be decided. Beauty, certainly. Meaning, perhaps. In terms of this 

little corner of art history, she changed the world. 

Damon Moon 

Willunga 2013 

1 G!orglo Morandi by Robert Hughes.. first pubhshed in Time magazine 1981 and repnnted in Nothing If Not Crl tlC.:!1. Selected Essays on Art 

and Artists HaMil 1991 

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman: Gwyn Hans~n Pigott 1935 - 1973' by Tanya Harrod in Gwyn Hanssen PIgott: a survey 1955 - 2005. 

by Jason Smith et al NatlOfl31 GalJery of VICtoria 2006 

4 Pottery Quarterly- a review of ceramic art edited Murray Fieldhouse pp.1451146 

Ibid 

6 ibid 

7 'G\N)'11 Hanssen PIgott' it view from her second home' by Alison Britten In Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: a survey 1955 - 2005. NatIOnal Gallery of 

Victoria by Jason SmIth et al 2006 

8 ibid 

9 CIted in Bernard leach by Edmund de Waal. Tate Gallery Publishing 

10 'The Potters of Haul-BeHY' by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott Potlery in Australia Vol. 8, No. "2 Spring 1969 

11 'Gwyn Hanssen PIgott' by Margaret Tuck-son Pallet)' In Australia Vol. 22 No 2 NovlDec 1983 

12 'PortraIt of an artist as a young woman: Gwyn Hanssen PIgott 1935 - 1973' by Tanya Harrod Ibld 

13 'Knowledge, Form, Usefulness and the Unknown: the Art of Gwyn Hanssen Ptgott' by Jason SmIth in Gwyn Ham~ Pigott: a survey 

1955 - 2005 Ibid 

14 IbId 

15 'Gwyn Hanssen Pigott' by Margaret Tuck-son IbId 

16 'Knowledge, Form Usefulness and the unknown' The Art of Gwyn Hanssen PIgott' by Jason Smith ibid 

17 'Statement' by GWJn Hanssen PIgOtt Pottery In Australia Vol. 27 No. 1 

18 Antony and Cleopatra Act 5 Scene 2 by William Shal::.espeare 

19 'Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, potter and barner breaker, dies In London' by Steve Dow 8nsbanetllnes.com.au 17 July 20 13 Fairfax Media 

20 'Ceramist's plClure-perfect suites' Christopher Allen The Australian 9 July 2013 News IJmited 

21 Ibid 

22 ibid 


--- 


At this time of my parting, 

w ish me good luck. my friends. 

When I go from here, let this be my parting word; 

That what I have seen is unsurpassable. 

I have tasted the hidden honey from the flowers that bloom 

in the forest of light, and thus, 

I am blessed. 

Let this be my parting word. 

In this playhouse of infinite forms, 

I have hod my play, and here, I have caught sight 

of that which is formless, that which is endless. 

Now, when p laytime is over. what is this sudden sight 

that has come upon me? 

The World, with eyes bent, stands in awe with all its silent stars. 

And on the day when death came to my door, 

what did I offer to him? 

Oh. I set before my guest the full vessel of my life; 

I did not let him go with empty hands. 

All the sweet vintage of my autumn days and summer nights, all the 

earnings and gleanings of my busy life did I place before him at the close 

of my days, 

when Death come to my door. 

So, at this time of my parting. wish me good luck my friends. 

The sky is flushed w ith the dawn, 

And my path lies beautiful. 

Kabir 

This poem was pinned up on a notKeboard whe re Gwyn kept photos and mementoes. Her family and 

fflends felt that it was a beautiful way to remember GV\I)'n so it was read by Gwyn's sister, Kate John, at 

a celebration of Gwyn's life held at Olsen Irwin In Sydney in July 2013. 


Guest Editor: Julie Bartholomew 

OPPOsite page: Sally Cleary, Silent River, 2011 

detail, tarpaulin with paInted sticks 

Photo: Andrew Bareham, Project Space, 201 1 

While recently viewing the documentary Chasing 

Ice , I experienced the extreme emotional states of 

being uplifted and then utterly disheartened. James 

Balog and a devoted team of young adventurers used 

innovative time-lapse cameras installed within the 

relentlessly brutal Arctic climate to record the demise of 

the world's monolithic and supremely beautiful glaciers 

due to rapid climate change. Balog's mission was to 

" deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered 

planet" - hard proof of detrimental, climate Change 

but expressed using the seductive aesthetic language of 

photography. 

The artists in this special focus are not unlike 

James Balog. They are committed to representing the 

natural environment whilst encouraging audiences 

to bear witness to their concerns about the natural world with which humankind is unequivocally 

interconnected. The web of connections, and our place within its labyrinthine network, is what I 

consider to be a broad definition of ecology. Consequently, this edition's collection of articles spans 

a wide spectrum of interests relating to the environment - the conceptually powerful and ephemeral 

installations of Clare Twomey', Virginia Jones' transitory outdoor installations achieved 'through a 

sustainable working methodology', and Charlie Schneider's2 recent collaborative, site-specific project 

based in Monticello, USA. Australian 'eco warrior' Steve Harrison expresses the importance of place 

whilst Liz Stops discusses the relationship between environmental activism and skills acquired through 

her ceramics practice. Many of the artists point to the high level of species depletion in a short space of 

time during Australia's environmental history. Cathy Franzi, Sally Cleary, Helen Earl, Vicki Hamilton and I 

express a strong consciousness for Australia's critically endangered flora and fauna . 

Clay's direct connection to the earth and its capacity for transformation through fire continues to be 

a catalyst for Barbara Campbell-Allen and Yuri Wiedenhofer, activating environmental concerns about 

place and identity. Cathy Keys' hand-formed Bunya pines also engage with a sense of place - in this 

instance a 'touchstone, not only for Keys but for the places and people of Queensland'. 

Returning to Chasing Ice, th is documentary activates the distress and deep sense of loss taking place 

now, yet out of sight due to the inaccessible Arctic climate. The artists assembled in this issue are also 

experiencing a sense of loss due to irreparable climate change, but in a home place or local natural 

environment. Their common purpose is to remind their audiences that we are all living this experience. 

Dr Julie Bartholomew, www.chasingice.com 

1 Clare Twomey, from l ondon, visned Adelaide during October 2012 for the Subver~e Clay (onference. 

2 Charlie SchneIder from the USA studIed at COFA. UNSW and has participated tn Sculpture by the Sea and numerous exhibitIOns In Sydney 

He's known for his 'wallpaper' proJects about invaSIVe species WIthin the Australian and USA contexts. 


Co ntribut o rs 

-_._------_._--_. 

Margaret Farmer is a curator, editor and 

writer whose past projects include the public art 

program We Make This City in Sydney's Taylor 

Square, co-founding the Biennale of Sydney 

fringe SafARI, and being a writer and managing 

editor for Current: Contemporary Art from 

Australia and New Zealand (Art & Australia, 

2008). 

I 

I 

I 

I 

In Ruth Johnstone's art practice, clay finds 

its form as an experimental intervention with 

landscape. She uses it as a saturated conduit 

for waterways and for self-firing hearths. The 

palette of clay is fixed in the underlay of her 

paintings and prints, a membrane for supporting 

observations of the forest floor. 

Virginia Jones has had a long career in the 

arts industry, working for many years both as 

artist and arts educator; she now focuses all 

her attention on her studio practice. For several 

months a year, art residencies and commissions 

for ephemeral installation works take her out of 

her Brisbane studio to many parts of the world. 

This time of working and travelling provides the 

inspiration and research for her gallery exhibitions 

and design works. 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

Carol Schwarzman is an independent arts 

writer whose coverage focuses on contemporary 

visual arts, culture and nature. She contributes to 

publications in both Australia and the US such as 

Sculpture, Artlink, Art Monthly Australia, Art 

& Australia and The Brooklyn Rail, and also 

writes exhibition essays and catalogues. Her blog 

can be found at http://polycentrica.com. You can 

contact Carol at drawaboutl @optusnet.com.au. 

18 THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

Clare Twomey, Thing, Tang, Trash. 2011, Made in China, Permanenten: The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art 

Clare Twomey 

An interview with Dr Virginia Jones 

Question 1 

Dr Virginia Jones 

The current use of the term ecology is applied to an ever-wider range of situations; once only 

referring to the branch of biology that studied relations of organisms to each other and their physical 

surroundings, it can now describe, for example, the interaction of people with their natural, social or 

built environments or as a political movement that works to protect the natural environment. There are 

many interpretations of the term ecology and I am interested to know how you would define ecology 

when referring to your art practice. Is ecology central to your artworks and the starting point for the 

creation of your installations? 


Clare Twomey, Plymouth Porcelain: a new collection 

2012, Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery, UK 

Detail 

Clare Twomey 

The use of terms is a malleable state; the definition of terms has been a harbor for stagnation within the 

crafts and its fluidity into wider practice and context, so the definition of a term that is within flux is a 

welcome situation. As far as the term ecology, this can be viewed as the study of interactions; my work 

bares this out rather than using it as a starting point. The starting point may be a very changeable place 

from work to work. 

Question 2 

VJ: Ceramics and clay as art materials bring with them much historical and cultural meaning. Are the 

traditions and associations imbedded in the material important concepts in your works? Is this meaning 

central or is it at times peripheral to the work? 

CT: The embedded languages of material are central to the work that I make. The inferred languages of 

history, cultural use, and recontextualisation through the work I make are significant in the final delivery 

of a work that must become commanding and independent. The material languages of Clay are rich and 

commonly understood; this notion of connection to the understood, the sensitivities of clay, allows a 

broad entry point to the work; clay is not hierarchical or exclusive. 

Question 3 

VJ: Your ephemeral installations change physically as a result of interaction with people or the 

natural elements. Often artists who work in this way photograph their artworks and exhibit the 

images as artworks in their own right. Do you consider photographic images of your installations as 

documentation of the life of the artwork and do your images hold the possibility to extend the life of 

your artwork in a different form? 


Focus: Ecology and Ceramics 

CT: The area of documentation is very difficult. The experiential is vital in the work that I make. I think 

fundamentally I want to make experiences that are tangible through interaction or observation. The term 

installation, in all its varying forms, indicates an experience that one is engulfed by. This can happen 

through photography, but in my case, so far photography has only been used as documentation. The 

rigor of these boundaries is useful to help the works I make stay focused on their purpose. 

Question 4 

VJ: Human observation and interaction during the exhibition of the works are important elements of 

your work. What does this reveal to you about the perception of your work and the site? Do you find 

that the concepts and form of your artworks has changed as a result of your observations? 

CT: The interactions of the participants are vital to forming the artwork. They feed into what others 

do within the work. They are present and owned by the participants in most cases. So the question of 

reframing my position around this interaction does not impact on the work being undertaken; the work 

is independent at this stage. In following works, the knowledge that was evidenced in previous works 

cannot be unknown. The work continues but very often I cannot presume the same set of interactions 

as the site has changed, the work has changed and the question is probably different. I learn more 

about the work I have made through it becoming live. The work starts as a well-calculated hope and I 

learn about that as the work is explored. 

Question 5 

VJ: Many of your installations include multiple components produced by industrial production methods, 

for example your works Consciousness/Conscience and Forever. Would you consider this a process 

of commissioning a company to produce a product or is it more a collaborative process? If so, to what 

extent does the form and meaning of the artwork change as a result of the collaborative process? 

CT: I don't make products with industry; industry is a context for making installations and multiples. 

The relationsh ip between my role as an outside artist with a disconnected relationship with product 

production is helpful to understand the purpose beyond the original object. My independence allows 

dialogues around skills, craft, material and people to be viewed afresh, not under the traditional roles 

set out in the production of objects for mass sale . The form and meaning of the artwork are not formed 

by convenience around industry; they are formed around a dialogue, a debate and reframing of history. 

This is why I have undertaken the collaborative process. 

Question 6 

VJ: Could you tell us a little about your work as a research fellow at the University of Westminster? 

CT: I am a researcher in the area of ceramics at the Ceramics Research Centre UK, based in the 

University of Westminster. This role encompasses my practices as an artist, researcher, and curator. I am 

an advisor for the PhD student study within the department. My research cu rrently addresses the role 



of craft and skills as a tool for deconstructing 

narratives in and around museum collections. The 

role of the audience in creation and destruction 

of the final works in the museum context is 

also a vital part of this ongoing research . The 

role of contemporary crafts and skills can be 

a lens through which to view current practice 

and investigative roles of the impact of making. 

Ceramics is a central part of my research as a 

material as well as a lens. The current research 

is framed by the ceramics in the expanded field 

research project undertaken in the Ceramics 

Research Centre UK. 

www.claretwomey.com 

lef1: Clare Twomey. A Dark Day in Paradise, 2010 

Brighton Pavilion. UK 

Below: Clare Twomey, Forever, 2010, Nelson AtkinS 

Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA 

Photos: courtesy Clare Twomey


Virginia Jones 

Eight Forests, 2011 

detail, unfired clay 

ochres, bamboo skewers 

various dimensions 

Photo: artist 

Virginia Jones' 

Recent Outdoor Installations 

Discussions with Carol Schwarzman 

Virginia Jones' work is gentle, engaging and strong . Her process transacts closely with nature's rhythms 

and calls upon Zen's embrace of the transient and ephemeral. She borrows from the tradition of the 

Zen garden and its visuality; however her work is about life in the physical present, in real t ime. Jones 

reminds us that the ground we walk on is a sacred space. 

THE IOURNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 23


Opposite: Virginia Jones, Lines in the Sand, 2013 

unfired day, coloured sands, h.41cm, w.61cm, d.1Ocm 

Photo: artist 

Like a number of the first-generation New York Minimalists who, in the 1970s, fashioned works on 

the floor from humble materials, Jones uses clay, minerals, sticks, found natural objects and text, most 

often placed directly and elegantly on grass, sand or ground cover. 

A comparison of Jones' project to that of the New York artist Mel Bochner is appropriate: Bochner, 

in his seminal work of the 1970s, made sculptures like Ten , in which ten small white stones were 

configured on the gallery floor to spell out that two-digit numeral. Jones' modest materials are also 

presented free of attitude or pose. Both artists court vulnerability and the destruction of their work 

by viewers' passing feet. Where Bochner's assemblages seek to coolly embody the rupture between 

language and object, Jones declines the abstract, placing her work outdoors, allowing her materials to 

speak for the larger ecology of humans, animals, plants, minerals and Nature's interconnectedness. She 

says, "When I'm working, I'm focused on the materials and developing a process for laying out those 

materials ... I freely let it go after the making ... and let the installation be destroyed over time and 

by chance. That's part of the process." And so her work is reabsorbed into the environment, existing 

afterward only in documenting photographs and viewers' memories. 

In 2011, Jones was awarded a year's residency at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha in 

Brisbane. Eight Forests focused on Australia's main forest groups: Acacia, Callitris, Casuarina, Eucalypt, 

Melaleuca, Mangrove, Plantation and Rainforest, and sought to engage the public in considering why 

forests are important. The installations, which incorporated unfired clay and text, invited the elements 

and viewer intervention to change the look and longevity of all the works. For one installation, the artist 

threw thirty clay pod shapes on the potter's wheel, each about 15cm in length and Bcm in diameter at 

their middle. She hand-painted each pod in washes of ochre and red, and then in blue, spelled out the 

forests' names, building up stripes of words. Luminous and clean-edged, they hovered slightly above 

scattered bamboo leaves, each pod perched on four skewers stuck down into the soft ground. 

Pods, eggs and seeds are "important for the future" Jones says, and "carry information about the 

transference of life to future generations" . In building up the objects and systems that coalesce into a 

finished piece, she employs shapes such as the pods, half-pods, bowls and leaves - all repeating the way 

natural systems, when healthy, replicate and reproduce themselves, change slowly over long periods of 

time, and find a semblance of stasis. She says, "Within a healthy ecosystem change can be withstood 

and coped with. In an unhealthy ecosystem, the system won't adapt to different situations because it's 

already stressed. If something new happens in an unhealthy ecosystem, and parts can't respond, the 

system breaks down." 

In June 2013, Jones was one of a group of ten artists invited to create work at Lines in the Sand, the 

eco-ephemeral arts, culture and environment festival held yearly on North Stradbroke Island, just off the 

shore of Brisbane. During the six-day reSidency, she worked with other artists through bad weather and 

a king tide to install work along the Gorge Walk at Point Lookout. Another artist in residence, Craig 



Tapp, a traditional owner of Noonuccal and of Ngugi descent, who sand-paints with local coloured 

sands, generously shared these sands w ith Jones, and she was thus able to try out new processes, 

textures and colours. 

Jones worked on the borders of the Gorge Walk, in car parks and paddocks to test the yellow sand, 

ilmenite, and red sand given her by Tapp. She created 'pages', similar to the slabs she used at Mount 

Coot-tha, by dusting the ground in discrete rectangles on which she 'drew' with found natural objects 

(shells, dried flower buds, cuttlebone, coral) or arranged random compositions with her clay pinch 

bowls. Jones speaks of the pages as 'sketches: and it's in keeping with her commitment to the flow of 

creation and destruction that she allowed footsteps, rain and wind to change the work over time. 

Jones also installed a larger, more formalised circular piece at Lines in the Sand, working in a format 

she had employed previously and often constructed from repetitive shapes such as red beans, unfired 

clay vessels, or porcelain bowls stamped with Australian rainforest leaves and Japanese postal and 

customs stamps. The circle was made from red and yellow sands and half-pod shapes formed from 

unfired clay and dipped in ilmenite while still wet. The size and contours of the half-pods were the 'cast' 

of Jones' cupped hands, interjecting an element of the autobiographical, or perhaps of the universal 

'every person '. 

Virginia Jones. Lines in the Sand, 2013, detail, unfired day, coloured sands, bamboo skewers, h.20cm, diam.167cm 

Photo: artist


At Lines in the Sand, working with local sands was sign ificant: North Stradbroke Island's ongoing 

challenge of redefining its economic dependency on sand mining for the last sixty years is politically, 

culturally and environmentally charged. Two years ago, native title was determined in favor of 

Quandamooka traditional owners, thus placing them on a more level playing field with the resident 

mining company, and heightening contrasts of interests within the island's community. 

Jones' project is deceptively simple, yet her commitment to creating through a sustainable working 

methodology acts to mirror nature, eventuating in seamlessly embedding her work within the natural 

world and echoing the cycles in which we all live. 

All quotes sourced from conversations with the artist from June to August 2013. 

Carol Schwarzman is a visual artist and freelance arts writer based in Brisbane and New York. 

She was writer-in-residence at Lines in the Sand held in June 2013. 

Virginia Jones, Lines in the Sand, 2013, detaIl, coloured sand. h.41 cm, w.61 cm; photo: artist 


Focus : Ecology and Ceramics 

Waking a Town 

Altair Roelants discusses Charlie Schneider's latest ceramic work 

The Wake Project (2013) 

I last wrote about American artist Charlie Schneider and his clay slip 'wallpaper' projects in 2010 for 

The Journal of Australian Ceramics L this was both my introduction to ceramics writing in Australia 

and indeed the pages of this publication. Although Schneider is by no means a ceramicist in the 

traditional sense, rather he's an artist that employs the conceptual possibilities of the clay itself, 

activating the historic and environmental properties, with particular attention to the relevance of site 

and 'poetic resonance' .2 These earlier works saw Schneider extending his wallpapers to the Australian 

landscape 3 by painting carefully chosen locations with elaborate patterns of invasive species 4 a metaphor 

for humanity's "widespread impact on the world and our need to exert geographic and spatial control 

over nature rather than finding a synthesis" S This article acts as a follow up, three years down the track; 

and while Schneider has accomplished an impressive array of art works, exhibitions6 and smaller ceramic 

pieces 7 along the way, I want to focus on his recent venture, The WAKE Project (2013), which once 

again pushes the definition of both ceramics and art-making. 

Looking back, Schneider's practice often involves a continuum of collective, personal and political 

history with a very specific geographic engagement with place, and Th e Wake Project is a fine 

example of this. For the piece, Schneider collaborated with artist David Robertson 8 and returned to the 

Monticello Dam that acted as such a spectacular canvas for his Dam Wallpaper #1 Yellow Starthistle 

(Centaurea solstit ialis) in 2009. 9 When I asked why he chose to revisit this site he replied that as 

well as being his local area, it's "in many ways " linked with "some of the major themes about change 

Charlie Schneider, Brick #22: Cultivate the Fields and watch over the cattle I Akkadian Letter 'Before the Invasion 

of the Guti' c.22OO BeE 2013; photo: artist 



and transition related to that earlier body of work" . 10 The result is part historical research project and 

part performance, memorial ceremony, art event and (broadly speaking) ceramics, which all focus on 

the former town of Monticello, a small settlement located in 8erryessa Valley in California. In 1957, 

Monticello, along with the surrounding farms and orchards, was submerged by the dam's construction 

in order to form the man-made Lake 8erryessa . As Schneider writes, " When Putah Creek found its 

traditional route to the Sacramento Valley obstructed in the w inter of 1957, it flooded its banks, but 

did not recede as usual: the loud flush of a roaring, swollen creek was swallowed instead by the quiet 

waters of a filling reservoir. 1957 was the last year that this place was a valley ... there w as a small 

village of approximately 300 inhabitants in this valley that is now a lake. It was the town of Monticello " 

a " ... nucleus for radiating farm fields that produced abundant harvests of pears, peaches and 

almonds"." The Wake Project uses "the loss of a town as a metaphor for 'the price of progress'" 12 

- hence the title, wake being a ceremony associated with death, alongside having an affiliation with 

boats and waking up. So where does ceramics come into play? If the town is ever reconstructed, 

Schneider'S idea was "to provide future historical and physical building mat erial" 13 in the form of bricks 

that were to be inscribed with contemporary commentary but using a font inspired by the ancient 

Cuneiform script (the earliest form of written recorded history, developed by the Sumerian people in the 

middle-east)14 and set in clay tablets. As well as being a clever material link, for Schneider this element 

reiterates "common human activities that span thousands of years" IS - writing, ceramics and practical 

uses of clay. Similarly, ceremonies devoted to death are another far-reaching cultural tradition, and the 

finished bricks were to be thrown into the lake during a wake-style 'conference' on a boat. As Schneider 

explains, "much of my work is about representing . . and trying to comprehend time scales beyond that 

of human lives and histories " .1 6 

Ch arlie Schneider, Brick #4: The Government Men moved into the Valley. Demolition contractors were made 

responsible for the VaJley 's orderly destruction I Everyone said they'd never flood it. Even when they talked about 

it we never believed they'd flood it, 2013; photo: artist 


~------ - 

--- 


Captain Charlie Schneider 

and Brick #4, 18 August 2013 

Lake Berryessa, floating 

above the former town of 

Monticello 

Photo: David Robertson 

In June 2013 Schneider and Robertson began developing the project which included local history 

research'7, curation and event planning~ The artists out-sourced fired commercial bricks's and 

collaborated on the wording, with Schneider doing much of the inscribing using wooden tools to press 

the forms into the bricks, and assorted loop tools and fettling knives to carve shapes '9, much like the 

Sumerian scribes who used reeds. 2o The text, which is charaderistically political and lyrical. covers both 

surfaces 21 and excerpts include "Somewhere over the rainbow I God said to Noah, Make yourself 

an ark"22, "The Bureau of Reclamation said to the town of Monticello, Pick up your dead and move 

them to dry land I The exact dam spot is 38.S133N, 122. 1 042W"23, and accounts taken from former 

residents 24 such as "James M Hanley: The flesh of my valley has disappeared. Only the bones remain 

I Barbara M Hanson: What the bulldozers didn't destroy, the fires did" .IS The completed twenty-four 

bricks were then fired in a medium-sized eledric kiln to Cone 06. Also inline with Schneider's other 

artistic interventions in natural and urban environments, there is a slight guerrilla edge as no permission 

was sought from local authorities - another peaceful and unobtrusive act of claiming back history and 

place. 

