Sculpture

Before You Know It (#1 and #2) | 2020

Hand built stoneware

Before You Know It (versions #1 and #2) were made in residence at the Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Centre (Denmark) during the Project Network Program early 2020. This body of work references the colour palette and markings of Guldagergaard’s residency lodging, as well as visuals from the Cast Courts of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (a place regularly visited before travelling to Denmark). The objects subvert traditional Danish forms prevalent during mid-century modernism, focusing on Scandinavian design principles of simplicity, functionalism, and clean lines.

Before You Know It #1 remains in the Guldagergaard permanent collection, whereas Before You Know It #2 was brought to Australia.

(photography: Ole Akhøj, Grace Yu & Theresa Hall)

Nearby and Faraway | 2019

Hand built earthenware

Nearby and Faraway was designed in residence at Studio Faire (Nérac, France) and later made in residence at A.I.R. Vallauris (Vallauris, France). These sculptural ceramics signify a summer spent in Nérac and Vallauris, taking cues from everyday experiences; bakery visits, clothes washed in laveries, and recording signs and colours of French architecture on long walks. The blue and yellow works are inspired by the streets of Nérac, and the pinks and greens of the Studio Faire lodging. The forms are abstract references to traditional French ceramics of the South to the South-West region (where these residencies can be found), including confit pots and cassoles.

(photography: Grace Yu, Theresa Hall & Peta Berghofer)

Nowhere and Everywhere | 2019

Handbuilt earthenware

Nowhere and Everywhere was made in residence at Maison Salvadore (L’isle Jourdain, France). The colours, text and imagery of this collection represent the transitional phase and ‘ghost like nature’ of L’Isle-Jourdain, where historical monuments including viaducts and churches are met with abandoned homes, businesses and an arcade (‘Au Bon Coin’). These forms disrupt the functionality of traditional water and vinegar vessels of the region, coming together to create an abstract still life or landscape, referencing a specific time and place.

(photography: Grace Yu & Peta Berghofer)

Commonplace | 2018-19

Hand built white raku & slip cast porcelain

(Solo exhibition, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, January 2019.)

Commonplace explores a synthesis between sculptural and functional ceramics. With traditional, domestic forms as a starting point, each object is made or installed to disrupt a sense of functionality. This body of work is designed to bounce between two sectors and discuss the dichotomy between 'art' and 'craft'.  Through informal techniques each clay object is made to be about things as well as for things, placing a focus on facility and concept driven work.

Continuing the intersection between clay and art object, alternative plinth forms referencing everyday furniture are used to display the ceramics. Modelled from the artist's living space, the plinths are reminiscent of domestic design, yet remain a device for presenting objects as sculpture and bringing them into public view. Together, the ceramics and plinths create abstract still-life installations that slip between gallery and domestic space.

(photography: Theresa Hall & Grace Yu)

Newly Formed | 2017

Hand built white raku

(Solo exhibition, First Coat Studios (Main Gallery), August 2017.)

Newly Formed is an experimental body of work discussing hand built clay objects and the experience of their immediacy.

With an emphasis on spontaneity and human gesture in the creative process, Newly Formed develops on ideas apparent in earlier collections, but takes a break from the methodical process of slip casting home wares, to instead explore new creative perimeters.   

I aim to show presence in the work and loosen ideals of perfection; exploring the dichotomy between 'the handmade' and 'the mass produced'.  Through functionless vessels, surface investigations, decorative processes and intuitive making, the material allows for sculptural qualities, which inherit gesture and connection to the maker. This body of work offers an insight into process and materiality — and in turn, a sense of character and authenticity.

Works featured in Newly Formed share familiar qualities — some taking elements from household items, while others are shaped with intrinsic figurative qualities.  Each piece is reminiscent of functionality, yet the material is stripped from traditional aesthetics and practicality.  By removing the traditional presentation of the works, I position them as both sculptural and functional, whilst disrupting existing and common ideas of 'the vessel'.

(photography: Grace Yu & Kirsty Lee)