The ensuing WAKE Conference was held on 18 August 201326 - Schneider and Robertson being 

accompanied by a small group of local artists, friends and family17 on a 44-foot, two-decker pontoon 

boat that was christened Monticello for the occasion. As boat captain, Schneider initiated the hour- 

30 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

Focus: Ecology and Ceram ics 

Captain Charlie Schneider and David Robertson. 18 August 2013. Lake Berryessa, floating above the former town of 

Monticello; photo: liz Tenuta 

long conference, reading a sermon that was a reflective and insightful piece that made interesting 

connections between the history of the region28, government policies and land art. He also touched 

upon a photographic essay in Aperture magazine titled 'Death of a Valley' (1960)29 that covered the 

town's fate. As Schneider recalled there is one " image I w ill never forget. that of a cemetery emptied 

of its dead. In this picture, rectangular holes from the grave excavations are cut into the ground, and it 

seems as if ready to bury the newly dead: the valley itself, soon to be filled "]O The sermon was followed 

by a variety of speakers including Robertson who talked about "fire and flood in religious symbology" 

as reoccurring "universal motifs for destruction and regeneration "3! , and performance artist Allison Fall 

floated ceramic cones full of chocolate onto the water to "activate the sense of smell in the space in 

which she performs" ]2 To conclude, Schneider read each of the bricks before dropping them into the 

water where they would descend to the lake floor and wait like sleeping time capsules ]3 Whether or 

not the waters of Lake Berryessa are ever drained or the bricks unearthed, these artistic gestures remain 

significant in their contemporary context. 

The Wake Project uses site, material, performance and community participation to build collective 

knowledge streams through extending social commentary and localised history. Also, as with much 

of Schneider'S work (including the wallpaper series) they clearly outline the politics of place. In this 

instance, the act of both inscribing the bricks and then throwing them into the water, importantly 


Above and below: Charlie Schneider, Lart Visions of Sounding Bricks, 18 August 2013, lake Berryessa 

Photos: artist 

within a site-specific public event that invites people to respond, are actions that phYSically suggest a 

reconnection with Monticello, while instigating a shared moment of awareness that revives this part of 

history within the present. Like a wake, the event's activities - public speaking, prose and ceremonyritualise 

and perform this concept by mourning the loss of this town, but also remembering, and thus 

validating it. The water that once brought destruction to the area now merges these forgotten stories 

with future narratives. The bricks employ clay's longevity as a natural material that shapes the man-made 

environment to physically connect the new with the old building blocks of Monticello and the once 

fertile soil of the valley floor. And metaphorically, using ceramic's role as a means to communicate and 

carry history, they speak to the past and the future. As art objects, they're being given over to nature, 

chance and time, which, for me, conjures up endless imaginative possibilities (where w ill the bricks end 

up and who will find them?) - like a lost balloon released into the wind or a message in a bottle adrift 

at sea. Or will they simply sink deep into the mud and be consumed by the earth's own ageing process. 

No one knows, much like the labyrinths of history that w ill carve their passages beyond us. 

The Wake Project connects different points, and means to think through and document history'S 

traces. And in doing so, like Schneider'S wallpapers, exposes the ramifications of political, economic and 

ideological decisions on history and land - as all space, whether intellectual or geographic is marked 

out by invisible lines drawn by these hands. But I think it is precisely th is that remains meaningful about 

Schneider'S work; the artist makes one realise there are many ways, and reasons to re-map them or 

wake them up. 

http://cschneiderart,com

Altair Roelants. http://writingthevisual.wordpress.com 

Aftair Roelants, 'InvasIVe Species', The Joufndf of Austtafldn CeramICS, ISsue 4913, November 2010. p.p 22-28 

Quote taken from ema,l ,ntervle\Y between Schneider and author In August 2013 

3 When I first met Schneider on a Sydney Art Month Tour 10 2010. the artist was beginning h,s Graduate Certificate In Sculpture. PeriOfmance 

and InstallattOn al COFA. 

4 Slles 10 Australia Included COFA. Fowlers Gap, and various sites In Sydney. Schneider was also chosen to e)(h,bil one - Crown-oF-Thorns 

Wallpaper, Acanrhastel planci (20 I 0) - In Sculpture by the Sea 201 D, winning the Damlen Courtney Young Sculptor Prize. 

Ouote taken from Altair Roelants, Invasive SpeCIes, The Journal of AustralIan Ceramics. Issue 4913, November 2010, p.p 22-28 

6 5rnce 2010. Schneider completed his Master of Flrle Arts. In StudIO Art/CeramICS at The School of the Art InstItute of Chicago and notable 

projeCts include Sculpture by the Sea 2011. Art Basel Miami Beach DavIS Satellite Show. a CKada Press Residency in Sydney. and a video prOject 

with Tess Atlas and Vernon Ah Kee that will be shown at Tandanya Art Center for the Adelaide Festival In 2014. 

Such M the two collaborative works wIth artist NKoie $elSler (wwwnysprolects.com) Clay to Clay (2012) a prOject about ~ how ceramKS 

that saturate our worlds, sha,ed through distance and digital media- And To get 10 the other (2011 ) In wtllch long, trough hke basins 

constructed of timber, palOt, varnish and day were filled with water using the reffectlvt' surface of the water and natural light to link the 

spaces In wtllch Schneider and Seisle(s 'NOn: was exhibited. the outside street With the Interior of the gallery and the audience WIth the artist 

and art object. 

8 DaVid Robertson is a photographer, Professor Emeritu,,> of EnglISh, University of Callforma. Davis, CA and academIC and a hfe-Iong fflend and 

mentor of Schneider's. wwwdavidrobertson.org 

9 Dam Wallpaper 111 Yellow Starthlstle (Centaurea soiSt/tIJIIS) 2009 that Schneider and nrne accomplices completed over the course of a few 

weeks, In yolo County, California. in October 2009 

10 Quote taken from email interview between Schneider and authol In August 2013.


11 Quote taken from Charlie Schneider, 'WAKE Sermon', 20, 3. The paper that Schnetder wrote tOf, and presented, at the Wake conference event 

as way of a sermon. 

12 The term was used by Minor White. former editor of Aperturp In his editorial tor the photographIC essay 'Death of a Valley' by Pinde 

Jones and Dorothea Lange in Issue 8:3, 1960. Schneider also explains. '" think. also It'S a nice relationship, the photographIC collaboratIOn 

between Pirkle Jones and Dorothea Lange, and my coilaboratK>n with David Robertson." 

13 Quote taken from email Interview between Schneider and author In August 2013. 

14 In roughly the place of present day Iraq 

15 Quote taken from email intel'Vlew between Schneider and author in August 2013. 

16 Quole taken from email interview between Schneider and author in August 2013. 

17 Including the TIle Solano Project, which was the title for the proposed and in-progress Monticello Dam and assorted additional minor water 

containment sub~proJ«f.'i . 

18 The bricks were sourced from the McNear Brickyard In San Rafael, CalifOfnla. 

19 This diSCUssed by Schneider via email in August 2013. 

20 ThIS discussed by Schneider via email in August 2013 

21 What would be the extenor and interior If used In building 

22 Text from BrICk 1 

23 Text from Bnd: S 

24 fonner residents quote sourced from the Monticello HIStory Exhibit In Spanish flat. 

25 Text from Brick 24 

26 Schneider describes the event as a cross between an art happening and a conference. 

27 The WAKE Conference attendees were Jeanette Robertson. Bob Schneider, Uz Merry, liz Tenuto, Joyce Havstad. Brett DaVIS, Dana Marsh and 

Allison Fall. 

28 Including the flfst native Inhabitants before European settlement the Pomo and the RIVer Patwm people. 

29 Ed. Minor White, 'Death of a Valley - Photograpners Pirkle Jones and Dorothea lange' In Aperture Issue 8:3. 1960 

30 Quote taken from Charlie Schneider's, 'WAKE Sermon', 2013. 

31 Quote taken from email interview between Schneider and author In August 2013. 

32 Quote taken from email inteMeW between Schneider and author 10 August 2013 For more Info on Allison Fall's work www.alJisonfall.com 

33 The event was foilaNed by lunch, beer, whiskey and SWImming In the lake 

Photo: Liz Merry


Sally Cleary, Silent River, 2011, installation with dry cracked floor; photo; Andrew Bareham; Project Space, 2011 

Rivers of Slip 

Ruth Johnstone considers recent projects by Sally Cleary 

Sally Cleary draws on diverse references for her work, from ancient mosaics to the litter of untidy forest 

floors, to enact the changing ecology of our landscape. In recent work she responds to the tesserae 

that carefully illustrate the remnants of dinners past in the 'unswept' mosaic floors of privileged Ancient 

Greek and Roman households. The articulate tiling of Greek and Roman unswept floors resonates 

with her floors of slip, particularly as the creamy viscous pools dry and split into flat, crisp platelets, 

as if arranging themselves in a wall-to-wall interior drought. No living remnant of nature exists in this 

parched floor. 

The historical mosaics mimic shadows made permanent, the grey tiles tracking the leftover debris 

of a meal and they continue to follow the lively form of attendant rodent scavengers'. Modern 

interpretations of this historical curiosity persist and in this reworking some different shadows are cast. 

Ideas of vanitas and memento mori commonly emerge out of these newer still life floor renderings. 

Sally Cleary often refers to the local unswept forest floors of the otway Ranges and remnants of human 

habitation as she populates her photographs and collections for exhibition. She extends her most recent 

interpretations into a form of nature morte of vast proportions, bringing to her work a consciousness 

of climate change in our Anthropocene age. The time-based and ephemeral nature of her recent 

installations is in counterpoint to the paradoxically permanently unswept mosaic floor. The suspension 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 20'3 

3S

Fo cus: Ecology and Ceramics 

Opposite page: 

Sally Cleary, Silent Night, 2013 

installation, dry cracked floor 

Photo: artist; Craft, 2013 

Left: Owls by Giambologna. '567 

Bargello National Museum, Florence 

Photo: Sally Cleary 

of clay in water extended across the floor in both her Silent River 2011 and Silent Night 2013 

installations, presented respectively at Spare Room and Craft galleries in Melbourne. This unexpected 

application of casting slip spilling across the floors of the galleries recalls the density of Richard Wilson's 

glassy-surfaced tanks of sump oil of the 1980s. Both artists disturb our sense of orientation and remind 

us to observe how we traverse a gallery space and engage in the materiality of exhibited works at 

our own peril. The Silent River floor was augment ed by a blue tarpaulin carrying white painted tree 

branches, the bundle being suspended across the gallery floor as if transiting above the River Styx. The 

presence of a soundscape, composed by sound artist John Nguyen, added to a sense of loss in this 

rather still but intractably changing, scene. Silent Night featured a white painted chair used as a perch 

for a stiffly rendered, hand-modeled, moulded and slip cast Barking Owl. The bird on its supporting perch 

was the only one to witness the entire transformation of its watery environment to its crusty end. This 

ghostly rendition of a species on the extinct list of an imals in forests of Victoria (due to habitat removal) 

faced a viewing platform and seating for extended audience contemplation in a darkened room with 

an optional audio soundtrack provided through headphones. Found objects, crafted form and electronic 

media all intersect with drying slip to make a coherent work. 

Through this writing we transition across millennia, bringing still life mosaics to time-based installation 

art practice. Narrative travels as pools of glassy fluid progressively evaporate, making gaping spaces in 

between islands of drying clay to become brittle floor tiles attended by spectral witnesses. Landscape 

is embraced and returned to those domestically scaled Greek and Roman mosaics through the gallery 

context for Sally Cleary's exhibitions. Through this process, ephemerality and loss elide through the 

transformative medium of clay to make, in the most eloquent way, a lament over our management of 

th is world. 

1 The rather perverse idea of creating an image of an unswept floor was copied by the Romans and was popular tnlo the 5th century AD from 

the precedent known to e~m as early as the 3rd century Be. Examples survive in the Getty Museum and the Vatican . Interpretations 

for the intentions behind these renderings of unswept floors range qUite widely. GIVen that the scattered remnants on the floors are of 

generous proportions and exotjc foodstuffs, an overt display of luxury as a sign of status is posslbl(', or perhaps most likely, ritual offerings to 

dead warriors or ancestors, even reminders to slaves of the household of their neverending cleaning tasks and of their social fa te. 

Ruth Johnstone is an artist currently investigating forest floors. She is Senior Lecturer at the 

School of Art, RM IT University. 

http://sallycleary.com 

TH E JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 37


Ceramics and the Australian 

Botanical Narrative 

Recent works by Cathy Franzi 

Tindery Range, NSW, 2013; photo: Cathy Franz; 

"Ecology is the study of the connections that bind all life together. Understanding our own place in this 

web, and our impact upon it, is vital to our future on Earth. '" 

I am walking through the manicured lawns and specimen beds of Wakehurst Place, the country 

relation to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is a magnificent English summer day: gentle sunshine, 

a wafting breeze and nature bursting forth in lush, civilised greenery. Flowers with soft delicate petals, 

leaves splendid and abundant - it is an experience of nature in perfect tamed harmony. Lost in this 

Eden, I chance upon the Australian section and I'm shocked! Tea-tree, hakea and callistemon are almost 

unrecognisable. They have become gentle and subdued pretty garden plants, nourished in this alternate 

climate with deep fertile soil and abundant water. 

Three years earlier I am in Warrumbungle National Park, western NSW, six years into the last drought. 

The plants along the rocky slopes of the dry riverbed appear scorched by fire, but their condition is due 

to dehydration and extreme temperatures. The next season when I return it is after the floods. Walking 

up high into the hidden gullies below the volcanic ridgeline, I see tall gum trees and rare orchids in this 

38 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAM ICS NOVEMBER 2013

cathy Franzi 

The Ephemeral Dampiera Fusca, 2013 

wheelthrown porcelain 

1200'(, h.9

Focus: Ecology and Cerami cs 

OpPosIte page: Cathy f ranzi, Red Hill, detail, 2013. wheelthrown porcelain, 1240QC, h. 14cm, w.7cm 

biodiversity hotspot. A haven within a reserve, surrounded by cleared agricultural land as far as the eye 

can see. In January 2013 a catastrophic fire swept through destroying 80-90 % of the area . I haven't 

been back yet. 

The English countryside and the Australian bush are vastly different and Australia's environmental 

history since British colonisation has been shaped by this contrast. Settlers came with a fundamentally 

different experience and expectation of the physical environment. Landscape changes were rapid and 

extensive, while advances in understanding the rich and unique biodiversity of the continent have 

happened only gradually. 

Environmental history is just one aspect to the subject of my ceramic work, which can be broadly 

described as the Australian botanical narrative, the stories of Australian plants and people. It 

encompasses interactions both scientific and cultural, ranging from exploration, conservation and 

climate change to botanical illustration and perceptions of the environment. Foremost is the plant 

itself, primary to my surface imagery, but it is how the plant is located within its physical and cultural 

environment that is integral to the final work. This process starts with heading out into the field to study 

the plant, its environment and the challenges it faces. 

Cathy Franzi, Golden Hm, 2013, wheelthrown porcelain, 12400(, h.20cm, w.21cm; photos: David Paterson 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 201) 4'


I am in Wakehurst Place to visit the Millennium Seed Bank. Underground vaults have been built 

to store the planet's seeds and "to protect the worlds plant biodiversity before it is too late".2 This 

international conservation project is an example of the best in technological know-how and visionary 

hope for one of this century's looming crises . The Millennium Seed Bank Project has been called "the last 

great plant hunt"3, bringing to mind the great European botanical expeditions in the seventeenth and 

eighteenth centuries. However, now, in the 21 st century, the aim is to discover and preserve rather than 

to exploit. 

Botanical exploration was important to James Cook and Joseph Banks when they landed the 

Endeavour in Botany Bay in 1770. Indeed the earliest ceramic object I have found to have Australian 

flora as part of its decoration, "the Kanguroo Mug"4, comes directly from a sketch by artist Sydney 

Parkinson also on the Endeavour. Brought back to London, it was eventually made into a transfer print 

in the Staffordshire potteries about 1793. Just as the Australian botanical narrative is important to my 

work, it is a useful approach when investigating historic ceramic objects decorated with Australian flora. 

For example, the source of the plant material used or the choice of a particular species can reveal 

information about the environment and perhaps the prevailing attitudes towards it. 

Cathy Franzi, Mount Majura Seed Box, 2010, wheelthrown porcelain, recycled timber, 12000(. h.Scm, w.42cm, d.20cm 

Photo: Stuart Hay 



Throughout history botanical representation in ceramic decoration has rel ied on plant specimens, 

botanical illustrations or paintings for accuracy and detail. For example, in 1882 the talented botanical 

illustrator Rosa Fiveash was commissioned by John Brown to do The Forest Flora of South Australia 

and then later taught china painting at the Adelaide School of Art with an emphasis on Australian flora. 

Paintings by the intrepid flower hunter Ellis Rowan were sent to Royal Worcester in England in 1912 as a 

reference for porcelain artists such as Albert Shuck.s Doulton and Co. Ltd considered botanical accuracy 

so important at this time that they ordered a huge bouquet of wild Australian flowers frozen in a block 

of ice to be shipped to England, so "the exact formation and colouring could be studied in minute 

detail".s 

I also work directly from nature to obtain naturalistic botanical decoration rather than stylised pattern 

or motif. Going into the field to obtain specimens, photos and drawings takes me into the heart of 

the plant's ecosystem. By teaming up with scientists I can gain deeper insights into the plants, their 

environment and the issues they face . One project I was part of took me into the field with botanists 

Cathy Franzi. Redbox Gum. 2013, wheel thrown porcelain. 12000(. h.13.5cm, w.19cm; photo: David Paterson 


Fo cus: Ecology and Ceram ics 

from the Australian National Botanic Garden Seed Bank. We walked high up onto the Tinderry Range 

in the Monaro region of Southern NSW to search for the ephemeral Dampiera fusca . Th is endangered 

plant had suddenly appeared in large numbers between the granite boulders following a hot bushfire. 

In the work developed from this project I recalled the steep granite hills, the contours, the silhouettes of 

grey and blackened eucalypt branches and the gradual revelation of the pockets of D. fusca with their 

delicate blue petals. 

I use sgraffito, carving into the white clay through a coloured engobe, to depict the plants onto the 

surface of my forms. My approach is based on linoleum block printing, using various handmade tools 

to produce different marks in the leather-hard clay. Deep large gestures can be made alongside thin 

delicate lines giving me enough control to refer to botanical representation. I have developed a black 

and green engobe that has a sheen somewhat like printing ink. 

This approach has come out of my experience in lino printing and an interest in the period early in the 

twentieth century when both the use of lino and Australian flora in the arts was popular. 

Currently I am investigating the flora and environmental history of five hills in Canberra as a centenary 

project. The work, Painting the Hills of Canberra, is based on Walter Burley Griffin and Marion 

Mahony Griffin's idea to revegetat e or 'paint' the denuded hills of Canberra in colour-specific Australian 

flora. Red Hill in Crimson bottlebrush and Rosemary grevillea, and the others each in plantings of white, 

purple, pink and yellow flowers. After winning the design of Canberra in 1913, the Griffins came to 

Australia and quickly became enamored with the flora. Marion's botanical notebooks are held in the 

National Library of Australia, divided and listed by colour, providing me with a list of the flora for the 

anticipated but largely unaccomplished vision. Marion's drawings of the plan for Canberra, on display 

in the National Archives, are large and mystical. She has a beautiful horizon line drawn from each axis, 

outlining the hills, and imagined courts, water featu res and opera house. I have borrowed this line to 

imagine a similar horizon around each ceramic vessel 'hill'. Connected by the Griffin 's axis, my hills are 

painted and carved in the intended colour scheme. 

The Australian botanical narrative goes on, people and plants entwined together, making new stories 

and facing increasi ng Challenges . Ceramic objects no doubt will continue to reflect this relationship. 

Cathy Franzi is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University. Paint ing the Hills of 

Canberra is showing at CraftACT: Craft and Design Centre from 31 October to 14 December 

2013. 

1 Natural History Museum, Ecology Gallery wall panel. London, July 2013. 

2 The Millenntum Seed Bank, Educational paneL Wakehurst Place, UK, July 2013. 

3 Carolyn Fry, Sue Seddon and Gail Vines. The last Great Plant Hunt. the story of Kew:S Millennium Seed Bank. Kew Publishing, April 2011 . 

4 John McPhee. 'CeramICs in the Collection of Australian Decorative Arts in the AUSlralian Nahonal Gallery', Pottery In Australia, Vol, 21, No. 2. 

Novll)ec 1982. p.4 . National Gallery of Austraha, AccesSIon No: NGA 80.1537_ 

5 Powerhouse Museum Collection. Reglstrahon Number A 1637. 

6 louise Irvme. Royal Doulron Series Ware, Vol . 4. Richard Dennis. london, 1988. p 37. 



Land and Environment 

Liz Stops investigates neo-colonialism and practice 

liz Stops, Explorations into Colonisation, 2010, porcelain, wood. charcoal, various dimensions; photo: artist 

In this article I will contextualise my art practice within what I view as neD-colonial approaches to land 

and environment that are currently propounded by Australian government bodies at all levels, and by 

global corporate interests. I will outline questions raised as a result of examining my practice from an 

ecological standpoint, through the lens of historical and contemporary colonial perceptions. Rather than 

focus on made work I will observe how the skills acquired in building and maintaining an art practice 

can be useful when combating a mining invasion. 



--- 

During my PhD project, titled Carbon Credits, as a strategy for questioning and re-forming my own 

perceptions of duty-of-care for country, I investigated the social and political attitudes of British colonists 

to land and environment in Australia. In eighteenth century Britain, the common land rights of the poor 

had been whittled away.' The rights to control and make use of land were reserved for the wealthy and 

ownership of "[p!roperty became the essential qualification for holding political rights and freedoms".2 

Thus those with political power could ensure their rights to ownership were not eroded and the freedom 

to control property was not enjoyed by anyone but themselves. Christian doctrines of improvement, 

combined with a belief in the moral value of work, justified the taking of land. This was compounded 

by Darvvin's theories of survival of the fittest, which could be interpreted socially as 'the most able to 

conquer' .3 It was also assumed that land held in common ownership was synonymous with neglect. that 

cultivation depended on individual possession and such use reinforced the rights to own land. 

The Australian Indigenous population did not engage in land management practices that were 

understood by the British. Land was held in common and boundaries between different parts of the 

country were not visible to the European eye . It was not parcelled up into individually owned portions; 

therefore, rather than seek to discover alternative methods that might be employed by those who had 

thrived in Australia, it was advantageous to conclude that there was no active management' prior to 

Western occupation, merely an opportunistic exploitation of seasonal plenty. So, following beliefs held 

by the colonists, the Indigenous inhabitants had no land rights and the country was there for the taking. 

Philosopher Mark Smith highlighted a similar situation that had occurred during the colonisation of 

America, where "it had been widely believed that, in the absence of farming, the Indians had no legal 

right 10 the land they occupied" 4 

However, Indigenous land management practices were responsible for the long-term productivity 

and biodiverSity of Australia. Practices included skilled use of fire, selective harvesting, organisation of 

sanctuaries, and the promotion and regeneration of both plants and animals. There was an instilled 

awareness that the "interdependence of all life within country constitutes a hard but essential lesson 

- those who destroy their country ultimately destroy themselves" .5 1n the contemporary world, Rose 

maintains that " in this time of ecological crisis, globalising hegemony and threats of terrorism and 

escalating warfare, our work towards alternatives to crisis and chaos depends on decolonisation".6 

As a result of my investigations I devised work that interpreted my local landscape, developing a 

new appreciation of responsibility for its care as well as recognition of my inculcated assumptions of 

entitlement. In addition to my usual practice in slipcast porcelain, I explored other media, finding an 

affinity with those that bore a procedural similarity to ceramics but also contributed conceptually to the 

project. The most significant medium was charcoal, collected from burning fence posts. I viewed their 

burning, which also served to heat my house and water over winter, as a performative aCknowledgement 

of the necessity for a decolonising approach to this country. This action fostered a sense of being owned 

by the land and directed by its requirements for health and sustainability, rather than viewing it as a 

possession to be exploited. 

Since the completion of Carbon Credits in 2010, what I consider to be a new wave of colonialism 

has overvvhelmed the area in which I live. It takes the form of ecologically disastrous Unconventional Gas 

Mining (UGM), including Coal Seam Gas (CSG) and Tight Sands Gas (TSG) . During one of the meetings 

I attended, at which information about UGM was distributed, one of the other attendees expressed 

shock at the seemingly limitless power of mining companies to access any land to pursue exploration 

and production of unconventional gas. An Indigenous elder who was also present then responded 

with: "Well, now you know how we felt" . This statement really brought home to me the enormity of 

British colonisation of Australia. It also fostered a realisation that history is repeating itself as this country 



becomes colonised and the landscape industrialised by global corporations whose primary motive is 

financial gain. 

In Australia, the government, no matter who owns the land, controls access to whatever is under the 

ground: however, it is powerful global corporations who benefit from this arrangement, with 84% of 

profits from mining going to overseas shareholders.? Landholders are disempowered and communities 

are frayed and divided by the inroads of mining into social cohesion and community infrastructure. 

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney stated that "the gas belongs to everybody" .8 He also 

acknowledged that landholders have a right to compensation. However, when baseline testing of air, 

land and water for pollutants is never undertaken, companies can proclaim that they are not responsible 

for environmental damage. Land affeded by CSG mining has proved unsalable, with no compensation 

offered. 

Currently, legislation is proceeding through NSW State Parliament that will change the State 

Environmental Planning Policy to give mining companies greater powers to enter land and conduct gas 

exploration and produdion adivities without consulting the landholder. Contemporary occupiers of the 

land are being rendered invisible by this legislation, just as the Indigenous population in the eighteenth 

century was by terra nullius. 9 The economic "significance of the resource is to be the consent 

authority's principle consideration" .10.11 Environmental attrition is omitted from the equation when 

balancing the national books. Economic benefits can be easily measured - " The dollar sums for what has 

Protestors block.ading drill rigs at Glenugie, 2013; photo: Liz Stops 



----- - - --------- 

liz Stops, Wombee 11/: Dawn. 2010, charcoal, ash, bone, saP. binder, h.7Scm, w.5Ocm; photo; Michael Moynihan 

been lost locally, however, go uncollected and unnoticed. "'2 Thus the once thriving agricultural town of 

Acland in Queensland has become a ghost town, the population of 90 families being moved out as a 

result of mining. 13 Acland is one of many towns that have been decimated due to mining activities. 

One of my responses to this neocolonial invasion has been to question whether I am complicit in 

facilitating the industries I deplore. Ingredients I use to formulate casting slip are mined elsewhere in 

Australia and in India. Am I just concerned for my own backyard? Is some mining okay? How do I 

negotiate an ethical practice in which I am able to devise works that highlight my concerns without 

contradicting them? These are dilemmas I am addressing, with no absolute answer forthcoming, but an 

ongoing and constantly changing reassessment of responsibilities inherent within my practice. This is a 

process that provides ever-unfolding questions and answers. It has no finite conclusion but promotes 

continued mindfulness. 

However, skills acquired over twenty-two years of conducting an art practice are proving invaluable 

in the fight against the gas invasion. I have noticed that artists are resilient in the fa ce of adversity, as 

we have learned to cope with setbacks in practices that hinge on constant experimentation. Critical 

processes and research skills that are integral to any practice have helped us develop the capacity to 

discern flaws in mining spin . We are used to relying on self-belief and the strength of our integrity. 

We are also used to wearing a number of hats and can turn a hand to events organisation, financial 

management, time management or any kind of problem solving that will serve a group. We have 

depended on resourcefulness and persistence in our practices and these qualities are easily transferable 

to the anti-gas movement. Also, our work has often led to the development of a strong sense of place, 

a quality that intensifies our commitment to resisting the gas invasion. 

48 THE IOURNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013


I have li kened eighteenth century colonialism in Australia to contemporary conditions. Just as in 

those times people with political clout could fashion laws to their advantage, today, all-pervading global 

corporations can manipulate the various levels of government process and decision-making. However, 

corporate attempts to divide community and destroy social cohesion are not always successful. In the 

Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, thousands of ordinary people, many of them artists and 

musicians, have become activists out of necessity as government representatives fail to act on behalf 

of their constituents. Empathy for previous casualties of colonisation has brought about a kind of 

reconci liation that could be perceived as decolonisation between local Indigenous groups and other 

activists. Many local communities have become more cohesive with the glue of a common goal, to rid 

the area of Unconventional Gas Mining. 

liz Stops aligns her resource-conservative lifestyle with an object-making art practice. 

She was awarded a PhD in 2011 and teaches at Southern Cross University. 

Un of references 

AlJdzeera. 'Risky Business', viewed March 23, 2013 at http://vYww,alja2eera.com'programmesll01eastl2013101n013177122267414S.html 

Arblaster, A. (1984) The Rise .md Decline of Weslern Uberallsm, Odord, Basil Blackwell. 

Finegan, A. (2012) 'Commg Soon (Near You): Big MIning and the Question of Scale', MUnk. vol. 32 no. 4, pp 42-45. 

Gleeson·White, J. (2011) Double Entry: How the merchants of Venice slJaped the modem world- and how their inventlOfl could make or break. the 

planet. Sydney, Allen & Unwin. 

Hoorn. 1. (2007) Australian Pastoral: The Making of a White Landscape, Fremantle, Fremantle Press. 

Rose, D. 8. «2004) Reports from a Wild Country: Ethics for DecolonlSdflOn, Sydney, UniverSity of NSW Press. 

Shoebridge, B. (2013) Fractured Country: An UnconvenrionallnviJ51on, IJsmore, Lock the Gate 

Smith, M J (1998) EcoJoglsm: Towards Ecological CJtlzenshlp, london, Open UnlVef"Sl"ty Press. 

State EnVIronmental Pfannlng PolK)'. viewed 15 August, 2013 at: httpslllllaJorprojectsaffimtylNe.com 

A Atbla


Interrelated Worlds 

The recent ceramic projects of Julie Bartholomew by Altair Roelants 

Like our world, Julie Bartholomew's art practice is open to surprising shifts and departures. Driving both 

the conceptual and aesthetic elements are issues that inspire her - cu ltural pattern s, social debates 

and new ideas that are th rown into our popular conscious - and always with a visual criticality that 

flourishes amidst the artist's love of process. Over an extensive career' this flow of inspiration has seen 

Bartholomew delve into communication technology and virtual spaces2, the international beauty and 

fashion industry's influence on Japanese 3 and Chinese 4 female identity constructs, and eroding cultural 

traditions in China demonstrated through the fading past-times enjoyed in public parks.S And necessary 

for a contemporary practice that responds to these dynamics, the artist's medium has also seen variations 

- working in paper, digital installations, photo media and of course, clay. Bartholomew'S most recent 

series of ceramic projects, Endangered (2010) and Rarely Seen (2012-2013), explore two of Australia's 

most identifiable and fascinating natural phenomenon - the birds and flowers, and, importantly, those 

that are under threat of extinction. Interestingly, it was Bartholomew's spate of residencies 6 in China that 

helped inform these projects, which 'solidified' after returning to Australia through the artist's desire to 

'resituate' her practice within a local context while drawing on China's rich ceramics tradition and her 

personal response to Asia's global environmental impact.1 Consequently, Endangered and Rarely Seen 

foster the subtleties of porcelain and handbuilding, and the hues inherent in color, form and language, 

to visualise the natural world's often invisible but unequivocal ties to science, man and colonisation, and 

question where they may be leading. 

During childhood trips to her mother'S cottage in Talbingo, rural N5W, where Bartholomew used to 

take pleasure from being surrounded by birds, it seems only natural that the artist's Endangered 8 

series should so eloquently illustrate Australian birds that are under threat of extinction. The deliciously 

named flock of five - Paradise Lost (2010)9, Swift Parrot (2010),0, Rainbird (2010), Coxen's Fig 

Parrot (2010), and Fairy Wren (2010) - are colourful porcelain tributes to this country's waning bird 

life. Chosen for their visual impact, each has distinct characteristics and wears striking glazed plumes 

combining bold reds, greens, blues, yellows and oranges. Bartholomew experimented with mixing 

commercial glazes and firing at high temperatures to achieve bright hues and an "effect of movement 

and somberness", as if the glazes are "weeping" off the feathers. The bi rds perch stoically atop stark 

white branches" as if clinging to the last gasps of life, as the bark's earthy tones and textures appear 

to have already drained from their boughs. The composition evokes art historic painting references, 

or indeed the taxidermied creatures in colonial glass display cabinets. To contrast with the birds, the 

branches are unglazed and inscribed with white text (using a tissue transfer technique) with details of 

the animal's demise, current situation and condemning words such as "vanish, decrease, disappearing, 

extinct, decline", and "final", and the jarring conclusion to this story - "there is no solution to 

extinction" .' 2 For her content, Bartholomew draws upon a wealth of scientific resources and the 

placement of words creates a direct 'imprinting onto nature'13 as the gesture of wrapping the object 

expresses the pervasiveness of this environmental damage. 50 while Bartholomew'S message is explicit 

through her use of form and colour - there is another, more discreet, conceptual layer to the work in 

these narratives for viewers to uncover. 

Bartholomew'S following two-part project, Rarely Seen (2012-2013)14, explores one of the other 

great wonders of Australia's landscape - its flowers and, more specifically, those that are disappearing. 

so THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRAllAN CERAM'CS NOVEMBER 2013

Focus: Eco logy and Ceramics 

w . w . 

Julie Bartholomew, Rarely Seen Spiked Rice-flo wer and Rarely Seen Drummond's Cronostylis. 2012, porcelain, decals 

h.34cm, w.l6cm, d.Scm; photo: artist 

As the artist discovered during her research, the rate of loss of flora in Australia is faster than in other 

countries due to the continent's isolation, and then sudden exposure to pests and human infrastructure. 

In 20 12, many readers will have viewed Bartholomew's Rarely Seen - an Installation (2012) at The 

Vitrify Alcorso Ceramic Award Exhibition (7 September - 19 October 2012) at Adelaide's JamFactory'5, 

a wondrous circular sea of one hundred and twenty single white porcelain flowers bursting from 

petri dishes 16 , each filled with a thick, almost sticky looking, blood red glaze17. As a collection, one is 

struck by the diversity of Australia's endangered flowers which many of us know little about, or that 

are" rarely seen", that now explode from the scientific apparatus that symbolise the roots of their 

decline. As individual pieces, audience's marveled at their beauty, vulnerability and obvious dedication 

to craftsmanship. For this series Bartholomew used detailed photographic references and botanic 

illustrations, constructing each specimen with the guidance of traditional flower-makers'8 in Jingdezhen, 

China'9, using an ancient hand-building technique of immense dexterity that Bartholomew has been 

learning since 2007 °. 2 The results are wonderfully life-like and the attention to detail is exquisite - some 

have a myriad of fronds, curved arching petals, or flies resting on their lips,21 

This year audiences enjoyed the second part of this project, Rarely Seen - an Exhibition (29 May - 

22 June 2013), at Sydney's Sabbia Gallery, For this installment, a new body of white and red petri dishes 

was displayed in pairs - one containing single flowers and the other inscribed with text. Bartholomew'S 

use of script is more pronounced than in Endangered, the words now surfacing from red copper 

glaze 22 To cite just one example, the Darwinia Carnea (2012), that, as its coupled text outlines, "is 

critically endangered. This species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future 

... Darwinia Carnea is a threatened species" .23 Alongside these works, clusters of white porcelain 

52 THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

Julie Bartholomew 

Rarely Seen Shy 

Eyebright, 20 12 

porcelain, decals 

h.36cm, w.1 6cm 

d. l0cm 

Photo: artist 

flowers - such as Tinsel Lilly, Shy Eyebright and Spiked Rice Flower (2012) - are contained in an 

assortment of ceram ic scientific vessels and chemical spray containers 24 , each glazed in an artificial pink, 

yellow or acidic white. The flowers, constructed on the base and the shell being lowered over them, 

peer out of purposeful incisions in the contours of the bottles. The delicate petals trapped and growing 

in the dark, cold interior, reference science's impact on nature and the artificial environments that some 

now come to exist within. Like many locally produced commercial products, their 'packaging' bears 

a map of Australia, alongside an image of the flower and an account of the species' situation, all in 

silver decals. This series sees Bartholomew returning to the form of the vessel and the smooth surfaces 



Julie Bartholomew with Rarely Seen - an installa tion, 2012, porcelain, 120 handformed flowers in petri dishes. perspex 

tubes. diam .200cm; photos: courtesy artist 

"acted like a canvas for words" which she "enjoyed revisiting". And these words perform like uttered 

verses creating textual patterns that articulate and mimic man's continual marking of the land. As one 

exclaims: "Stuarts Heath is Critically Endangered. This species is known from only a single locality on 

the Southport Bluff, Tasmania . Threats include sea level rise associated with climate change. Vegetation 

and habitat loss caused by dieback. Habitat devastation due to mining and quarrying. " 25 The ceramic 

vessel itself offers an interesting juxt aposition of fund ions and meanings, as traditionally such objects 

have very different connotations - the home, bearer of food and water, nurturing and warmth. Casting 

shadows on the surrounding gallery are an assortment of porcelain wall pieces that look like artillery 

with such titles as Shy Susan 1 and Davies Waxflower 1 (2012). The works comprise long thin casts 

taken from glass scientific objects that see flowers and gnarly branches unfOlding to connect the various 

modules which are bound in white text 26 , again imagining a dependence on one another - although in 

this instance it's hard to tell who is in control. 

Endangered and Rarely Seen visualise the interrelated natural and man-made worlds in a 

delicate and beautiful but unnerving and suggestive manner, offering us a two-fold warning about 

the dangerous effed man's meddling has on the environment and, simultaneously, our attempts 

to fix these intrusions into natural cycles with scientific methods. Also, as both cause and effect 

are drastically speeding up, Bartholomew'S work should be viewed with even more urgency. The 

multifaceted dimension to the artist's ceramics pradice - the use of obvious visual signifiers and then 

the closer reading of the text - gives them both aesthetic and analytical depth, and that audiences learn 

something is certainly one of Bartholomew'S main concerns. Her inclusion of short, sharp and pointed 


Focus: Eco logy and Ceramics 

Julie Bartholomew, Rarely Seen - an insta ffation, 2012, detail 

phrases that speak out to the viewer and clearly implicate us in the work's dialogue, again, highlight 

the artist's understanding of the quiet. yet powerful nuances of detail. In this sense, individual stories 

become voices for broader international environmental concerns - the bird's white perches, the trapped 

flowers and the morphed, creative assemblages - offering a sense of futuristic, doomsday sublime in 

a world where the line between these two great forces is no longer clear. They also hint at our own 

fate at the hands of climate change, genetic engineering, body modification and robotics, and are a 

reminder of Bartholomew'S earlier works. In a historic context, there are interesting correlations with 

the use of scientific language, classification and collections - which are western knowledge systems and 

the intellectual foundations of colonialism that paved the way for contemporary Australia's indigenous 

and environmental devastation. Similarly, man's global paths can be traced through ceramic objects 

which are one of the most durable, and reliable, historic documents. In this light, the choice of white 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 

SS

Fo cus: Ecology and Cera mics 

--- 

porcelain to produce detailed, handcrafted objects is a clever use of a material that is conversely fragile 

and amazingly strong; much like individual species that, while endangered, have continued, often at all 

odds, to blossom and survive. It is maybe for this reason that Bartholomew attempts to save the stories 

of these species by "setting them in stone" . 

All quotes were taken from the artist during interviews with the author in 2013. 

Altair Roelants is a freelance arts writer from london who relocated to Sydney in early 2010 

and is currently w riting for a range of national and international arts publications about 

Australian contemporary visual art and ceramics. 

Bartholomew has received numerous awards including the 25th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award 2006, Taiwan Taipei Asiatink, and 

numerous SCholarships from the Australian Council of the Arts; tak.en part in residencies in Taiwan, Jingdezhen. Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo 

and has wOrk held in both national and international collections. 

In the se-ries Spin (1999) 

3 Transitional Bodies (2006) was a case study on Japanese women. 

4 I am Louis Vuitron, f am Manolo, f am CoCo (2006) and the Olng, Chanel and Armimi Series (2008) focused on Chinese women. 

Bartholomew conducted research for these works while on residendes in Beijing and Shanghai, The piece I am Louis Vuitton. J am Manalo, 

f am CoCo, won the 25th Gold Coast Int~rnational CeramIC An Award 2006. 

In the exhibitlOl1 titled Vanishing Ground (2009) 

6 These residencies wer~ in Jingdezhen, Beijing, and Shanghai from 2007- 2010. 

An earlier wolk Bartholomew did on the environment was By Land and Sea (1989) - ceramics made in New Zealand that were then exhibited 

at an exhibition at the- Bondi Pavilion Gallery in Sydney. 

8 Enciangeredwas exhibited in Sydney at Sabbia Galle-ry, 8 September - 2 October 2010. 

9 Paradise tost 2 (2010) was bought by the Yingee Museum, Taiwan. 

10 Julie Bartholomew's The Swift Parrot (2010) IS in the National Gallery of Australia's Collection. 

11 Each of the branches IS constructed from 3-5 separate sections. 

12 Excerpt taken from text on a detail of the work, Swift Paffot (2010). 

13 And in some cases there is a montage effect. as sentences have been physically CUI to wrap around the branch. 

14 In 2012 Bartholomew receiYed an Australia CounCIl for the Arts - New Work Grant for th~ two-pan projeCt Rarely Seen. 

15 Rarely Seen - an Installation was on display during the Austrahan Ceramics Triennale 2012: Subversive Clay (28 Septe-mber - 1 October 2012). 

16 With one empty petri dl!>h filled with Copper Red glaze allheir centre 

17 Bartholomew used Copper Red glaze. 

18 Bartholomew was assisted by flower maker and teacher, Tung Ling. 

19 Bartholomew completed the decal transfers in Australia. 

20 First exhibiting a selection of smaller flolNers at The Narrativ£! Knot: Stories in Ceramics (2 December 2011 - 22 January 2012) hetd at The 

Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney. 

21 Like Endangered. Bartholomew chooses species that are visually interesting but the form is also dependent on the restrictions of flower 

building itself. The ceramic insects are also another traditional genre In China, like flower making. The handfofmed insects are sold, by 

artisans, on the side of the streets of Jingdezhen, China. 

22 Bartholomew first experimented with the red text In the f!ower WOf'ks made for The Narrative Knot Stories in Ceramics exhibition. 

23 Excerpt taken from text on petri dish in work litled OatWiniiJ Carnea (2012). 

24 The vessels are ceramic casts taken from various pieces of glass sc:ientJfi

Julie Bartholomew, Brachyscome Muelleri, 2012. detail, porcelain, celadon, silver decals, h.S3cm, w.1Scm 

d.5cm; photo: artist 



Barbara Campbell-Allen, Overland, detail, 2013 

stoneware paperclay, natural ash glaze. h.21 em 

w.31cm, d.l6cm; photo: Alex Kershaw 

Overland: 

From the Cradle to the Lake 

Margaret Farmer profiles the work of Barbara Campbell-Allen 

Born from endurance and subsequent respite, Barbara Campbell-Allen's latest installation, Overland: 

From the Cradle to the Lake comprises two contrasting groups of forms - one of rugged vestigial 

seismic shifts, the other of dapple-surfaced amphora. 1 The work evokes two lan dscapes of the 

internationally renowned Overland Track in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area - a landscape 

of endurance and a landscape of support - and Campbell-Allen's experience of moving through and 

between them. After traversing a threatening, fractured environment of dolerite cliffs, rolling moors 

and stunted heath for some days, utterly exposed in unrelentingly wet and windy conditions, Campbell 

Allen and her companions followed the trail's descent into a forest, which offered relief and a sense of 

tranquillity, safety and shelter. 

Expressi ng the first part of this journey is a group of dramatic, compressed, geographic forms 

or 'constructs', whose eroded geometries glow with dark scoured striations and the effects of 

the punishing weather. Each construct's attributes deliberately and directly reference the physical 

characteristics of the landscape. Rolled edges give expression to the rolling moors, striations to the 

dolerite cliffs, stiffness to jutting mesas. Enclosed spaces recall darker, broken rocks and fractured 

dolerite. Encrustations recall the stoic canny flora. The effect is menacing, lyrical, forbearing, like the 

landscape itself. 

Campbell-Allen shifts register to create less literal and more symbolic forms for the second grouping 

that represents the forest and the sense of respite and shelter it provides. The amphora shape symbolises 

old growth. Its narrow bottomed, full-bodied form is the most domestic and original for ceramic 

storage. In Overland: From the Cradle to the Lake, it promises a homecoming that is yet to be 

realised . Each amphora's domesticity is denied by its scale, its rim broken to recollect the broken and 



----- 

Barbara Campbell-Allen, Over/and, deta,l, 2013 

various stonewares, natural ash glaze, tallest 67cm 

Photo: Alex Kershaw


burnt trees that pierce the canopy of the forest, still recovering from a devastating fire forty years ago. 

The forest offers shelter, but it is still w ilderness. 

Campbell-Allen has developed these forms over the past few years. Denser, smaller constructs 

featured in the 2011 exhibition Narrative Knot: Stories in Ceramics.2 Before these, in 2007, w ere 

the more formal wall pieces, some broken, reconstructed and rectilinear, in pairs, built up to evoke 

landscape and landform that Campbell-Allen exhibited in Slowtime.3 Utilising the amphora for its 

cross-cultural symbolism, Campbell-Allen has been working in collaboration with artist Alex Kershaw" 

on a sculptural work to accompany his new media installation Fantastico/ogy Tokyo: Fault, Flesh and 

Flowers at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. 5 

The abiding characteristics of Campbell-Allen 's practice are an exploration of the expressive capacities 

of clay and anagama-style woodfiring. Many works are developed in response to specific locations, 

exploring an embodied relationship to the land. In Overland: From Cradle to the Lake, Campbell 

Allen 's concern is for the groupings to convey the different emotional sense of each landscape 

and of her journey. Her achievement is the way the forms embody her specific experience and the 

particular ecologies of the Overland, intending to resonate with others' experiences of constraint and 

expansiveness. 

Margaret Farmer is a curator, writer and editor based in Melbourne. 

www.barbara-campbell-allen.com.au 

1 Ovefldnd. From the Cradle to the Lake. Incinerator Arl Space, Willoughby, 27 September - 13 October 2013 

Manly Art Gallery and Museum, 2 Decembef 2011 - 22 January 2012. 

Freeland Gallery, Paddmgton, 2007. 

4 Alex Kershaw is it Video artist and photographer. 

S Fantasticology Tokyo: Fault Flesh and Flowers, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 12 September - 10 November 2013 

Barbara Campbell-Allen, Overland, detail. 20 13. stoneware paperclay, natural ash glaze, tallest 4 1 em; photo: Alex Kershaw

Focus : Ecology an d Ceramics 

Vicki Hamilton, Vengeance 

hand-built porcelain, 1300"( 

Photo: courtesy artist 

On the Edge: An exhibition 

by Vicki Hamilton 

Reviewed by Dr Pam Si nnott 

Vicki Hamilton's recent exhibition' was deeply disturbing. Its impad was in highlighting the plight of 

animals that have been affected by human 's dired and indirect intervention in their natural environment. 

The exhibition, which was held at the Newcastle Studio Potters' Back to Back Galleries, had nine 

individual sculptures and two 'performative' installations. The gallery walls had been painted steel 

grey, which created a high contrast to the 'fragile' white sculptures. Nine of the individual works were 

meticulously modelled in Southern Ice with some of these having other material additions. Other 

sculptures had been slipcast and were either low-fired or unfired. 

In scale, most of the sculptures were modelled miniatures of animals that had been seleded from the 

Red List of threatened animals compiled by The International Union of Conservation of Nature (lUCN)2 



Unfired slipcast animal forms contained in trays 

The sculptures Vengeance and Trophy focus on mountain gorillas affected by the mining of 

Coltan. This mineral is used in small communication devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and other 

electronic equipment. Mining of Coltan in the Congo directly impacts on the mountain gorilla. Apart 

from the immediate effect of habitat destruction, the poorly paid miners hunt the mountain gorilla for 

bush meat and trophies to sell to tourists. Trophy is a particularly moving piece with the hand of the 

gorilla having been hacked off for sale as a souvenir. 

Hanging by a thread and Defenceless express two conservation efforts to save the black rhinoceros 

from mutilation and death by poachers. Some have been rescued by transporting them to protected 

areas . Another more invasive method is to remove the much-prized horns to protect them from 

poachers. 

Flux symbolises the effects of climate change on wildlife. The polar bear needs to hunt on ice flows 

where seals haul out to pup and to rest. However, each year the ice is thinner and breaks up earlier, 

leaving polar bears stranded and dying of starvation. 

The desperate plight of the sumatran orang-utan is expressed in Banished. Here an orang-utan is 

depicted stuck in a barrel, its habitat being destroyed due to the rapid expansion of palm oil cultivation. 

In our own back yard, Bad Bunny symbolises the introduction of exotic species, such as rabbits, faxes 

and domestic cats, and the devastating effects these have on Australian wildlife. Vulnerable, depicting 

the northern hairy-nosed wombat, shows the impact that agriculture has on wildlife habitats. 

62 THE 10URNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

In the exhibition there were also two 

'performative' installations, both of which 

metaphorically emulates the ongoing destruction 

of animals through human activity. One had 

slipcast low-fired animals moving along a 

conveyor belt that had been mounted on the 

wall. During the exhibition opening, when 

the conveyor belt was turned on, there was a 

collective gasp from the audience as one by one 

the animals fell to the shard pile of previously 

fated animals below. This work, Pathway to 

Extinction, cleverly mimics the ongoing violent 

destruction of animals by humans through 

deforestation, the introduction of exotic species, 

or poaching. 

The other installation work showed medicalstyle 

drips slowly feeding water directly onto 

three unfired slipcast animal forms contained 

in trays. During the exhibition the forms could 

be observed in states of molten change until, 

finally, all that was left was clay slurry. This work 

can be likened to the slow and often unnoticed 

extinction of animals through habitat and climate 

change. 

Hamilton's artworks have profound, emotional 

impact and this is her intention. Through the 

form of her sculptures she gives voice to the 

animals who cannot speak for themselves. By 

highlighting their stress due to human activity, 

she also emphasises the vulnerability of the 

planet and the interconnectedness of all its 

inhabitants - both animal and human. 

Pam Sinnott has exhibited and been 

published in both national and international 

exhibitions and journals. Her artworks 

focus on highlighting issues of gender and 

sexuality. She is an Associate Professor in 

the School of Creative Arts, University of 

Newcastle, 

1 The assessment exhlrntlon for the award of a Master of 

Philosophy (Fme Art), the Umverslty of Newcastle 

2 www;ucnredlisl.otg 

Vicki Hamilton's work is handbuilt using 

porc.elain then fired to 13000C. 

Top to bottom: 

Banisheda. 2013, h.2Sem, w.20em, d.2Ocm 

Bad Bunny, 2011, h.12em, w.llem, d.22em 

Hanging by a Thread, 2013, h.20em 

w.13em, d.26cm (excluding rope) 

Photos: courtesy artist 



----- ------------ 

Pine - Cathy Keys 

An introduction by Lou ise Martin-Chew 

Pine is a collection of ceramics, works on paper, mixed media and photography concerned with the 

cultural significance of Bunya pine trees (Araucaria bidwillii). 

Cathy Keys is an artist with wide resea rch and artistic interests and significant variety in her 

background. Her study areas lie in design and architecture and she has worked professionally in 

Indigenous communities, yet her artistic interests during 2012 (to be shown in 2013) have extended 

Keys beyond the ceramic forms for which she is best known. She has traced her roots and family 

history in the Bunya Mountains, noting the significance of the Bunya pines to her life in the city, and 

emphasising their importance within Indigenous cultural heritage. 

Viewed with her previous work - the hand-coiled pots and sculptural forms that expose the coiling 

process that is a fundamental beginning of much ceramic work but is generally smoothed over - it may 

be seen as a continuation of her interest in making the invisible visible. 

This group of exhibitions has three components: The Bunyas (ceramics and photographic works 

shown at Artisan Gallery), Pine(ing), (drawings and mixed media works that explore some of her 

own medical history), and Bunya (ceramics and drawings at the Bunya Mountains Gallery). Consistent 

with her earlier exhibitions, each is accompanied by historical precedents that speak to her imaginary 

response to these subjects. 

Keys has an ongoing relationship with the Bunya Mountains having holidayed there since childhood. 

Stimulated by this, the bodies of work that deal with the Bunya pines also examine the ecological and 

cultural Significance of these trees. Indigenous custodianship of this place acknowledges the Bunya 

Mountains as a meeting place and the trees as a food source, and she notes that Bunya pines and their 

cones appear in colonial literature, art and landscape design. 

Cathy Keys, Divide, 2012, earthenware, h.28cm, w.250cm, d.50cm; photo: Gary Mitchell 


Focu s: Ecology and Ceramics 

Cathy Keys, Nut Series, 2012, stoneware, oxides, hAOcm, w.200cm, d.60cm; photo: Gary Mitchell 

Within Bunya, there is an evolution of her technique and with the adoption of torn clay to echo 

the spiky nature of the cones, a move away from the overt use of the coil as seen in her other work. 

Highly evocative, process-driven drawings include a series of yellow paper daisy drawings that privilege 

the gesture over technique. Her personal journey through the Bunya Mountains is made overt with the 

series of photographic pendants and brooches that show us the Bunya horizon, sky and landscape, and 

internal forest views. Some of these become portraits of individual trees and their hybrids, and include 

the healthy coexistence of the strangler fig parasite and its Bunya pine host. 

Cathy Keys, Nostalgia, 201 3, pendants, photography, glass, copper foil, oxides, h.8cm, d.3cm; photo: artist 



cathy Keys, Water Tank , 2012, ink, paper, pastels 

h.83cm, w.59cm 

Cathy Keys, Trepanning Series - Panel4, 2013 

mixed media, print release, ink apple slinky, fibre cement sheet 

h.95cm, w.41 cm; photos: Gary Mitchell 

The Bunyas represents some of these photographs in sepia tones, their nostalgia echoing 19th 

century colonial renditions of some of the same views and referring to the history of this significant 

place to Indigenous populations and colonials alike. 

The trepanning series (part of Pine(ing)) takes Keys on a more experiential journey, tracing a personal 

battle with pain. Stimulated by recurring migraines, Keys fantasises about surgery to her head, informed 

by actual historic medical treatments that sought to relieve pressure by drilling into the skull. The 

pervasive image of the Bunya pine, which marks territory in Brisbane as well as in the mountains, is 

evoked as a presence within these landscapes as well. A skull sits within a landscape that includes Bunya 

pine trees along the horizon line, marking the forest as a touchstone not only for Keys but for the places 

and people of Queensland. 

This project has received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through 

Arts Queensland, 

www.cathykeys.com 



Slower, Smaller, Quieter 

Towards a local terroir-based life and aesthetic by Steve Harrison 

I have spent my life developing a philosophy of minimal consumption and self reliance. I believe in not 

buying anything that I don't need and not throwing anything away that isn't fully worn out. This has 

been part of an exploration of how it might be possible to live frugally and gently in a faster, noisier 

and bigger world of seemingly senseless and excessive consumerism . I have been wondering if there is 

a way of living that can side-step this rat race, or at least move to the much slower lane in the race to 

nowhere, trying to negotiate a niche at the bottom of the ceramic food chain. 

My partner Janine King and I work in isolation, making the ceramics that interest us. We try not to 

get involved in anticipating or even following market trends. We make only what pleases us and then 

try after the event to find a market for our work. This is not good business, but it is most rewarding in 

terms of satisfaction. I work with the raw materials that I can find around me in my immediate locality 

and then try to find what I can make from them. I find this approach fascinating and rewarding. 

The old school classroom, built 1893, extended and converted into a house


I have never had a full time job or salary. I have learned to be frugal and this has allowed me the 

freedom to live a creative life. I have a life partner who is also in the same position, so together we have 

worked to achieve independence on a very low budget. I am under no illusions; I know that I could 

not have lived this quality of life without either Janine as my partner or by trying to earn a living solely 

through sales of my ceramics. It became very clear early on that I would need another source of income 

to balance my financial and creative books. I have tried many things to earn this creative independence. 

In the early days I worked as a builder's laborer, plumber's assistant, bricklayer, welder, and sheet metal 

worker. None of these jobs were ideal, far from it, but they were all part of my journey; they have 

helped make me what I have become. When I was young I decided that I would live in the country, 

grow my own food, make a creative life, and build my own house. I have now fulfilled all of those 

modest ambitions. 

Since I was a child, I have had an interest in the natural world along with drawing, art and creativity. 

I grew up in a fringe suburb surrounded by native bush and heathland. I wasn't academically minded 

so I spent a lot of my time wandering in amongst the bush, rocks and bogs, going down to the 

creek, looking for yabbies, collecting clay, spending time watching the wildlife, picking up stones and 

wondering what made them the shape, colour and texture they were. 

Steve Harrison, Bowl, washed basaltic gravel 

blackware body with pink optical glaze showing intense 

iron concentration at the rim 



Our indigenous peoples have a long tradition of respectful collecting, gathering and hunting. I feel 

that my small experiments, interacting with the natural world, are a contemporary continuation and 

interpretation of this ancient practice. 

It's almost 40 years since I moved to this small village in the Southern Highlands south of Sydney. I 

have found lots of interesting and useful things that a potter needs - materials like red feldspar, white 

bai-tunze, yellow kaolin, blue cobalt and green energy. I've had a colourful life. 

I have become interested in aspects of the real, the tangible, the handmade, a sense of place, the 

'terroir' of a locality. I have no interest in the fast track and the cheap throwaway. I want real things 

around me, things that will stay around me and develop a patina of age and a meaning born of context 

and familiarity. 

Some years ago I discovered the 'Joadja' bai-tunze native porcelain stone deposit This has enabled 

me to develop my woodfired porcelain and proto porcelains made from native bai-tunze porcelain stone. 

The nature of the pieces that I have created is such that they represent the geology of the Southern 

A blackware bowl by Steve Harrison 

where the pink optical glaze has turned 

to a pink oil-spot effect where it was 

partially overfired. 



Highlands. They are not the most translucent or the whitest of porcelains, however they are the product 

of my interaction with my locality. During the development of this work it has been my intention to 

make a 100% local product. In this regard I have to admit that I have failed; but an attempt was 

made, with all its limitations and faults and all its local character. The French have a word, 'terroir', that 

expresses some of this quality. The search for a personal aesthetic based on the essence of my locality 

is also the search for the essence of the potter. The two are inseparable. I like to think that use of my 

found earths, stones and ashes to create individual ceramic pieces is akin to Christopher Hogwood's use 

of period instruments to express something that is essential and fundamental to his art form. 

I am a ceramics locavore, I like the recent idea of the 100 km diet, so I chose to limit myself to the 

50 km palette. All of the wood fuel for my kiln is grown on my land, my neighbors', or is gleaned from 

local garden prunings and windfalls. The fire bricks for my kiln are made by hand from a local refractory 

white bauxite clay. My glazes are produced from the same bai-tunze porcelain stone as the clay body or 

from other local igneous rocks, shales, gravels and ashes. All these materials are discovered by me and 

then crushed, processed and milled, inefficiently and on a very small scale, in the workshop that Janine 

and I built with mud bricks made from local clay. 

I make my porcelain from the local Joadja bai-tunze porcelain stone deposit that I discovered. It 

woodfires beautifully with a nice pale flash and an ability to take carbon inclusion in a dramatic way. 

It can also make a wonderous blue celadon-inspired glaze of intense colour and lovely texture when 

blended with the local limestone. I have developed a charming blackware body by washing the clay 

particles off a deposit of local weathered basalt. This material has a 20% iron content and has proved 

exceptionally difficult to fire in reduction to stoneware temperatures. When it survives, it is quite 

Steve Harrison, Bowl, native Joadja bai 

tunze porcelain stone body with red flashing and 

carbon indusion; glazed with Joadja porcelain 

stone blue celadon·style glaze showing ash 

build· up from the firing


Steve Harrison, Bowl, 

blackware, washed basaltic 

gravel body with bluelwhite 

opalescent Joadja bal tunze 

and ash glaze 

Photos: courtesy Steve 

Harrison 

extraodinary and brings out the best from my woodash and bai-tunze 'jun' -inspired opalescent glaze. 

Each of the different wood ashes derived from distinct trees and plants in this locality (such as eucalypt, 

pine, fruit trees prunings and wattle) give different 'jun' effects. I accidentally discovered an optical pink 

glaze that works well on my blackware. I discussed it with the late Ian Currie and he explained that 

optical pink is the opposite of the jun effect: jun requires high silica base glaze to develop opalescence, 

whereas optical pink needs very low silica levels. There is no colourant involved; it is a clear glaze 

that reflects red light - amazing, but apparently true. It certainly works well over my blackware and 

sometimes when high fired, it produces a pink oil spot effect. 

We have an extensive organic garden and orchard which provides most of our fresh food throughout 

the year, so our energies are split between our efforts at ceramics and food self-reliance. In recent years 

we have installed solar photo-voltaics sufficient to power our house, workshop, electric kiln and kilnbuilding 

factory. Because we have learnt to become very frugal in our energy use, we find that we are 

able to support all our electrical needs with enough power in excess to sell more than half of our output 

back to the grid each day. 

This is the life that we have been working towards during our time here and although it's not perfect, 

we feel that we have achieved a low-impact, soft-footed, carbon-neutral way of coping as potters in 

a modern world. Someone once asked me what was left on my bucket list. I answered that I haven't 

learnt to make buckets yet, but once I do, making buckets will be the first thing on the list. 

www.hotnsticky.com.au 


View I 

The Fuping Experience 

Megan Patey reports on an extraordinary twenty-day residency at Sturt 

This is a story about collaborations: of how a group of Australian and New Zealand potters went to 

China, were touched by the vast Chinese ceramic tradition, experienced the warmth of the Chinese 

people, created strong friendships, and developed professional collaborations in ways they had never 

imagined. 

Over two years, in 2006 and 2007, 19 potters from Australia and New Zealand were invited to be 

artists in residence in a tile-making fadory in the small town of Fuping, right in the middle of China. 

Working in the fadory with unfamiliar clay and glazes, a huge range of moulds and extruded produds, 

and industrial sized kilns, alongside non-English speaking Chinese workers, brought many challenges. 

And making work that was to be woodfired when some of the group had never wood-fired before 

was an additional challenge, but also creatively rewarding. Their responses to China were intense and 

sparked a flame of collaboration that would not go away. 1 

Organising exhibitions takes time and planning - organising cross-Tasman ventures even more. But 

undaunted, this is what the group did. In the years following the China visit, the group organised three 

exhibitions: Down Under China at The Arthouse in Christchurch in 2008, In Good Company at Skepsi 

Gallery in Melbourne in 2009, and Fuping + 3 at Masterworks Gallery in Auckland in 2011. It wasn't 

until a new residency was created at Sturt Craft Centre in 2013 that the group had a chance to meet up 

again in person, share a studio, make pots, and fire together. 

Sturt at Mittagong is well known for its focus on ceramics, but it is also part of a collaborative story. 

Sturt's very essence has depended on varying levels of cooperation over 70 years - between studios, 

Below: The fuping group at Stur! Pottery. Back Row: Grace Cochrane (behind Deb Williams), Chester Nealie, 

Cheryi Lucas, Isaac PatmorE', Richard Parker, Susie McMeekin; Middle Row: Steve Williams. Deb Williams, Owen Rye, 

Toni Warburton. Chris Weaver; Front Row: Jan Irvine-Nealle, John Parker; absent: Grant Hodges 

Below right: Toni Warburton constructing work at Sturt Pottery 

72 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 20 13

View I 

artists sharing spaces, teachers and apprentices, and artists and Sturt's audience, embodied in the artist 

in residence program. New Zealand potter Chris Weaver took up a position as resident at Sturt Pottery 

in 2010. Chris had been part of the Fuping Chinese residency in 2007, and when he came to Sturt the 

experience was still fresh in his mind. So he began discussions with Mark Viner, Head of Sturt, about 

the possibility of continuing the Fuping experience at Sturt. And so 'Twenty Days at Sturt - the Fuping 

Experience' began. 

This was envisaged as a big project. Developed over the next three years, under the anchorage 

of curator Grace Cochrane (who had also been w ith the group to Fuping), and with the support 

of Creative New Zealand and Sturt's resources, the Fuping Group was invited to spend three weeks 

together in July 2013, making and firing work, and then concluding the residency with an exhibition .2 

Eleven of the Fuping group - Owen Rye, Toni Warburton, Isaac Patmore, Steve Williams, Cheryl 

Lucas, Richard Parker, John Parker, Chris Weaver, Grant Hodges, Michael Keighery and Fiona Fell - 

accepted the invitation to take part in the Sturt residency.3 To start the momentum, eight potters made 

four hundred pieces in just seven days to fill the 100 cubic foot anagama kiln. In the second week, 

three more potters arrived; they split wood, packed the ki ln and fired it over four days - a daunting task 

for most, and an intensely collaborative process! The pots fired in this kiln were exh ibited in Fuping - 

Sharing the Experience during the fina l week of the residency at Sturt Gallery. 

Watching this group working over the three weeks was fascinating . It quickly became obvious that 

this was no ordinary group of artists working together. They had an ease and generosity which allowed 

Below: Isaac Patmore, Cheryl lucas and John Parker sharing a joke while working at Sturt Pottery 

Below fight: The pots in the kiln before firing 


View I 

Cheryl Lucas 

Three woodfired pourers 

them to move comfortably around each other - 

making pots, sharing a small work space, cooperating 

over the fussy business of wadding and packing hundreds of pots, splitting and stacking several tons of 

wood, working in firing teams, stoking day and night to keep the anagama kiln firing over four days. 

Although many of these potters had no prior experience of woodfiring, working w ith the unknown 

was what they had come for. This is what they had experienced in China, and it had profound effeds 

on all of them. Richard Parker said, "Opportunities of travel and work are invaluable in refreshing and 

invigorating work." Collaborations give colleagues the chance to work together, absorbing others' 

energy and learning from each other in unspoken, subtle ways, particularly important in a field often 

marked by solitary and self-direded work. Chris Weaver commented: "What a privilege to be part of 

this group of makers, some of whose work I have admired for years." Cheryl Lucas said "the group are 

there should I wish to talk through an idea and brain storm a process" and John Parker summed up the 

experience by saying that " the concentrated work cycle with the other potters formed an unbreakable 

bond that perpetuates. There is residual mutual care and concern founded on our special shared 

experience " .4 

The Fuping group brought to the Sturt residency a wide diversity of ceramic styles and techniques, 

from colourfully glazed earthenware pieces to groups of regularly formed black and white pots, strongly 

expressive woodfired sculptural work to exquisitely nuanced tableware, and heavily woodfired bottles 

to deliberately pared back abstrad vessels . This contrast of style and technique between the artists was 

just one of the fadors that contributed to the success of the residency. This diversity dominated the slide 

evening when eleven lives w ere condensed into five-minute talks w ith accompanying images, giving 

the audience a privileged insight into some of the inspirations and challenges of contemporary ceramic 

careers. 

This was an inspirational residency shaped by the quality of collaboration between the partici pants 

and a fascinating chapter in the continuing story of China, people, and making pots. 

Megan Patey was Director of Sturt from 1999 to 2009. She is an occasional photographer and 

writer of ceramics articles and makes pots in her studio. 

Full detaIls about the Fuplng residency can be found in Ceramics Technical, Issue No 26, 2008 

Susie MCMeekin, Janet OeBoos and Chester Nealie contributed work for The Fupmg Group - Sharing the Experience 

3 Janet Mansfield was part of the origlOal Fuping group and sadly could not be part of this proje

Vi ew I 

1 Richard Parker, pots ready to be placed in the kiln 

2 Fiona Fell helping with Ihe packing 

3 Owen Rye shares a joke with Michael Keighery while packing 

4 Steve Williams stoking the kiln 

Photos: Megan Patey; taken al Sturt in July 2013 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMI CS NOVEMBER 2013 75

View II 

Vipoo Srivilasa, 2012 

Affluence Deity 

porcelain, cobalt pigment 

h.33cm. w.20cm. d.20cm 

Narratives in 

Blue and White 

Caterina Leone reviews the recent work 

of Vipoo Srivilasa 

Since the 17th and 18th centuries, blue and white ceramics have been synonymous with the East, 

yet more recently contemporary artists such as Vipoo Srivilasa are challenging the monopoly of that 

association. His Red Room installation was recently shown at Maunsell W ickes Gallery in Paddington, 

featuring the blue and white ceramics embellished with gold that have been a mainstay of his recent 

work. Set in a single room with startling, bright red walls inspired by 18th century European galleries 

of exotic porcelain, Vipoo's almost naive illustrations are suffused with a playful and joyous energy that 

we have come to expect of the artist; yet this seeming light-hearted ness conceals a surprising depth of 

meaning, of symbolic and satirical narrative. Vipoo's use of the blue and white style is a reference to its 

export from China to Europe, and thus a personal reference to his own migration from east (Thailand) to 

west (Australia) in 1997. The popularity of blue and white ware in Europe peaked in the 18th century, a 

time which also holds further intriguing, and possibly unintentional, connotations that unite this body of 

work. 

The 18th century was a period when the ownership of goods became linked to social prestige, 

with consumer goods signifying social and cultural belonging. This was an essential element of the 

formative process of commercial capitalism, fuelled later in the century by the Industrial Revolution. This 

materialism and commercial capitalism, still perpetuated to this day, is satirised by Vipoo in iGod and 

Affluence Deity. The iPhone is one of the new status symbols, made to carry a meaning and allusion to 

group belonging beyond its ostensible function. In iGod, the Apple logo has replaced the heart of the 

four-armed deity. This work, reminiscent of Vishnu, the Hindu god (yet with a golden crown or aureole 

more evocative of Christianity), suggests the omnipotence and omnipresence of the iGod furthered 

by its four arms. Affluence Deity, adorned with numerous currency symbols, stands upon a pedestal 

decorated with blue and gold peacock feathers. The feathers, as they do in Christianity, could symbolise 

immortality. thus intimating capitalism's undying hold upon society. Yet peacocks are said to have the 

ability to eat poisonous plants and snakes without being affected by them. Because of that, they are 

synonymous in Buddhism with the transmuting of desire into the path of liberation and enlightenment. 

This is a far more optimistic implication: that humanity may be able to evolve out of its current 

materialist and capitalist devotion. 


Vipoo Srivilasa, 2012 

IGod, porcelain, cobalt 

pigment h.48cm, w.1Scm 

d.13cm 



View II 

All work by Vipoo Srivilasa, 2012 


left: Enlightenment 

set of 3, porcelain 

Below left: Joy Stick Twisted 

set of 2, h.19cm 

Works such as Enlightenment similarly utilise 

Buddhist imagery. At first glance, the lotus is 

almost too perfect in appearance, as though 

formed in a mould or manufactured. Upon 

closer inspection, the joins of the petals become 

evident as do the fingermarks of their maker, 

rendering them all the more beautiful. The 

lotus, one of the most poignant representations 

of Buddhist teaching, signifies rebirth or the 

progress of the soul to enlightenment. White 

lotus, in particular, represent the state of spiritual 

perfection and mental purity that the artist 

strives for in his daily meditation. Despite the 

playfulness that infuses much of Vipoo's work, 

such as the cheeky Joy Stick sculptures, there 

is a unity and calmness to the body of work as 

a whole, a cohesion enhanced by the unifying 

red of the walls, and arguably resulting from 

his Buddhist spirituality and devoted meditation 

practice. 

The connection with the 18th century is again 

utilised in Willow Poem, in which Vipoo has 

included ink and watercolour drawings on paper. 

Still maintaining the blue and white aesthetic, 

the drawings are grouped physically around a 

central ceramic plate bearing a version of the 

W illow pattern poem. The artist has changed 

the wording from Chinese temple to Thai 

temple in order to signify his own Thai heritage. 


Vipoo Srivilasa. Red Room installation, 2012; photo: Vicki Grima 

Below: Vipoo Srivilasa, 2011 - 2013. Willow Poem , detail, 1 of a set of 8, cobalt pigment. porcelain; photo: courtesy art iS1 

The change also hints at the origins of the Willow pattern; it is an 

image produced by British engravers in the late 18th century and 

derived from Chinese models. It is at best an imitation or distillation, 

at worst a distortion of Chinese culture. Thus Vipoo's own 

misrepresentation of the poem alludes to this original, unsurprising 

misappropriation of Asian culture. 

Vipoo's experiences and portrayal of immigration are indisputably 

positive, expressed so succinctly in the melding of the oriental blue 

and white with the overtly Australian iconography, such as the emu 

and kangaroo that consist ently appear throughout the work. This 

positive attitude is made even more important by the recent uproar 

over asylum seekers in Australia. Vipoo's exhibition is a reminder of the positives of immigration and the 

richness of culture that Australia has gained as a resul t of its immigrants. 

Red Room is an exceptional example of work based around a uniting theme which manages to 

combine numerous interwoven threads that are at once personal, political and spiritual, giving the 

exhibition an unusual complexity. Nevertheless it is refreshing that Vipoo's work does not necessitate 

detailed research into meaning and intent in order to enchant. It engages the viewer immediately in 

an emotional and purely aesthetic response. Despite having two solo shows almost simultaneously, a 

printmaking residency at COFA's Cicada Press from 29 July to 6 August, a workshop and open studio 

later in the month, and numerous international residencies and workshops later this year, Srivilasa has 

produced a body of work that is multi-layered and unique, and which cements him in his rightful 

position as one of the leading ceramic artists in Australia. 

Vipoo Srivilasa, Red Room, Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries 

Paddington, NSW, August 2013 

www.maunsellwickes.com; http://vipoo,com 


View III 

Stephen Benwell: 

Beauty, Anarchy, Desire - 

A Retrospective 

Curator Jason Sm ith gives a brief overview 

Stephen Benwell is one of Australia's most prominent, critically acclaimed contemporary artists. Since 

the early 1970s, his work has combined the studio-based craft traditions and practical resolutions of 

the potter with the conceptual painterly and sculptural concerns of the contemporary artist. Over four 

decades Benwell has developed a distinct vision that combines a deep respect for art historical periods 

and styles, from antiquity to the present, with meditations on beauty and desire, an anarchic reordering 

of aesthetic rules, and the pot as a 'canvas' for painted observations and personal, autobiographical 

imagery. 

Benwell was born in Melbourne in 1953 and has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1975. 

Heide's forty-year retrospective assembles works that exemplify his development from early, seemingly 

archaic, eccentric forms melding references to the antique, through the evolution of handbuilt pots and 

their complex, sometimes lyrically painted surfaces with narrative vignettes, to the sculptural male nudes 

that have emerged strongly in his work over the past decade. 

The earliest works in the exhibition are those made in stoneware, the predominant medium used 

by potters in the 1970s when Benwell commenced studies and embarked on his career. The material 

qualities of stoneware and its particular firing requirements demanded a certain approach from Benwell 

in relation to painting and decoration: a decisive, linear pattern and treatment in a restricted palette of 

colours. Benwell's early works reveal the ways in which, at the outset of his career, he sought to counter 

the then-dominant Anglo-Japanese aesthetic of functional ceramic objects by making forms that blurred 

the line between the functional and the sculptural. 

In a practice with reference points from Madame de Pompadour to Matisse (to name just two), the 

model for Benwell's career remains, as Peter Timms has noted, "the jigsaw puzzle or the mosaic, in 

which little fragments of art history are used and reused, each time in different guises and different 

combinations" . Beauty, anarchy and desire coalesce in the balancing of the physical and textural 

characteristics of his handbuilt objects with their painted surfaces. Simultaneous with his idiosyncratic 

drawn line and fluid painterly mark is a well established anarchic break with, or reorientation of, certain 

traditions and aesthetic rules. 

In the painting of recent pots there is a greater compOSitional complexity in the arrangement of 

figurative devices, and their sensitive draughtsmanship is the result of Benwell devoting more time to 

drawing over the past decade. The vitality and vulnerability of the body and psyche, and a celebration of 

the nude body in nature, are recurring narrative and figurative motifs that (as he said) "unspool around 

the pot like a short film". 

Over the past decade Benwell has researched some of the literary and visual origins of the pastoral 

mode and Arcadia, seeking to contextualise the recurring motif of a solitary naked male figure 

80 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 20t3

View III 

All work by Stephen Benwell 

Photos: courtesy Heide Museum of 

Modern Art 

Owl Form, lidded container, 1982 

stoneware, h.13cm, w.13cm. d.8cm 

Ken Don colledjon, Melbourne 

Below left: Large Tree Form , t 994 

earthenware 

h,48.tem, w .32 .2em, d.31 .7em 

National Gallery of Victoria 

Below right: Vase, 1980, stoneware 

h,43em, w.2gem 

Queensland Art Gallery, purchased with 

the assistance of the Crafts Board of the 

Australia Council 

Pastoral indicators such as charm and innocence may remain in Benwell's most recent works, but he 

has gone beyond such t hemes to mine from all modes of classical art, and the resulting 'athlete' statues 

of his late male nudes reveal a deeper psychological space . Their facial phYSiognomies, no longer the 

powdered masks of Rococo figurines, delineate philosophers immersed in silent self-enquiry. Benwell 

imbues the most intimately scaled nudes and portrait busts with charader and emotion. 

Stephen Benwell: Beauty.. Anarchy, Desire - A Retrospective 

8 August - 10 November 2013 

www.heide.com.au 

82 THE 10URNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

IIC 'Vl a ":' '' 

gazlne 

The Janet Mansfield 

Ceramics Award 2013 

The International Ceramic Magazine Editors Association (lCMEA) recently awarded Tim Rowan with the 

inaugural Janet Mansfield Ceramics Award (JMCA). The theme was woodfired and salt-glazed ceramics. 

The award is financially supported by the Fuping Pottery Art Village (FPAV) and includes a monetary gift 

(RMB 70,000; approx. AU$ll,OOO), a residency at the Fuping Pottery Art Village in Shaanxi Province, 

China, and a solo exhibition at the Dao Artspace in Xi'an, China. 

At the 2013 ICMEA conference in September, Tim Rowan presented his work completed during the 

residency to those in attendance. This work was then exhibited in Xi'an during October 2013. 

Tim Rowan's artist statement: 

To work in a place where people have been producing ceramics for over 5000 years is at once inspiring 

yet also overwhelming. The span of time is beyond my comprehension. How do I fit into this place? 

This time? 

I have been generously given this opportunity and have taken on the challenge to work in an unfamiliar 

environment with unknown tools and materials. Following my intuition and a faith in the process, these 

works are a result of that effort. 

Purposely ambiguous, the work is inspired and informed by many things ... industrial relics such as gears, 

cogs and turbines, old tools, the ordinary often overlooked remnants and fragments of our past. It is 

about the struggle between humanity (culture) and nature and what defines the difference. 

http://timrowan.com 

The next award will be given in 2016. Details on the theme will be announced closer to the 

time. 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 

B3

Overseas 

Editors, Emerging Artists and 

Fireworks 

Vicki Grima reports on I(MEA 2013 

The recent ICMEA Conference in Fuping, China, rolled out the red carpet for the fourth time to 

welcome ceramic magazine editors, artists and speakers from around the world. It was my third time 

attending so it was interesting to see changes around Fuping Pottery Art Village - the growth of 

Chairman Mr Xu Dufeng's awesome pottery collection, an increased number of tourist visitors (including 

a wedding on the day we arrived), a stunning display of contemporary Indian ceramics (newly made), 

and even a new coffee shop offering respite from the 35°C temperatures which were common during 

our two weeks in China. 

The Emerging Artists Exhibition was judged by the ed itors in attendance with first prize going 

to Satoshi Kino (Japan) and second to Chiungwen Hsu (Taiwan), along w ith five Fuping residencies 

awarded to Monica Laskowska (Poland), Hyesug Park (Korea), Liv Brita Maines (Norway), and two artists 

from China. Sadly, no works from Australia were submitted for the judging. 


OVerseas 

After the conference concluded, a group of around 20 editors and ceramic artists continued on a 

6-day tour of Henan and Hebei Province, visiting many ceramics museums, workshops and heritage kiln 

sites. We saw and touched many beautiful, skillful examples of Ru ware, Jun ware and Cizhou ware 

- old and precious vessels and new and challenging forms were displayed in both pristine sparkling 

showrooms and authentic old wooden showcases. Full of awe we travelled central China, confronted 

by the size of the industrial cities, the all-pervading smog, the number of people and the incredible 

challenges they face. 

Many connections were made which will continue as we share our experiences on pages like this. 

For more of Vicki's ICMEA 2013 images, complete with captions: http://tinyurl.comlicmea2013

Event 

1 The beginning 

2 Yuri creating the fire sculpture 

3 and 4 Hot and smoking; photos: Vicki Grima 

Clean Burn 

Belinda Piggott shares her observations about Yu ri Wiedenhofer's 

recent fire performance 

Outdoor fires are strictly policed especially in urban areas. As a result many people haven't had 

the personal experience of standing by an open blaze. Due to its association with destruction, the 

power of fire to engulf and destroy can strike fear into the hearts of those who encounter it. It is 

this emotion that Yuri Wiedenhofer leverages to explore the duality of destruction and creation in his 

performance events. His latest work, She in Sands of Silicate, is inspired by the essential role fire plays 

in regeneration of the Australian bush, acknowledging its potential to devastate and celebrating its 

creative force. In the grounds outside W illoughby's Incinerator Art Space, Wiedenhofer teased, coaxed 

and collaborated with the flames with consummate skill. The fire sculpture transfixed his audience who 

witnessed the raw materials of mUd, glass, charcoal and hessian develop into an object that embodied 

the power and memory of the spectacle. 

This event marked the last weekend of Overland - from the Cradle to the Lake, Barbara Campbell 

Allen's 5010 exhibition. The invitation extended to Wiedenhofer was astute. The dynamic progression of 

fire echoed the process Campbell-Allen employs in her woodfired works, an ideal fit also with the site 

of the de-commissioned Walter Burley Griffin incinerator. Both artists are interested in transformation 

and clearly reference the cycles of nature in their work. She in Sands of Silicate literally performed this 

notion; it was an acceleration of the geological processes referenced in the gallery. 

Over the last ten years, W iedenhofer has been exploring performance in his ceram ics practice. His 

2004 work Irenic won the Sculpture by the Lake award in Jindabyne, and he has since performed 

regularly at Bermagui's Sculpture on the Edge. 

Willoughby embraced the opportunity to take fire back to the Incinerator by hosting Yuri 's first 

city-based event. Techniques refined by Wiedenhofer ensured the event was safe and accessible for 

an audience in an urban environment. Radiant heat was minimised and the use of specially prepared 

charcoal ensured the sculpture burned cleanly. 


Event 

5-7 Firing underway with Yuri 

8 Final remains 

Photos 1, 2, 5-8: Richard Newton 

Members of the community were encouraged to spend time with the work. They were rewarded 

with moments of spedacle as the flames were doused with fuel to bring the sculpture to life and make 

it dance. However there were also moments of concern, such as when the sculpture's base was bound 

in plastic food wrap. On a pradical level this material provided some initial strudural support. More 

importantly it was a reference to an historical role of the site, the community's waste disposal facility. To 

everyone's relief, rather than being toxic, the wrap is made of polyethylene that forms water vapour and 

carbon when burned, 

Collaboration is a key element of Yuri's work. Interaction between the artist, his team and the 

audience was actively encouraged. By necessity the performance was well planned; however there 

was a sense of spontaneity that seemingly enhanced the element of risk. Empowering the audience to 

contribute helped them to establish a personal connection with fire, a foundation for a more intrinsic 

understanding about the ambiguities of the medium. 

Taking art outside the confines of the gallery made the process of art making accessible for the 

audience to engage with. Presenting the formation of a ceramic objed outside the screening of the kiln 

walls revealed to everyone the magic that has long captivated ceramics practitioners - the transforming 

of mud and glass into a tangible, enduring object. She in Sands of Silicate celebrated the element that 

produces this alchemy. The fire that moulds the silicate, that propagates renewal and transformation, 

may not be apparent in a finished piece, but its memory is embedded. 

Belinda Piggott is based in Hong Kong where she researches and writes about art pradice in 

the Asia Pacific region; E: brighthouseone@icioud,com 

THE 10URNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 87

Promot io n 

CLAYWORKS 

Fine Quality Filterpressed Clay s 

For more than 30 years Clayworks has been supplying and supporting the ceramics industry with a 

range of clays, materials and equipment. Originally set up by Will Mulder, a Melbourne-based potter and 

technician, Clayworks has evolved into a business committed to producing innovative products that are 

user friendly and of consistent quality. 

At Clayworks clay bodies are produced by filter pressing which allows the intimate blending of 

raw materials, many of which are unavailable as dry milled product. Wet blunging and subsequent 

processing allows the development of the full plastic potential of clays, giving filter-pressed bodies a 

distinct advantage. The process removes most of the soluble salts present in the clay resulting in the 

production of bodies that can be converted into excellent casting slips. The reduction in soluble salts 

considerably lowers the deflocculant demand, resulting in more stable casting slips that require much 

less adjustment as they age. 

Filter pressed clay bodies have allowed the development of the new Clayworks range of coloured slips 

for both stoneware and the increasingly popular Orton Cone 5-6 range. Coloured Porcelain Slips offer 

ceramicists an exciting avenue of exploration as they work through the endless possibilities offered by 

this exciting product. 

Vibrant colours bring slip into the 21 st century. An extremely broad palette of colour can be achieved 

as the slips are fully intermixable. The application of slip by trailing or brushing is a traditional technique 

for decorating and enhancing form. The use of coloured slips trailed onto plaster slabs or into press or 

casting moulds offers further scope for exploration. 


Promotion 

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1. Construct walls using coils to define the areas you wish to cast on a plaster slab 

2. Then pour coloured slips to the desired depth and allow to fi rm up before the 

walls are removed and the slabs cut to size 

3. Apply slip to join faces 

4. Trim to size and fire as required 


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1. Slip trailers are filled with Coloured Porcelain Slips then fitted w ith various sized 

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2. The coloured slip is then applied to a damp plaster slab 

3. Walls are constructed using extruded coils and a backing colour is cast over 

trailed slip 

4. Cast slabs are then removed as required 

BRUSHED AND TRAILED DECORATION 

1. Use slip to decorate damp slab ware on a slump mould 

2. Trail lines of coloured slip as required 

90 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

AYWO 

PORCELAI 

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Pocket PhD 

Base Processes 

by Fiona Murphy 

My passion for the natural wonders of the world is matched by my compelling engagement with 

ceramics over the last 33 years. Making art is my way of honoring the natural world. Ecological 

awareness is the driving force for my recent installations. I am interested in how materials and processes 

can express the physicality of the natural world. I work with foundational elements of life; earth, water, 

fire and air combine in transformative processes through my studio practice. 

In June 2013, I exhibited two installations Reef Lab (2013) and Melt (2013) at MADA Gallery, 

Monash University, to complete my PhD project. These ceramics-based multidisciplinary works include 

mixed media, lighting and video, brought together as sculptural assemblages. 

'Base Processes' is the central concept in these artworks describing the complex movements, cycles 

and forces underlying nature. I also explore the precarious relationship between human activities and the 

natural world. My installations express ocean processes impacted by climate change. 

Reef Lab is a large installation that expresses the processes of growth, fragmentation and decay 

in an 'other world' ocean reef. This work was informed by my underwater observations, which are 

visualised mostly in terms of their motion rather than their stationary appearance. Field research entailed 

snorkeling, diving, visiting research stations and camping on remote islands in the Australian Great 

Barrier Reef. 

Colorful curvilinear structures and planVcoral forms suggest a vital living reef; however white 

Fiona Murphy, Reef Lab, 2013, ceramic, metal tins. glass laboratory apparatus, resin, photographic transparencies, video 

projection. h.17Scm, w.6SOcm. d.300cm; photos: courtesy artist

Pocket PhD 

sculptural forms and rubble mounds suggest the breaking down of processes through climate change. 

These forms signify coral damage as impacts from ocean acidification and coral bleaching. This 

installation simulates underwater processes through a video projection over the sculptural forms. The 

video implies sensually moving water ripples; however patterns are chaotic rather than ordered, a 

metaphor for the underlying accumulative processes of climate change. 

A quasi lab, that includes glassware, is also part of this installation and represents the complexity 

of 'base processes' in the ocean as a metaphor for scientific testing and knowledge that informs our 

understanding of climate change. This part of the installation includes ceramic elements, metal tins and 

photographic transparencies to represent scientific testing and measuring of ocean acidification and 

coral bleaching. 

The viewer is invited to become a participator and activator through physical engagement with this 

immersive installation: the video projection over sculptural forms layers space in a series of close-up and 

middle-distance experiences; the large mounds of coral rubble offer a tactile experience; and physical 

immersion offers the viewer a sensory experience. A changing awareness of light, space and threedimensional 

form aims to bring the artwork and its ecological themes to the forefront of the viewer's 

perception. 

Melt is a mini-installation that evokes global warming processes through fragmented iceberg-like 

sculptures. This installation creates a visual tension as a poetic interplay between the actual 'stillness' 

in my sculptures and the implied 'breaking down'. Forms imply dripping ice and melting pools in 

suspended animation, as though time has halted. The forms are marooned and isolated in an 'other 

world' time and space. Through these visual cues, as well as specialised golden lighting, the viewer may 

contemplate global warming 'tipping points'. 

Fiona Murphy has had 25 solo exhibitions since 1981. 

Fiona Murphy, Reef Lab, detail 

A 7 minute video of Fiona Murphy's exhibition can be viewed on vlmeo: http://vimeo.comI77392277

Commu nity 

The hype of a national event ... and a catalyst to local action! 

Open Studio Ceramics 

Australia Showcase 2013 

'Unearth your local potter' proved a good slogan for TACA's inaugural open studio event, with around 

110 studios opening around Australia on 17 and 18 August 2013. 

Almost 40% of the studios had 21-50 visitors with 13% having more than 100. Sales over $1000 

were achieved by 24% of studios, with 32% selling between $100 and $500. Bowls, items under $100, 

cups and mugs were the most popular items sold with 20% of studios also selling items over $200. 

As with any national event, the weather played a part - from freezing cold and howling winds 

in Melbourne to perfect sunny days in various other locales. Despite the weather. people still came. 

Personal contacts, social media and word of mouth were the most successful methods of encouraging 

visitors, with TACA website, the page listing in The Journal of Australian Ceramics, and local 

newspapers and radio also proving to be worthwhile promotional tools. Locally, good street signage 

also helped and the poster was the most useful tool TACA supplied that assisted with promotion. In 

several regions, studios grouped together to produce a handout of their local open studios that created 

connections between potters and increased visitors all round. 

When asked the best thing about the weekend in the post-event survey, the answers were 

enthusiastic and varied. Here are a few responses: 

Sharing our ,",,'urk and our 

lifestyle ... a good excuse 10 

dean lip the gallery and make 

chocolare cake. 

Apart from the cash, numerous 

conlact.~ lvilh gal/eries and 

prospective slue/en/s. 

[11 made} ... me have (J clean up 

and think ahow what I'm doing. 

[The open stud io event] ... made 

me assess my process. I wrote 

down 13 t/tings I need 10 do 

belief: 

Just had a great feeling fhat my 

local community alla.fOl Ivere 

connecting with my studiu. 

My sales Jar exceeded any 

expectations.' So wonder/III to 

see people buying up pots, vel)' 

ifIJerested and very inspired at 

how to sel up a studiu. A greal 

social day and a great way /0 

gauge what people are liking. 

II galvGnised me into action to 

get lhe studio organised. 11 is 

now ve,), much more usable. 

evel)lthing! IthinkJor me, it 

fell like an industry event - clay 

people and olher creatives 

in the busines.

Community 

Opposite page: 1 Ashley Fiona with Kay Alli band at her studio 2 Peter Steggall's display in Natalie Velthuyzen's ga rden 

Th is page: 3 Katherine Mahoney in her studio 4 Vicki Grima, Ursula Burgoyne and Rose Vickers in Ursula's garden 

5 Toni Warburton greeting visitors 6 Jennifer (oilier's Purple Ridge Pottery at Tara90 

As for the downsides, the weather, hard preparation work and lack of visitors w ere the biggest 

problems, although many commented there were no negatives. 

Considering the event was the first one of its type for TACA, we have had some good suggestions on 

how to improve it next time. Here are a few: 

I think il :~ the kind of tiring Ih(1/ 

will build momentum of liS own 

accord in (/ireel relation 10 the 

energy oIlhe parlidpants. 

Wider adverlising and 

promotional articles pitched 

to general conremporGlJ' a"/~ 

audiences and belle,. link'! with 

gal/erie.v. 

Primable maps showing where 

pOl'licipanls are in relation 10 

each olher so that punters can 

design lours with friends. 

[/ will be belfer. hecause il S a 

repeat :) 

A clear OSCAS logo 11101 

e~'eryol1t: could use on road signs 

alld promo/ ion. 

I would do morc advance PR 

ahoUl the weekend and wider 

afield for my slUdio. 

Online linkage wi/hin each sfaU? 

could he better, even collated 

by POSI code BlauM help. I had 

difficulty finding pOlters in the 

same area [and it would be} easy 

10 miss Olle. 

From 83 survey participants, 

77% said they would participate 

if it ran again next year; 23 % 

said maybe. No-one said " No ". 

If you would like to read the 

survey results in full, please 

send an email to 

mail@australianceramics.com 

and a PDF will be sent to you. 

Report by Vicki Grima

Ceram ics+ 

Enucleo Contemporary Clay 

Serena Rosevear reports from Tasmania on an ambitious curatorial project 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to immerse myself into the Australian ceramics community at 

the Subversive Clay conference in Adelaide, thanks to my Trudie Alfred Bequest scholarship. My mission 

was to figure out how I, a soon-to-be graduate, might fit into the national ceramics scene. When you 

live as I do in Tasmania, it can be difficult to place yourself, as access to experiences and events can be 

limited. 

The conference was a whirlwind and it wasn't until I had been home for a few weeks that I 

recognised feelings of unease. I hadn't found my place; in fact I felt less certain of my place than before 

I left. I saw and heard things that were foreign to me and my natural assumption was that I had it 

wrong. After all, I'm new to this and I'm from Tasmania, I told myself. 

Twelve months prior I had been in Queensland visiting an exhibition of Gwyn Hanssen Pigott's work 

at the Ipswich Art Gallery. I was keen to see her work up close, but I was surprised when I entered 

the gallery that it was not her divine vessels or their arrangements that caught my attention. Instead, 

I was struck by the white plinths and glass cases used to display them, feeling unable to connect to 

the work because of them. Later that year, I went on to explore modes of presentation, developing my 

understanding of exhibition display conventions and their influence on the reading of objects. In my 

learning environment if I wanted to place a work on a plinth, I had to be able to explain how the plinth 

was appropriate. There was a plethora of plinths in Adelaide and I realised I was feeling a bit confronted 

by them. 

Serena Rosevear, Things 

that migh t otherwise sit 

in you kitchen cupboard 

2011, ceramic, perspex 

MDF h. 140cm, w.60cm 

d.l00cm 

Photo; artist 


Marta Armada, Untitled 

detail, 2013 

porcelain. silver, steel 

various dimensions 

Photo: Serena Rosevear 

96 THE IOURNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 201)

Ceram ics+ 

Around this time, call-outs were announced for a couple of Tasmanian galleries so I submitted 

applications proposing a curated exhibition that explored the presentation of ceramic work in the 

absence of plinths. I wanted to question this default mode of presentation, subverting it in my quest for 

deeper understanding. I invited a fellow Honours classmate, Patrick 5utczak, to co-curate, bringing his 

set of skills to the project. When both exhibition proposals were successful, the Enucleo contemporary 

clay project became two exhibitions before it had even begun. 

Being a bit wet behind the ea rs Patrick and I have been on huge learning curves ever since. We set off 

with blind ambition and a fair degree of naivety, letting the project build as it went. Over the months we 

added potential artists to our list, approaching each individually as soon as we felt sure they fitted, then 

growing in confidence as each replied positively to our invitation. Our to-do list highlighted how this 

aspect of arts practice is more akin to business practice, while our motivation essentially boiled down to 

two goals: professional and profile development. 

So the project grew in response to hurdles and opportunities as they were encountered. We applied 

for grants for the experience and because success would give us extra lines on our resumes; produced 

a catalogue to learn about the process and provide an enduring record of the exhibition; and prepared 

a professional artisVcurator/galiery agreement to help us understand the full commitment being made. 

With the installation dates looming we tackled the minefield of transport and insurance. We plunged 

into the relatively new world of crowdfunding and ran a successful campaign on Pozible that enabled 

us to reduce our personal out-of-pocket expenses to a less daunting level, and learn more about 

marketing, budgeting and the use of social media in the process.

Ceramics+ 

Our next task was to make the show work in two distinctly different spaces. With the second show 

currently nearing its close I can say that many people have visited both locations and reported different 

highlights and responses to each space. 

As for my own work, I took the opportunity to include a previous work which explores the use of 

the plinth and requires the existence of a panel of glass dividing a 'gallery' space from an 'other' space . 

The Hobart location contained such a space, with the 'other' space being a public thoroughfare in the 

entrance to an office building, allowing the exhibition to extend beyond the walls of the gallery. For the 

Launceston show I moved my wheel into the artist-run Sawtooth space where I pushed my throwing

Cera mics+ 


Above: 146 Artspace, Hobart 

showing the work. of Arun 

Sharma and Sanne Mestrom 

Photo: Serena Rosevear 

Below: Serena Rosevear at work 

in the Sawtooth ARI space 

Photo: Melanie De Ruyter 

Thos page: 

Above: exhibition installation 

at Sawtooth ARI 

Photo: Melanie De Ruyter 

Left: Walter Auer, Space Boy 

2013, clay, terra sigiIJata, nails 

steel wire, h.30cm, w.33cm 

d.13.5cm Photo: Serena Rosevear 

skills while I pondered the riddle, "When a potter puts a pot upon a plinth, what is the potter putting 

on the plinth?" I celebrated each failure as much as the successes while a mass of clay accumulated, 

evidence of the effort that leads to the desired outcome: choosing the pot worthy of the plinth. 

The outcomes from this project have far exceeded what we anticipated - our resumes reflect broader 

credentials, our profiles have been raised, and we have skills that few new graduates have had the 

opportunity to gain. Personally, through the exploration of the presentation of ceramics, I have learned 

much that will inform my studio practice into the future. As for finding where I fit in, I think I can put 

that to rest now. The answer was always there for me in the conference title - being subversive has 

helped me realise that I fit best on my own path. 

https:llwww.facebook.com/EuncleoContemporaryClay 


Up the Public Art Path 

Ken and Julia Yonetani 

2012 , Breathing Tree 

detail 


Ken and JUlia Yonetani 

Breathing Tree, 2012, 

14,000 pieces 

manganese glaze 

h.1 .8m, w. 12m, d.2cm 

Photo: artists 

Artereal Gallery, Sydney 

and GV Art, London 

Below: Detail 

Breathing Tree 

An inspiring project by Ken and Julia Yonetani 

"But the trees have all that hill and tower have; and they have life as well. H 

1. Ernest Phythian 

The Breathing Tree artwork was inspired by micro images of stomata, the pore openings on leaves used 

in photosynthesis and respiration. The images were acquired using electron microscopic technology from 

the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility, the University of Sydney, in collaboration 

w ith Dr Ian Kaplin. Leaves from nearby eucalyptus trees in the Blue Mountains National Park were used 

as the starting point. The work is comprised of approximately 14,000 handmade ceramic pieces in 

the shape of stomata, placed in the shape of a gum leaf onto the external wall of the Blue Mountains 

Cultural Centre. This work was commissioned by the Blue Mountains Council and can be seen in Parke 

Street, Katoomba, NSW. 

www.kenandjuliayonetani.com 


Up the Pub lic Art Path 


Potters Marks 

Potters Marks 

Cathy Franzi 

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

Janna Ferris 

Petrus Spronk 

Dean Smith 

Simone Fraser

Ecological Ceramics 

WINNER 

Photographer: Narayani Palmer, Narayani Palmer's ceramics, Fremantle WA, July 2013 

The challenge to photographers was to take a photo of ceramic work which deals with 

ecological themes or take a photo of work "interacting" with its environment. 

It was open to their interpretation, 

The competition was judged by our Australia Wide correspondents,

Ceramic Shots 

Photographer: Sue Scobie, Sue Scobie's ceramics 

Wellington NZ, August Z013 

Photographer: Esa Jaske, Tiling the Surf 

Newport Beach NSW, August 2013 

Photographer: Andrew Gregory, Barrel Firing at Low Tide 

Taylors Beach NSW, August 2013 

Photographer: loren Mitchell 

Linda Detoma's ceramics 

Eltham VIC, February 2013 

104 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 201]

Ceramic Shots 

1 Photographer: Shannon Garson, Shannon Garson's studio, Maleny QLD, August 2013 

2 Photographer: Carol Forster, Carol Forster's ceramics, Mons OLD, July 2013 

3 Photographer: Renton BishopriC, (odl for Breakfast?, Byfield OLD, July 2013 

4 Photographer: Paul Bouton, Unknown Seta Ceramicist, Seta. Japan, August 2013 

5 Photographer: Terry Bouton, Various unknown potters, Tokoname. Japan. July 2013 

6 Photographer: Mirta Ouro and Ruben, Mirta Duro, Rutley lake Park VIC, July 2013 

7 Photographer: Richa rd Fry, Weather You Like it or Not, Bathers Beach WA, 2013 

8 Photographer: Ashley Fiona, Pourer Stack, Central Coast, August 2013 

9 Photographer: Clare Urquhart, Home is Where You Park It (No Fixed Abode), 2013 

THE JOUR NAL OF AUSTRAliAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 105

Studio 

Studio Safety Part 2 

by Jeff Zamek 

Dry Raw Materials - What Sizes Are We Talking About? 

At some point when sweeping out the studio every potter asks themselves, "What should I do to 

proted myself from the clay dust?" Clay is a very small (hexagonal plate) particle size material that can 

range from 100 microns to 0.1 microns, depending on the type of clay (a micron is one-millionth of a 

metre). By comparison, human hair has a diameter of 5--60 microns which, interestingly, is determined 

partly by the genetic charaderistics of the individual. Potentially, the most hazardous particle sizes are 

those below 10 microns. However, particles in the 0.3 X micron range can zigzag through the filter, with 

some getting trapped and a percentage passing through the respirator. Larger size particles travel in a 

straight line and get trapped in the filter. The particles that are most respira ble are less than 10 microns 

in diameter and can pOSSibly be trapped in the lungs. Respirators are very effedive at blocking particles 

but no respirator is 100% efficient. 

To say that clay is composed of small particles doesn't fully illustrate the scale of this unique 

substance. When dired sunlight enters the studio it's possible to see raw material or clay dust floating in 

the air. The stuff you can't see is of the micron or less particle size and can cause respiratory problems. 

Do not use glass jars in 

the studio. Many glaze 

mixing operations require 

water and the chance of 

wet hands dropping a 

glass jar is high. 

Plastic containers with a 

lid, and clearly labelled 

with their contents. work 

best for raw material 

storage. 


- - - --- -- ------- - -------------------------------, 

Stud io 

Respirators 

The two types of respirators in use are 'paper' dust masks, which are a 'paper-like' (advanced 

electrostatically charged micro-media fibres) filter that fits over the face, and respirators that have 

individual filter disks inserted based on the type of material to be filtered. For example, a potter applying 

an oil-based lustre glaze might require a f ilter that can protect them from vapors as opposed to other 

filters which can be used for airborne clay particles or other ceramics raw materials. 

Respirator Filters 

Every respirator has some type of filter to trap particles. In the past, one of the most effective filters was 

a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter. The HEPA Corporation developed them more than thirty 

years ago and the name has now become generic, with various companies producing this classification 

of filter. It has a 99.97% efficiency rating which means it filters 99 .97% of solid particles down to a 0.3 

micron size . Some particles at 0.3 microns do not have enough weight to go through the filter, while 

particles bigger than 0.3 microns have a larger mass causing them to travel with greater velocity to the 

filter. HEPA-type filters have been recommended whenever heavy metals such as chrome, cadmium, 

vanadium and cobalt are in the work environment. These metallic oxides are typically found in glazes 

and engobes as they contribute colour. They can also be found in clay bodies as a natural part of the 

clay, or as an added colouring oxide such as iron oxide which results in a dark brown fired colour. 

Paper dust masks should be used whenever dry clay or raw materials are used in the studio. Dual cartridge respirators are 

suitable for protection against dust and vapor spray operations. Replaceable cartridges can filter out non~lead materials. leaded 

frits and salt vapou(s. 


Studio 

, 

Always wipe up raw materials spills with a wet sponge or mop as soon as they occur. 

Safety Guidelines for the Ceramics Studio 

Always wear an approved dust mask when mixing dry glaze or clay body materials. 

Use a spray booth when spraying glazes and always wear a respirator with the correct filter. 

Always wear a dust mask during any studio cleaning operation. 

Do not use glass containers in the studio as they can easily break. 

Never eat, drink or smoke in the studio. 

Do not store food in the studio. 

Always wet mop or vacuum (using a high efficiency HEPA filter) the studio floor every day to remove 

raw material dust. 

Always store all dry glaze and clay materials in sealed containers or two plastic bags. 

C lean up raw material spills on the floor or tables when they occur. 

Wear a separate set of clothes in the studio and wash them frequently. 

Wipe down worktables with a wet sponge before leaving the studio. 

Do not ingest or inhale any raw materials. 

It is safer to wear cotton clothing while firing kilns rather than synthetics, which can easily ignite when 

exposed to direct flame. However, cotton clothes require frequent washing because they trap clay dust. 

Wear eye goggles when chipping glaze off kiln shelves. 

Wash your hands before leaving the studio. 

www.jeffzamek.com 

See The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Issue 52/2, July 2013, for 'Studio Safety Part 1'. 


Tra de 

Selling Your Work - 

Wholesale or Consignment? 

Elisa Bartels and Vicki Grima take a look at the basics 

As a maker, one of your end goals may be to sell your work in a variety of appropriate and respected 

outlets. Th is will not only bring in funds, which w ill support your making, but it will also promote your 

practice, bringing it to the attention of the wider community. 

Before you approach possible retailers, you need to ask yourself, "Am I w illing to sell on consignment 

or will I only accept selling wholesale?" The two are qui te different and it's important to understand 

how each one works before you decide which is best for your practice. 

CONSIGNMENT 

Selling 'on consignment' means that you are basically giving your work to the outlet knowing you will 

not be paid until your work has sold. This is a popular method for emerging makers as stores do not 

assume the risk of paying for items which may not sell . 

You (as the maker) decide on your work's retail price, after taking into account the stores commission 

percentage (usually 30-40% of the retail price). Take the time to go into the store and understand their 

price point so that you price your work accordingly. 

As a general rule, the consignment period is three months, although this can vary from outlet to 

outlet. 

It is also important to find out about the store's insurance and whether breakages or 'wear and tear' 

of your work are covered by the store. You can also check if your insurance policy covers work given on 

consignment. Th is s unlikely. 

It is important that the store has an effective way of tracking inventory and paying consignees. 

Unlike wholesaling, it is recommended that you only deal with local consignment shops, so you can 

deliver your items, keep track of sales and retrieve unsold items. 

Important things to do when consigning your work: 

Create a simple but clearly written consignment note that states the retail price, the agreed commission, 

your GST registration status, your ABN, and bank details for electronic transfers. (Most outlets will 

have a list of terms and conditions for stocking your work, but you can also have your own terms and 

conditions which state how and when you would like to be pa id, insurance responsibilities, and the 

length of time your work will be in store.) 

Be in regular contact with your store/so Follow up every 30 days to discuss how the work is being 

received and ask for feedback . 


Trade 

your business name 

your logo 

., ,..ABNOO ')0 000 

CONSIGNMENT NOTE 

(This Is not an invoice for payment, more a list of the items on consignment) 

Coo Note No. 

Choose 8 system to use ego 6 digit date Of consecutive numbers rOf the tax year 

Date: 18 September 2013 

To: 

Business name of gallery/store 

Add ..... 

Pf1ooeIf .. 

Websi1e 

Email address 

From: VotK name 

Your ASN 00 000 000 000 

YOUf GST registr8bon status 

CONSIGNM ENT COMMISSION: artist 00% + galery 00% ::::: total Pfice ( 100%) 

Note: This must be dearty stated by the gallery/outlet when you agree to consign. 

Ust of items - give the tot.l number of each item and a brief description 

1 X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 




Include GST if registered. 

Alternatively state, 'These prices al e GST exempt', 

Retail Price '" 

Retail Price = 

Retail Price '" 

Retail Price = 

$00 each 

$00 each 

$00 each 

$00 each 

Slate your Terms and CondiUons (exchange policy, damage policy, payment policy) 

Bank aooount details for EFT payment 

Aocount name: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

BSB, XXXXXX 

Bank name and address: 

Account No: XXXXXXXXX 

Address/contact detaIlS 

M your phone number 

~: your email address 

www your website 

WHOLESALE 

Selling wholesale gives the maker instant reward as you are paid upon delivery of your work. Unlike 

consignment, the store decides on the retail price and then negotiates a wholesale price w ith the maker 

(the store will usually expect a 50% discount off of the retail price). Although wholesale orders generally 

pay less per item than consignment, they make up for this by paying upfront and (generally) asking for 

multiples of each item. Also the store assumes the risk of work not selling. 

The store will normally assume full responsibility for your work upon delivery so there is less need to 

have your own insurance. 

Some important things to do when wholesaling your work: 

To minimise risk and to develop a good working relationship with retailers, it is important to develop a 

clear, concise invoice and think about terms and conditions which will benefit both you and the seller. 


Trade 

Make sure it is a simple but clearly written document that states the agreed wholesale price. payment 

due date. any terms and conditions. your GST registration status. your ABN. and bank details for 

electronic transfers. 

Decide on your minimum order. either by quantity (e.g. five bowls) or price (e.g. $500). 

Consider your returns policy. e.g. exchange of old stock for new. Perhaps offer to exchange if work 

remains unsold after 6 months as long as the work is in perfect condition. Extending credit is not 

recommended as this can place the burden of chasing up payment on the maker. 

Both methods of selling have benefits and pitfalls; choose the one that suits your comfort level and 

practice. For makers who wish to have regular outlets for their work. each new consignment order 

should be seen as the first step towards introducing your work to a venue and having it progress to a 

wholesale relationship. 

your business name 

your logo 

your A8~1 00 000 000 000 

TAX INVOICE 

Invoice No. 

Choose a 8ys1em to use ego 6 digit dale or oonseartive f'U'rlbef$ to.- the lax yre

Join the Pots 

1968: Gwyn Pigott, cutting wood with Peter 

Archbold and his children at les Grandes 

Fougeres Acheres; PIA, Vol 22 No 2 1983 

1970: 

Exhibition at 

Potters' Gallery. 

Pint-and-a-half 

leapots, salted in 

third chamber of 

kiln; left: no glaze 

Right: sprayed 

porcelain body 

Made at La Bourne 

PIA, Vol 9 No 2 

1970: Exhibition at Potters' 

Gallery. Salt-glazed casserole, 

diameter 8", salted over sprayed 

Kaolinitic slip. Made at La 

Bourne, France; PIA, Vol 9 No 2 

1974: Gwyn Hanssen demonstrates at the 

Potters' Gallery, 2412174; photo: Dennis Pile 

PIA, Vol 13 No 1, 1974 

( .1915: Gwyn Pigott: Demonstrating 

in Sydney; photo: News Ltd 


A collection of images of 

work by Gwyn Hanssen 

Pigott from the archives 

of Pottery in Australia 

(PIA) / The Journal of 

Australian Ceramics (JAC) 

1977: Gwyn Pigott at Kingston 

Clay Pit; PIA, Vol 16 No 1, 1977 

1977: Two woodfired teapots 

PIA, Vol 16No 1, 1977 

,j 

1978: Gwyn Pigott 

Wood fired teapot 

Tasmania 

PIA. Vol 22 No 2, 1983 

1980: Gwyn Pigott: Dinnerware 

JamFaaory SA; photo: Grant Hancock 


1982: Gwyn Pigott 

photo: Kathy John 



Join the Pots 

1983: Gwyn Pigott: Preparing for a firing at Kelvin 

Grove Queensland, 1983; PIA, Vol 22 No 2, 1983 

1986: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, QPA Potters' 

Gallery; PIA, Vol 25 No I, 1986 

1988: Gwyn Hanssen 

Pigott, Three Inseparable 

Bowls; PIA, Vol 27 No 1 

1988: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

woodfired porcelain crackle bowl 


1988: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 

set of porcelain bowls 


1992: 

Gwyn 

Hanssen 

Pigott 

Stillli!e 1990 

porcelain 

PIA, Vol 31 

No 2, 1992 

1994: 

Brown Still Life 


1994: 

StifJ Life with 

Four Bottles 



Pigott Winner Port Hacking 

Potters Group Competition 

PIA, Vol 35 No 2,1996 


Pigott Slillli!e with large 

cup. Cover The Journal 

of Austra/;an Ceramics 

Vol 44 No 3, 2005 


Collection 

--------- ---------- 

Miles Franklin's Waratah 

Patsy Hely considers: Can flowers talk (about sustainability)? 

If any flower makes a call for the valuing and conservation of Australian flora it is the waratah. Even 

before decorative arts and indigenous flora champion Richard Baker's impassioned plea in his 1915 

text The Australian Flora in Applied Arts l for it to be chosen as Australia's national emblem, it was 

giving an Australian character to objects, its brilliance calling out for it to be treated as special. This 

specialness has continued to resonate with artists, as can be seen in collections and in countless craft 

and decorative arts publications since. Baker's waratah lost out to wattle in the national emblem stakes 

and I think that's a shame for they signify quite differently. Wattle is familiar, ubiquitous even, whereas 

the waratah has until recently been relatively rare; it's a shy plant. needing particular conditions and the 

right temperature, soil and aspect to thrive. The waratah exemplifies then the type of care and attention 

that truly looking after something requires. 

Baker, an early director of Sydney 's Technological Museum (now the Powerhouse Museum) was a man 

of fine aesthetic judgment and broad interests. He was a scientist, who undertook pioneering research 

into the uses of eucalyptus oils, and an art lover under whose stewardship one of the largest collections 

of early Australiana was acquired for the Museum. His name has become synonymous with the artistic 

and decorative possibilities presented by indigenous flora. The Miles Franklin waratah cup and saucer 

pictured here was given by Baker to his friend, author Miles Franklin, in 1940; he was 87 and would die 

the next year, and Franklin at 61 was a celebrated figure in the literary world. 

The waratah image had been designed by Lulu Shorter (daughter of Royal Doulton's Sydney agent 

John Shorter) while still a student at Granville College and it was produced by Doulton on a number of 

items from around 1908-1915. Items from the series have been exhibited in exhibitions over the years2 

and Baker used an image of a similar cup and saucer in his Australian Flora in a section he called 'The 

Waratah in Applied Art and Literature', the title indicating perhaps the interest he and Franklin shared. 

The example here is from the State Library of NSW where, along with its accompanying Book of t he 

Waratah Cup (an autograph album Franklin got those who used the cup to sign and make comments 

in), it forms part of the Library's Miles Franklin Collection. 3 

Her letters and a recent biography by Jill Roe. suggest Franklin was particular in her wants and 

opinions - a sharp tongue perhaps - and the entries in the book of the waratah cup are slightly selfconscious, 

awkward even, the authors possibly aware of Franklin scrutinising their words. But Franklin 

was a single woman trying to make her way in what was essentially, at that time, a man's world. She 


Collectio n 

Miles Franklin's waratah cup and saucer, Royal Daulton, England, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW 

(R 230., album ID: 824191) 

rarely had much money and although she had a wide group of friends, she had little family support 

or financial backing and so, despite her fame, she struggled. Despite this, she bequeathed money to 

establish a literary prize which continues to support and care for Australian writers to this day. 

In the 2013 Miles Franklin Literary Award (funded by Franklin's bequest) the four shortlisted authors 

were, in a first, all women. This was surely a result of the broader support and cultivation given to 

women writers over the years since Franklin so generously established her prize. It might be drawing a 

long bow but I think a correspondence can be seen here between Miles Franklin, and women's writing 

in general, and the waratah plant. For waratahs - like women authors, once quite rare - are now 

cultivated and readily ava ilable; I see thrivi ng examples of the plant in my own and other's gardens. 

So can the flowers on this conventional and rather polite cup talk? Can they say something about 

sustainability? I think they can. I think they say that it is care that makes a difference when sustainability 

is at issue. On their white, precision-made surface, through their carefully plotted and rendered design, 

the waratahs on Miles Franklin's cup and saucer speak quite clearly. 

Richard Baker. The Australian Flora In Applied Am, available from http://www".blodwerSltytfbrary.orgftitlefl620llpagell/mode/lup, 

(accessed 10 June, 2013) 

The P(M'erhouse Museum, the National Gallery of Australia and the Australiana Fund all have 'SImilar examples. 

Miles Franklin, The Book of the Wararah Cup, 1902-1908, 1944-1954, 5lNSW, available from: http://acms.sI,nsw,gov.aulsearchl 

SimpJeSearch.asp,,?query=book+Of+the+waratah+cup&sort=Rank.&select= l&recordtype=2&retrieve=I00+P£RCENT, (accessed 20 August. 2013) 

4 Jill Roe, Her brilliant career: the life of 5telfil MIles Franklin, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. 


Artist in Residence 

Cultivate 

-- ------_. 

Helen Earl recounts her residency experience at the 

Royal Botanic Garden Sydney 

In 201 1 I was selected as Artist in Residence for the Royal Botanic 

Garden Sydney. The residency invites the artist to work in, and 

be inspired by, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and its scientific 

collections, which are housed in the National Herbarium of NSW 

The residency culminated in a solo exhibition titled Cultivate, in 

2012 . The stated mission of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, 'to inspire the appreciation 

and conservation of plants', provided the catalyst for my research to explore the con nections that existed 

between people and plants w ith in the oldest botanical garden and scientific institution in Australia. 

My artwork reflected on the meaning of cultivation, specifically the physical tending of the garden, 

the promotion of plant growth and the fostering of scientific, cultural, environmental and historical 

knowledge. 

The installation, From Jungle to Teacup, explored various meanings of cultivation by creating a 

narra tive around different species of Camellia. Cu ltivars such as the C japonica and C sasanqua as 

well as the tea plant. C sinensis, grow in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney but the resea rch undertaken 

by scientists of the Camellia Project' focused on rare tropical and sub-tropical camellias of Indo China. 

From Jungle to Teacup is a poetic narrative about the excitement communicated to me in an 

interview with Dr Adam Marchant, Dr George Orel and Tony Curry. They recounted a plant hunting 

Helen Earl, From Jungle to Teacup, installation. wooden desk, porcelain flowers, tile, cup, sugarcane, paper, tea leaves, glass 

jar, wooden chair frame, ceramic seat, porcelain and terracotta leaves, paperclay dustpan, ceramic broom. various dimensions 

Photo: Helen Stevenson, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust

expedition conducted in 2002 to the Dong Nai River region of 

South Vietnam that resulted in the rediscovery of the rare tropical 

camellia, Thea piquetiana. 

A ceramic teacup, saucer, C. sinensis flowers, and a mounted 

herbarium specimen of sugar cane, lie on the desk alongside a 

reference book on camellias. The book represents the cultivation 

of new knowledge. The book cover is carved with a Camellia 

japonica illustration from a 19th century Curtis's Botanical 

magazine and from which sculpted Thea piquetiana flowers 

unfold. The seat of the botanist's chair is made of ceramic grass 

and scattered with camellias cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden 

Sydney. The scatterings of small leaves under the table create 

a gestural space representing the hidden jungle. The dustpan 

is a metaphor for sweeping a specific area of jungle and the 

subsequent collecting of the plant cuttings. 

Sewn Knowledge consists of 52 hand-sized, slipcast dishes 

with threaded ceramic needles and tags. Each dish reveals a unique 

hand drawn image of a mounted plant specimen. Many of the 

1.2 million preserved plants housed in the NSW Herbarium are 

dried specimens. Carefully pressed and dried between sheets of 

absorbent paper, the specimens arrive from field collections. Each 

specimen has accompanying field notes about the plant: where it 

was found, the collector's name, and surrounding habitat. 

Helen Earl, Water Conta;ned and 

Uncontained: pond spoon with 

lotus seedpod and buds, Southern 

Ice, found driftwood, spoon, h.3Scm; 

Photo: courtesy artist 

These specimens, important for advancing the study of systemic botany, are hand sewn onto 

archival paper by a team of volunteers using dental floss. The scientific information contained within a 

rectangular sheet of archival paper references a vast ecosystem, yet the preservation method is singularly 

domestic. The aim was to suggest to the viewer how important, ecologically, it is for us as individuals to 

recognise the value of preserved specimens and the ecosystems they represent. 

A collection of three works titled Frozen Assets refers to PlantBank, the new scientific plant 

conservation facility at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan. Frozen Assets examines the 

importance of protecting biodiversity by storing seed or live tissue in climate-controlled refrigerated 

vaults. 

Loosely grouped under the title Water, Contained and Uncontained are ceramic objects that 

appreciate the beauty of aquatic plants inhabiting the ponds of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and 

Sydney Harbour, such as seaweeds growing below the sandstone wall of Farm Cove. Both fresh and salt 

water define the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, and the biodiversity of this planet. 

My work continues to poetically investigate the interconnections of the domestic spaces that we 

inhabit in daily life, with the macrocosm of the unbounded. My intention is to suggest that individual 

understanding of biodiversity will collectively ensure the ecological future of this planet. 

Helen Earl 

The work for this exhibition was created in Helen's home studio in Sydney. She completed a 

Masters of Visual Arts at Sydney College of t he Arts, Sydney University in 2009 and is a casual 

lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney. 

1 For further infOfmatlon see Protect (amellla; 'NWW.rbgsyd.nsw.gov aulsclencelPlanCDl'lerslty_ResearchlPr0Jet:CCamelha 

THE 10URNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 117

Wedge 

---------- 

Brown, Lumpy, and Scratches 

the Laminex! 

John Dermer deals with the dags 

In the 1960s and 1970s this was a common 

feeling towards handmade pots, most often in 

reference to tableware but also to stoneware 

'blossom jars'. Unfortunately, it seems that not 

a lot has changed. The majority of work out 

there in the market place still scratches the 

furniture, even though the clay is now usually 

white porcelain. It seems odd that after spending 

so much time and effort on making and firing, 

a few minutes are not spent smoothing the 

base of the work. I am not just talking about 

tableware here, but also the most esoteric and 

sculptural of work. Often handmade work is 

purchased by folk who have good furniture on 

which to use it or display it. Try sliding a ceramic 

item that has not been smoothed across a table 

or bench top - it scratches! This will inevitably 

happen, if only during routine housecleaning. It 

need not be so! 

Many and varied methods can be used to 

smooth the base of the work - stones and 

grinding wheels based on silicon carbide or 

diamond sanding discs, Dremel type tools (small 

high speed, multi-tools), bench grinders and 

variable speed sander/polishers. 

The simplest and most efficient method I 

have found involves the use of a 200 mm bench 

grinder, often in conjunction with a Dremel that 

has a silicon carbide grinding tip. On one end of 

my bench grinder is a 120 mesh silicon carbide 

grinding wheel for taking off the larger dags 

(I use the Dremel for small runs), and then the 

pots are polished smooth with a silicon carbide 

impregnated 3M Scotch-Brite wheel on the 

other end. These de-burring wheels measure 

either 1 50 mm or 200 mm and come in different 

grades of hardness. The best I have found is the 

9 5 FIN . Although the 8 S FIN is easier to find, 


they don't last as well. Only a light pressure is needed to smooth the base of the 

work. The wheel I am currently using has cleaned up 3 X 75 cubic foot tableware 

firings and 6 salt glaze firings. It has worn down by about 20%. That's a lot of pots I 

The wheel is used for smoothing, not grinding; taking off sharp dags wears it quickly. 

Smoothing the foot of a rice bowl takes 10-20 seconds. 

The detail photo shows a salt glaze run . First a light grind on the bench grinder, 

then the Dremel, then the 3M wheel ... the cleanup is done in two minutes! 

The initial cost of a good quality bench grinder, the 3M wheels and a fine 

(120mesh) silicon carbide grinding wheel would be about $400. However, I feel 

that is a small price to pay to ach ieve a professional finish or for saving a pot that 

may have been discarded. Most importantly, you are caring for your customer and 

presenting a high quality finish so they can experience the pleasure of using your 

work without the pain of damaged furniture. 

Unfortunately, the 3M wheels are generally sold in packs of three and cost 

$130- $150 each. In the USA they are about US$85 each, but 3M won't sell them 

direct overseas. The 150mm wheels are a little cheaper but not as easy to use when 

they are worn down. (There are Chinese cheapies out there but beware!) I use an 

extended shaft on my grinder but this is not recommended. I always wear safety 

goggles and a good dust masK. If the base does not feel silky smooth then it will 

certainly scratch the Laminex! 

www.johndermer.com.au

Viewed & Read 

ccraolics 

IU!(O~ 

Lustre 

Lustre by Greg Daly 

Ceramics Handbook 

Published by A & C Black 

Publishers Ltd, January 2012 

144 pages, paperback 

ISBN 13: 9781408103760 

$39.95 

Now available online at 

www.australianceramics.com 

What inspired fairy tales of turning straw into gold! Was this the result of a secretive potter in the 

Middle East using straw to create a reduced atmosphere in his kiln to develop gold lustre on his pots 

more than 1000 years ago? Today we understand the science of lustres and in his book Greg Daly has 

outlined the details of reduced lustres, lustre glazes, resinate lustres and fuming so all interested potters 

can 'have a go'. The process is no longer a secret and the materials needed are readily available at 

suppliers and online. In Greg's book each type of lustre has its own chapter outlining how each works, 

along with firing temperatures, firing conditions and, most importantly, safety issues, which people 

should read closely before embarking on lustre projects. This book covers the variables you will be 

dealing with, minimising them so you get the feeling of how they work together. 

For reduced lustre the variables are the base glaze, the pigment, the firing and length of reduction and 

the temperature. This book gives a helpful guide to developing and testing the glaze and recording 

information (such as the length of firing, temperature and number of reductions) on the back of test 

tiles. Explanations are well illustrated with photographs of test tiles and pots by potters who specialise in 

lustres. 

The book also covers lustre glazes (in·glaze lustre and flash lustre) and resin lustres which can be 

commercially purchased and fired in an OXidising atmosphere in an electric kiln. The reduction comes 

from the resin (usually pine resin) in which the metals are mixed. Lustres need to be handled with care 

in a well·ventilated area, preferably while wearing a vapour mask. Greg makes his own resinate lustres 

using natural eucalyptus oil (rather than the very nasty chemicals the commercial ones contain) with 

firing instructions and recipes given. 

Fuming is a lustre technique ('borrowed' from glass artists) that uses materials which are corrosive and 

poisonous. Chapter 5 covers the dangers and may make you wonder whether it's worth it. 

This book shows the results of the author'S extensive testing so you can make your own decisions 

about the way to go. After the expertise of lustre nearly being lost over the centuries, this book should 

ensure its place in the future history of ceramics. 

Review by Kay Alliband 


Jennifer Collier pays tribute to Jane Crick 

The Canberra Potters' Society is mourning the loss of Jane Crick, who 

died on 29 September 2013, aged 69. Jane will be known to long-term 

readers of this journal as the ACT representative for close to 20 years. 

Her first report appeared in Pottery in Australia, Vol 33 No 2, W inter 

1994. 

Jane was born in England where she trained as a pharmacy chemist. 

She met her husband Ian while working in Uganda and they moved to 

Australia and settled in Canberra where she rapidly developed a passion 

for clay. She studied with Alan Peascod and Alan Watt at the ANU 

School of Ceramics, graduating in 1989. Peascod encouraged her to join 

the Canberra Potters Society (CPS) in 1988, which she did with alacrity, 

taking on, in turn, every office-bearing position including president 

and treasurer. In 1992 Jane also began teaching at CPS and her love of 

glazes will live on in students who did her glaze courses. They are sure 

to honour her rule - a glaze test in every kiln firing. 

In 1999 Jane joined the Inner City Clayworkers Co-operative in 

Sydney where she was a member for seven years before regretfully 

giving up her membership to focus on preparations for overseas 

travel. Jane was also a member of a second cop-op, Tra inspotters, in 

Bungendore. Around this time Jane bought land at Tarago using a 

bequest from her step-father in England in whose memory she named 

the property Moonshill. She opened up her studio to locals offering a 

drop-in ad-hoc tutorial for anyone, regardless of skill or experience. Jane 

also ran her Hot to Pot workshops there, and was thrilled to participate 

in the very first OSCAS this past August, beaming with pride at the 70+ 

cars that visited over two days. 

In 2008, Jane won a Churchill Fellowsh ip to travel to the USA and UK to visit other community-based 

pottery studios to find out how she could further develop Moonshill. On her return, full of ideas, she 

drew up a list of all the things she wanted to do, then promptly set about achieving most of them in the 

years since. 

Jane is survived by hundreds of good pots in collections across the globe and by almost as many 

students. The village of Tarago and the potters of the region will remember a potter who was always 

interested to help. A few of us will remember long and lively conversations in the car driving to courses, 

members events, studios or exhibitions in which Jane was always encouraging, refreshingly frank, and 

unfailingly kind. http://janecrick.netfirms.com 


Sandra Burgess, Plexus 

PhD Exhibition; University Gallery, University of Newcastle 28 August - 4 September 2013 

In her PhD exhibition, 

Plexus, at the University of 

Newcastle in September, 

Sandra Burgess asked 

viewers to notice the little 

things. 

Plexus (meaning 

'matting' or 'plaiting') was 

a survey of the layering 

of history and physical 

matter that develops in a 

place. For Burgess, that 

place is Hanging Rock near 

Nundle, NSW, where she 

tends a property. 

"I want people to consider the fragility of the natural world and our impact on it," Burgess explained. 

The idea of layering was explored using multiple mediums (including ceramics, paper, found objects and 

plant installations) and by taking the viewer from the 'macro' to a 'micro' perspective. 

Burgess's macro perspective was apparent in a series of deep half-spherical ceramic forms - each 

violently gashed and cracked - which stood confidently at the gallery's entrance and represented the 

effects of mining on the land. Other parts of the exhibition featured blackberries, prickly pear and grass 

heads formed in porcelain to represent the weeds that invaded during colonial times. 

The exhibition was also concerned with the microscopic, a perspective which has captivated Burgess's 

imagination for thirty years. Featured was a fantastical exploration of diatoms, the silica skeletons of 

prehistoric algae. "I was first fascinated by diatoms after reading {biologistj Ernst Haeckel's books," said 

Burgess. "I also knew I was using them in the kiln bricks first given to me in 1979." Southern Ice was 

a fitting material for her diatom reconstructions as it conveyed the tiny organisms' decorative swirls of 

lines and dots. 

''I'm asking people to look closer and notice the small things," said Burgess, ... because everything is 

connected. And it's how you can really treasure things, by knowing more about them." 

Report by Candice Anderson. http://theartisansobject.com 


A year of workshops in 

south-east QLD 

We started with the Helen 

Charles Big Pot workshop in 

late June. Helen's workshops 

are always fully booked 

and with a waiting list l 

This was no exception with 

participants coming from 

NSW to play at building 

large forms with BRT clay for 

two fun filled days. Helen's 

Venturi burner for drying clay 

was a huge hit, again! 

The second workshop was Explore Porcelain Slab Building with Kenji Uranishi organised by the 

Gold Coast Art Gallery and held in the Gold Coast Potters studio. This workshop booked out very 

quickly, and it was a huge success. 

Shirley Battrick's Printing on Clay workshop was held in August - another fully booked workshop 

with rave reviews from the participants. 

We have two fantastic workshops coming up, Firstly, on 5 & 6 October, we have Malcolm Greenwood 

from NSW who will also have a display of pots for sale in the Clay Art Benowa gallery, In early 

November Vicki Grima will give a participation workshop on pinch pots, as well as judging our Annual 

Members' Exhibition. 

The Gold Coast Potters are holding their 4th Art & Crafters Market on Sunday 1 December, With a 

great diversity in art and craft stalls, these markets have become very popular, We have demonstrations 

galore, a pizza van, coffee van, cakes, sausage sizzle and music '" what a great Christmas precursor! 

Go to our web pages for lots more: www.goldcoastpotters.com; www.clayartbenowa.com; 

www.facebook.com/GoldCoastPottersAssociation 

Report by Lynette Rogers 


Australia Wide 

A short profile on Maria Chatzinikolaki 

Maria Chatzinikolaki (silent 'C') is an emerging ceramic artist, born in Greece, who is currently a studio 

tenant at Adelaide's JamFactory. After high school Maria studied visual arts and graphic design in 

Athens and proceeded to work there for international advertising firms until the opportunity for change 

presented itself: 

When my parents moved to one of the islands of Greece (Paros), I jumped at the chance to 

follow them and live a less complicated lifestyle. I found a job as a retail assistant in a shop 

that sold local ceramics and when one of their production assistants got sick I was asked to 

help with production .. . two years later I was decorating their main dinnerware range. 

In 2007 Maria moved to Australia and began 

extending her knowledge and skill in ceramics 

w ith courses at Adelaide College of the Arts and 

porcelain workshops at Jam Factory with Robin Best, 

who was her mentor in 2010 when she became an 

aAssociate in the Ceramics Studio at JamFactory. 

Working predominantly with slipcast porcelain, 

Maria decorates blanks, altered to make each 

unique, using a variety of techniques including 

impressed decoration, slip trai ling and painting 

with underglazes. Recently Maria has shifted from 

production ware to more one-off pieces with an 

emphasis on the sculptural effects of combining 

decoration and form. Using established patterns and her own unique decorative style, Maria plays upon 

the personal, cultural and historical aspects of pattern and its ability to transform, define and defy form. 

Maria had her first solo exhibition at JamFactory in 2012, and has had work in numerous group 

exhibitions locally and nationally, including this year's Clunes Ceramic Award in which she won the 

Emerging Artist Prize, and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Award. Maria's work can be found at 

JamFactory (SA), Beaver Gallery (ACT), Potier (VIC) and Sturt Gallery (NSW). 

www.mariachatzinikolaki.com.au 

https:llwww.facebook.com/pages/Maria-Chatzinikolaki.Porcelain 

Instagram: mariaxceramics 

Report by Sophia Phillips, http://sophiaphillips,carbonmade.com 

124 THE lOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

A recent exhibition near Hobart 

At the Rosny Schoolhouse Gallery in August 2013, an inspired and skilfully executed exhibition, 

Stairway to Heaven , was held by two of the Tasmanian Ceramics Association 's finest ceramicists, 

Christine Crisp and John Watson. The artists worked independently, each unaware of how the other 

was approaching the chosen theme. The harmonious outcome largely comprised a variety of 

architectural pieces representing the religious aspirations of different cultures across the ages - 

Egyptian pyramids, tombs and reliquaries, a Russian Orthodox Church, Tibetan monasteries, 

Islamic minarets, Buddhist stupas, Mount Athos and a humble English parish church. 

Christine'S handbuilding, rich with poetic illusion and symbolism, enables her to express her love 

of history and architecture. She cleverly translates the dressmaking process used by her mother and 

grandmother into working with clay slabs, then she textures the surface with handmade coils incised 

with patterns. Her constructions are varied and intricate. Christine said, "My approach to Stairway to 

Heaven was fairly broad, allowing me to express a lot of different ways people think they can get to 

heaven, culturally and personally." 

John's work tended towards a more 

literal translation of the theme. He said, 

"The exhibition provided an opportunity 

to indulge my penchant for making towers 

and other architectural forms, many of 

which were inspired by happy memories 

of trekking in the Himalayas for several 

months in 1970. I love working with clay, 

and ceramic processes comprise the core of 

my art, but I'm not a purist and often utilise 

other media to embellish the work, including 

poppy seeds, wood, metals and acrylic inks. 

Sometimes I even use glue!" 

Report by Jude Maisch 

http://tasmanianceramics.com 

THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013 125

Danaher Lane Studios 

If there were to be an archaeological dig of 

the layers of dust settled on the rafters at the 

Danaher Lane Studios, it would revea l over 15 

years of pottery activity. 

The layers of dust would begin with David 

Elliot and David Golightly who established the 

first lease of this warehouse in 1998. Alongside 

their slipcast ceramics business they created 

a series of smaller studios. Potters Robbie 

Harmsworth, Margaret Carlton and Fiona Hiscock were the first to fill these spaces. Fiona remembers 

communal tea breaks and turns cooking lunch as a convivial feature of those early studio days. 

Desperate to find a substantial slipcasting space, fate led Greg Bonasera to the studio in 2005. He 

landed at Danaher Lane just as 'elliot golightly' had departed. Similarly, David Pottinger arrived and set 

up a space for his nerikome practice. 

Currently, the studio is home to 11 artists, nine of whom work with clay. Communal activity continues 

to flourish under the studio-ship of David Pottinger who took over the lease and manages the space. 

There is access to shared kilns, slab rollers, clay sinks, warm conversation and much technical discussion. 

It is clear to see the design influences of current Danaher Lane occupants Chela Edmunds' textile and 

Kim Russell's jewellery training at RMIT. These makers take a whimsical, fresh and energetic approach to 

the ceramic process. 

Craig Pearce's business, Urban Cartel, makes slipcast, porcelain tableware - old-fashioned milk 

bottles that pull at the nostalgic heart strings. Craig trained at Bendigo University in the 1990s while 

Brooke Thorn recently honed her skills at Holmesglen TAFE. Brooke Thorn's handthrown pots have 

beautiful minimal lines that emphasise her subtle, multi-dipped glaze surface. Barbara Mcivor began her 

ceramics training in Queensland and carries the wisdom and skill gained from making ceramic sculpture 

and wheelwork since the 1970s. In the neighbouring studio is Alison Frith who, when not in class at 

Holmesglen TAFE, throws delicately decorated pottery. 

As the dust settles before the Wetvac sweeps through, it is clear that the underlying and consistent 

key ingredient to the success of the Danaher Lane Studios has been a continuum of communal purpose 

and support within a material specific studio. 

Report by Robyn Phelan, http://robynphelan.com.au 

,26 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2013

Busy in the West 

We're preparing for the Christmas rush. Sandra Black, Cher Shackleton, Di Sigel and Greg Crowe are 

in Fremantle Art Centre's massively popular Bazaar, 6-8 December, then open studios on 14 and 15 

December. South of the River Potters' exhibition Glorious Mud was held in October and Perth Studio 

Potters is set for their Members' Selective in November. 

At Central Institute of Technology, Artist In Residence Cynthia White (MFA), whose background is film, 

recently explored the interdisciplinary platform of mixed media. With a grant from the City of Fremantle 

for Community Development Funding, her project intersects ceramic form and video in an installation, 

Evolving Memory, that opens at The Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery in April 2014. 

Sandra Black and Fleur Schell exhibited in Expressions of Self in August/September with Skepsi 

Gallery at Montsalvat in Victoria, and Helen Foster won an award at Bunbury Biennale. Rockingham 

Regional Arts (RRA) and local ceramicists have keenly awaited having a ceramics studio in Rockingham's 

new arts centre. Under Bec Thomas' guidance a group has formed and equipment is being garnered. 

The City of Rockingham waived hire fees for the first year in return for RRA support. 

Ian Dowling in Margaret River has recently completed a commission, collaborating with local library 

users to create a courtyard waterwall at the local library. Two metres square of clay was sculpted, carved, 

imprinted then completed wit h oxide resist and glaze. Another project at Surfers Point was two walls of 

textured cast ceramic tiles attached to formwork and cast in-situ into two large concrete walls. 

Bela Kotai's Counterweight in ClTs Gallery Central displayed his mastery of clay with airy, skeletal, 

architectural forms reminiscent of bridge constructions traversing massive chasms. For her Advanced 

Diploma, Holly Courtney is creating 

work (see image right) informed by 

her fascination with science fiction by 

combining large thrown and extruded 

parts into forms that reflect her imagined 

fantasy of extra terrestrial landscape and 

that which might inhabit it 

Report by Elaine Bradley 

http:// elainebradley.blogspot.com.au 


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On the Shelf 

On the Shelf 

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Lustre 

More books are available on www.australianceramics.com 

4. Grafisk (Graphic) Porcelain 

by Ane-Katrine von Bulow 

1. Stephen Bowers 

Beyond Bravura 

by Damon Moon and 

John Neylon 

Th is book covers Bowers 

life as an educator, 

studio manager and arts 

administrator as well as 

his oustanding artistic 

career 

AU S49.95 

2. Lustre by Greg Daly 

This handbook aims to 

explain and simplify the 

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types 01 lustre. The book 

covers recipes for lustres and 

techniques for applying and 

firing. as well as showing 

you the results of the 

author's extensive testing 

AU 539.95 

3. Developing Glazes 

by Greg Daly 

For any potter beginning to 

experiment with fired colour, 

texture and decoration in 

their work, this book is an 

essential reference with 

pr adical advice and step-bystep 

instructions for testing 

glazes. 

AU S35 

This short film is about Danish 

artIst Ane-Katrine von SOlow. 

It shows her process of making 

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transfers onto her 3D vessels. 

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E!pi~Date 0 0 0 0 ro~1 1 _ _ _ The Australian Ceramics Association 

PO Box 274 Waverley NSW 2024; T: 1300 720 124 

E: mai!@australianceramlcs.(om; \N\\IIN.3ustralianceramiCS.(om 

2014 Foc:u5 

& Deadline Dates 

VoIS3 No 1 

Publication: 

1 April 2014 

Connections: 

Australia & Asia 

Deadline for copy: 

3 February 2014 

VoIS3 No 2 

Publication: 

17 July 2014 

Emerging artists 

writers and 

photographers 


5 May 2014 

Vol 53 No 3 

Publication: 

20 November 2014 

Collaborations 


9 September 2014

C1assifieds 

CERAMIC SUPPLIES 

BLACKWATILE POTIERY SUPPLIES 

Sydney-ba,ed pottery supply outiet selling clays from 

Blackwattle, Clayworks, Feeneys, Keanes. Limoges and 

Walkers with over 50 different clays held in stock, We also 

manufadure earthenware. terracotta, stoneware and 

porcelain casting slips. Blackwattle. Cesco, Deco and Kera 

underglaze colours and glazes. Bulk raw materials, stains, 

oxides. tissue transfers. lustres. wheels. kilns, tools, 

workshops, classes, earthenware and stoneware firing 

service. bisque ware, free advice, low prices and great 

service. Over 30 years poning experience. delivery available 

Australia-wide. Showroom open 6 days; 20 Stennett Rd, 

Ingleburn NSW 2565; T: 02 9829 5555; F: 02 9829 6055; E: 

blackwattlepottery@bigpond.com; www.blackwattle.net.au 

CUSTOM DECALS 

By using state of the art digital printing technology, Decal 

Specialists can produce high Quality custom digital ceramic 

decals and custom glass digital decals from original artwork 

(CMYK). The decorative possibilities with Custom Digital 

Decals are only limited by your imagination! Check out our 

website: 'NWW.decalspecialists.com.au 

T: Australia 1300 132 771 New Zea land: 0800 000 451 

E: enquires@decalspecialists.com.au 

KERRIE LOWE GALLERY 

Sydney inner city pottery supplies: Keane's Clay - discount 

on 5 bagS/10+ bags; Southern Ice Porcelain; Museum Gel 

Chinese Decals; wide range of tools, glazes, underglazes. 

Kerrie lowe Gallery, 49 King 5t, Newtown 2042 

T: 02 9550 4433; E: lowekerrie@gmail.com 

Mon - Sat, lOam - 5.30 pm; Thurs until 7 pm. 

K' lii 

KILNWEST 

Manu1aduring Kilns in Australia since 1972. 

We offer a full range of electric kilns, glass ovens and 

furnaces to suit your requirements. Over 100 different styles 

are available or we can custom design one to your needs. 

(·Tick compliant and Department of Education approved 

designs. 125 8roadway, Bassendean WA 6054; T: 08 9377 

1222; E: sales@kilnwest.com.au; lJWNoI.kilnwest.com.au 

NORTHCOTE POTIERY SUPPLIES 

Northcote Pottery Supplies sells a range of quality pottery 

materials including clay, glaze, tools and equipment for the 

student. hobbyist and professional. We run a range of 

classes and workshops far those interested in furthering 

their skill and k.nowledge in ceramics. We offer a firing 

service, studio access and residency program, as well as 

housing SMAllpieces, a space showcasing contemporary 

Australian ceramics. 142-144 Weston Street Brunswick East 

3057; T: 03 9387 3911; F: 03 9387 4011 

www.northcotepottery.com.au 

OXYGEN PROBE 

The CP probe is a very simple, low cost oxygen probe with 

an easy-ta-read digital meter displaying QxidationlredUdion. 

This probe is ideal to control both gas and wood·fired kilns. 

Type CP oxygen probe - the simple, low-cost potters' probe. 

See www.cof.com.au/AOSor call Australian Oxytrol Systems 

on 03 5446 1530. 

POTIERS EQUIPMENT PTY LTD 

Quality supplies and friendly service; A wide range of clays 

and colours, kilns, wheels, slab rollers, pug mills, extruders, 

all sorts of accessories. materials, glazes and tools. 

Shop 13/42 New St, Ringwood VIC 3134 

T: 03 9870 7533; F: 03 9847 0793 

TETLOW KILNS & FURNACES PTY LTD 

One of Austral ia's most experienced kiln and furnace 

manu-facturers: Australia's largest range with 40 standard 

sizes, custom sizes on request; Clean, efficient electric and 

gas kilns and furnaces; made in Australia. environmentally 

friendly. 12 George St, Blackburn VIC 3130 

T: +61 (0)39877 4188; F: +61 (0)398941974 

E: info@tetlow.com.au; lJWNoI.tetlow.com.au 

VENCO PRODUCTS 

Manufacturers and exporters of high quality pottery 

equipment. Veneo manufacture a range of pugmills with 

output capacities, suitable for schools and studios through 

to high capacity industrial units. Venco pottery wheels are 

world regarded for quality and reliability. 

T: +61 (0)893995265; f: +61 (0)894971335 

W"WW.venco.cam.au 

WALKERS CERAMICS 1 FEENEYS CLAY 1 CESCO 

NEWS FLASH: Our NEW webshop will be open soon for 

direct orders & Greg Daly 'videos' are now available as 

DVDs. Our factory outlet is now open at 1/21 Research Drive 

Croydon South with a full range of ceramic supplies and 

advice - days, glazes, colours. raw materials, tools, brushes, 

equipment, kilns, wheels, books and kiln furniture. Great 

parcel and pallet rates Australia wide. Please see our website 

for full product information including methods of use, 

application and faults and remedies. Download our Pottery 

& Ceramic Handbook, Melbourne & Canberra price lists 

and Feeneys Clay price list at WVI/\N.wa!kerceramics.com.au. 

Our aim is to use, from Australian sources, the best quality 

raw materials to produce our own range of Australianmade 

bodies, glazes and colours for all aspects of ceramic 

production; 2121 Research Drive, Croydon South VIC 3136 

T: 03 8761 6322 F: 03 8761 6344; Toll free: 1800692 529 

or 18000ZCLAY; E: sales@Walkerceramics.com.au; orders@ 

walkerceramics.com.au or david@Walkerceramics.com.au 

'NWW.walkerceramics.com.au 

WOODROW KILNS 

Offering a complete range of electric and gas kilns. aU 

Australian made; featuring aluminium frame with 10 year 

warranty, fibre board lining - up to 60% cheaper to run; 

easy to use automatic multi·stage controller; failsafe backup 

circuit; backed by friendly phone support, after sales service 

and a 3 year factory warranty; T: 02 9790 2717 

WMV.kilns.com.au 


Cla ssifieds 

FOR SALE 

URGENT SALE 

Having sold a property on the NSW South Coast. I have an 

urgent need to redistribute. for httle or no price, fire bricks 

from a kiln and a large gas kiln. Repeat - URGENT! Please 

ring Barry Blicharski on 02 9818 2125 in Rozelle, Sydney. 

AS NEW 21 (ubic ft (esco Gas Kiln 

Twin pilot, 4 main burner. mUltiple shelves and props, digital 

pyrometer, stainless canopy and flu. Paid total of S15,500 

on del Feb 09; fired less than a dozen times. 

As new condition, currently in storage. Moved properties 

and won't fit new studio. A regretful sale, $9750 neg. 

Contact Nadine on 0417 688642 or email 

nadine.wilsonl@bigpond.com 

9 CUBIC FEET GAS FIBRE PORT-O-KILN includes 

instructions. pyrometer, shelves, props, etc; good condition 

apart from small area of mouse chew damage to the bottom 

right fronl corner of the fibre; S 1500; situaled Oberon NSW. 

Call Diane on T: 0439 977 734 

GROUPS 

CERAMIC STUDY GROUP In

COLOURS Rockwood Pigments, Cesco, 

Walker Ceramics, Clayworks, Deco, 

Chrysanthos CLAYS Bendigo, Bennetts, 

Blackwattle, Clayworks, Feeneys, Keanes, 

Northcote, Walkers EQUIPMENT 

wheels, slab roliers, 

ACCESSORIES Brushes, corks, 

ki ln shelves, etc MATERIALS 

and more GLAZES Powder and 

Claytools, Kemper, Giffin Grip and 

NEW - Limited supply of Duncan 

2014 

GUEST ARTIST 

WORKSHOPS 

SLOW CLAY CENTRE 

Sue Robey 

Building with 

Paperclay 

Kirsten Coelho 

Pure & 

Not-so-Simple 

Prue Venables 

Spoon workshop 

Liz Williams 

Figuratively 

Speaking 

Prue Venables 

Porcelain 

Jewellery course 

Bookings: 

www.slowclay.com 

~L OW 

CLAY 

CENT RE 

13 Keele 51 . Collingwood . Vic 

Studio VISits by appointment 


OLD SAINT LUKES STUDIO 

POTTERY & GALLERY 

Ian Jones and Moraig McKenna are happy to 

announce that OLD SAINT LUKES STUDIO POTTERY 

AND GALLERY at Gundaroo NSW has reopened. 

Gallery hours: Saturday & Sunday, 1 0.30am - 5pm or by appointment 

Ian and Moraig are passionate about the process of woodfiring and their gallery 

specialises in woodfired ceramics fired in the anagama kiln. 

They are now offering pottery classes in the studio at Old Saint Luke's Church . 

They are located 10 kms off the Federal Highway, north of Canberra. 

1045 Shingle Hill Way Gundaroo NSW 2620 

T: 02 6236 8197 I M: 0413 301 918 I www.oldsaintlukesstudio.com.au 

We would like to thank the pottery community for the amazing assistance and 

support given to us following the 2011 fire that destroyed our house and gallery.

quality pottery supplies and services 

Northcote Pottery Supplies Pty Ltd 

142 - 144 Weston Street 

Brunswick East 3057 

(PH) 039387391 1 

New web site: 

www.northcotepotterysupplies.com.au

MKM IlANDROLLERS'" 

Summer School I 8-18 January 2014 

University of Southern Queensland I Toowoomba 

32 Designs! 

"""IIIII'P!II(II!III 

Learn new techniques and sharpen 

your skills at the nation's leading 

performing, fine and creative Arts 

Retreat. 

Choose from an exciting selection 

of creative arts workshops 

including 

Slow Wheel. Soft Clay w it h 

Ant hony Brink 

Other classes cover painting, 

drawing. printmaking, sculpture, 

jewellery, calligraphy, millinery, 

woodwork. digital photography. 

and theatre. 

Great for slabs or thrown pots! 

Carved wood with an oil fin ish for du rability. 

HandRoller d imensions: IOem x I .Scm 

Olllilll! SI/(/l'l'illf.: \011' I\'/Iift/hle! 

~ MKMPotteryTools.com 

Phone: 00 1.920.205.2701 

Email: MKM TOOLS I@gmai l.com 

Wa i kato Ceramics (NZ) 

salcs@polterysupplies.co.nz 

078568890 

Botany Pottery SLudio (NZ) 

ooIJX)l.s@ihug.co.nz 

09 27 1 2626 

Pottery & Ceramics Studio 

~ Pottery Classes 

~ Casual Social Sessions 

~ Casual Studio Access 

~ Firing Service 

~ Clay & Materials 


•••• 

took.$ 

marine grade aluminium 

wheel head 33cm (1 

• bat pins 

differefft ? 

clever design prevents 

water / slip from getting 

under wheel head for 

easy cleaning 

marine grade aluminium tray 

• 10 yr warranty on breakage 

• easy clean with large drain hole 

• wooden side trays also available 

easy clean control pad 

* aux. speed control buttons 

fwd/rev 

* auto turn-off (power saving) 

clip-on seat (optional) 

• padded & adjustable 

• stainless steel frame 

stainless steel body & legs 

• no rusting 

• ergonomic curved design 

• table-top kit included 

low profile footpedal 

* high impact 

powerful direct drive motor 

• stainless steel & 

• no belts - maintenance free polycarbonate I III 

• 3/4hp permanent magnet motor I'r 1$ .. , 

• super smooth and responsive t..ec A IJ $ e V 

• very quiet and smooth r kat $ VI ~/''_' ________, 

, _________.... V features 

- 550W permanent magnet molar 

- dedicated intelligent control system 

- low profile footpedal 

- smooth, powerful and ultra quiet 

• forward I rev""", 

• auto tum-ofl & 0Yef10ad protection 

• 11()"240V 5O/6Ohz 

- 10 year warranty on tray and frame 

options 

• dip-n marine ply shelves 

• riser bat and standard bats 

• stand-up and -..noor kits 

Also dVdlldPle: 

vmca sid" roller

A SMooth ~n.d Con.slstent porcel~ln. 0od!j 

for the professlon.~l potter . 

Keane Master Blend is a professional porcelain 

body that produces beautifully pristine white 

pieces under high fire temperatures. If you're a 

professional potter looking for an affordable 

porcelain body with true workable properties 

and excellent fired results, then look no further 

than Keane Master Blend. 

malcolM Qreel'\wood 

Ironstone 

Add ~ llttle w~rMth to !jour work 

Holy Batmate 1M 

Now back In stock! The extremely 

popular Xlem Batmate-, the potter's 

ultimate bat gripping solution. 

like usonf 

facebook

woodrow 

kilns 

Featuring 

Everything you need, including a set of shelves and 

props to suit the Kiln 

Our 'Watch Dog' backup safety circuit to prevent over 

firing as well as an element isolating door switch 

Fiber Board Insulation - Up to 60% cheaper to run 

Variable pitch elements for even chamber temperature 

10 Year Warranty on an all aluminium case and frame 

Easily serviceable parts and accessories 

Kanthal A 1 Elements and k28 heavy duty brick floor 

light weight design means it's easy to install or move 

Too many to list here - Check our Website for full details 

Kiln Servicing and Spares 

Elements & Thermocouples for all brands 

Shelves, Props, Fiber Blanket and Board 

We can retro fit our Multi-stage controller to your old 

kiln to give you Automatic firings 

Offering service and repairs onsite in the Sydney area 

Easy to Use Automatic Controller 

Includes easy to use, set and forget Automatic 

Kiln Controller with built in safety circuit 

9 Profile/ Program memories with 1 to 8 stages 

Delay start function to take advantage of 

cheaper electricity tariffs 

Ramps can also be down, so you can control 

cooling for things like glass or crystal glazes 

A set of easy to follow plain English instructions 

with step by step photos 

Recommended firing profiles with handy wall 

chart 

Backed By 

lifetime phone and e-mail support 

3 Year factory Warranty, 10 Year 

Frame/Case

• Allin Ooe Mixing Pugmills 

• Patented Single Anger De .... 

• Easy to Mount Extrusion Dies 

• InteDectual Mixing Tecboology 

• Stores Moist Clay Indefinitely 

• Huge Hopper Opening 

• No Vacuum Screens or Ports 

to Plug, Clean or Slow Down 

Cycle Times. 

VPM-9 

e8..u, __ 

eA .. 1IeC:tJk ·~ 

e ... teIdedV._ 

eReal-ta. a.,. 

eVariabie SpeecI 

eCE Certlled 

- USA Made 

Peter Pugger Mfg Inc 

3661 Cbrtity Lane, Ukiab, CA 95482 

Pbone: (707)463-1333 Fax: (707)462-5578 

C€ CERTIFIED www.peterpugger.com

o 

CHINO C LOY 

A retail space for handmade Australian ceramics 

40 Burnie Sl Clovelly NSW 2031 

Thurs- fri IOam - 6pm / Sal - Sun IOam-3pm 

By appointment outs ide these hours 

042790 4407 

www.chinaclay.com.au 

Ceramics Design Studio 

www.sit.nsw.edu.au/ceramics/gymea 

We offer a wide range of specialist ceramic studio courses 

Short Courses: 

Qualifications: 

9 Week Introductory Classes, 18 Week Advanced Wheel, 

Mould M aking, Handbuilding, Open Studio Practice 

Certificates, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Ceramics 

VET FEE help available for Diploma & Advanced Diploma 

mDDNEY INSTITUTEJ 

Photo: Silversalt Photography 

Ceramics by Robert Jeffers 

Marian.HoweIl2@det.nsw.edu.au 

The Kingsway & Hotharn Road, Gyrnea NSW 2227, Tel: (02) 9710 5001 

142 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAM ICS NOVEMBER 2013

Invited Artists 

Asia 

jean Moon Hwan, Korea 

jean Sung Cheal. Korea 

Masaho ana, japan 

Mahito Kudo, japan 

USA 

Tara Wilson 

Judith Duff 

Scot Parody 

james Kasper 

josh Copus 

South America 

Marcelo Tokai 

EU 

Herve Rousseau 

Pascal Geoffroy 

Nicholas Rousseau 

jean Francois Bourlard 

UK 

Matthew Blakely 

Australia 

Chester Nealie 

Sandy Lockwood 

Su Hanna 

Ray Cavill 

Robert Barron 

New Zealand 

MIChael O'Donnell 

1 - 18 May 2014 

Mystery Bay 

NSW Australia 

21 invited artists from Asia, USA, Europe, UK, 

South America, New Zealand and Australia 

This ceramics woodfire festival will bring together lovers of 

woodfire providing an exciting exchange of ideas and techniques 

in May 2014. The invited artists will produce a body of work, build 

a kiln then complete a long wood firing. 

The idyllic location is a 40-acre private property, Corunna Farm, 

situated near Mystery Bay NSW, surrounded by national park, 

where Corunna inlet enters the sea. Invited artists will also give 

slide talks on their practices and techniques. Participants will have 

the opportunity to mingle, view, talk and interact with the invited 

potters. Entertainment in the evenings will also be provided. 

There will be a series of exhibitions at the Bega Regional Gallery 

as well as Narek Gallery, Ivy Hill and Spiral Gallery. 

The festival is for everyone - ceramics enthuSiasts, woodfirers, 

potters, students, teachers and anyone else with an interest in 

pottery and ceramics. Registrations are now open. 

www.on-the-edge-of-the-shelf.com 

Coven or: Daniel Lafferty 

T: 02 6493 6724; 0428 478 719 

E: bandicootpottery@gmail.com

The Australian Ceramics Association's 

Biennial Exhibition 2014 

Manly Art Gallery & Museum 

2 May - 8 June 2014 

lynda Draper 

Janice & Garry 

2013 

earthenware and 

glaze, h.27cm 

the course of objects; 

the fine lines of inquiry 

Curator: Susan Ostling 

Mollie Bosworth, Amanda Bromfield, Kirsten Coelho, Greg Da l y, John Dermer 

Kate Dorrough , Lynda Draper , Me r ran Esson, Fiona Fell. Cathy Franzi 

Simone Fraser Neville French , Susan Frost . Shannon Garson, Steve 

Harrison . Fi ona Hiscock. Janetta Kerr-G rant, Diamando Koutasell i s 

Kylie Rose McLean , Sa rah Ormonde . Vicki Passlow . Dianne Peach, Julie 

Penn i ngton . Robyn Phelan . Ben Ri chardson . Tania Rollond, Liz Stops 

Pr ue Venables and Toni Warburton. 

Manly Art Gallery & Museum, West Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095 

www.manly.nsw.gov.au T: 02 9976 1500

WALKER 

, 

Feeneys 

Clay 

Proudly 

manufacturing 

in Australia 

~ . --. ... . 

• 

Cesco 

Glazes & Colours 

Service 

and Supplies

The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 52 No 3 November 2013

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