Making our mark – Artist Statement

Making our mark                                                                                                                                           Anne Masters

In February 2012 I came across View from the Summit of Mount Ainslie, 1911[i] a rendering of American architect Walter Burley Griffin’s imagined Canberra by his professional partner and wife Marion Mahony Griffin.

This drawing fascinated me. Upon reading about the variety of processes Marion used to convey Walter’s winning entry in the 1912 Australian Federal Capital Design Competition I felt a compulsion to respond to her interpretation. Marion’s use of drawing, silk-screen, lithography and watercolours was something I thought I could relate to in my ceramic work.

While I could visualise Marion’s watercolours through glazes, I also wanted to create layers within the work, adapting the techniques ceramic artists use.

I knew Marion drew ‘…on linen tracing cloth, lithographed on window shade holland (starched and polished linen) and rendered in watercolour and photographic dyes …’[ii]. An Australian shade blind with a simple weave pressed on the clay tile became my first layer. I then created a stamp from a Canberra tourist spoon (relic from my childhood collection) to press a series of rows into the bottom of the landscape. Selected parts of a vinyl placemat from the National Museum of Australia shop created the centre focus of the drawing – the ‘City’ and the ‘Environs’[iii] with the famous Griffin axis lines in between.

Local ghost gum trees and Marion’s silhouette, were drawn then screen-printed onto the clay tablet. I drew myself in a contemporary pose utilising a modern process (decal printing) to create a solid black image. The constant hands-on process has been fascinating. Through every action – pressing, making glazes, painting – I felt I have forged a relationship with the woman who made her own mark nearly a century ago.

For nearly two years Marion has been my constant studio companion; she has helped me to understand a little bit more about making my mark in my place – Canberra.



[i] Andrew Metcalf, Canberra Architecture, Watermark Press. 2003

[ii] Roy Lippincott, n.d, Creating a new nation’s capital: The Griffins’ vision for Canberra. National Archives of Australia. Accessed at (http://naa.gov.au/collection/publications/papers-and-podcasts/designing-canberra/griffi-vision-for-canberra.aspx) on 11 July 2012.

[iii] Batterham, I. 1998. ‘The Walter Burley Griffin Design Drawings of the City of Canberra: Conservation Work at the National Archives of Australia’. Restaurator: International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material. 19 (3): 115-171.

© Anne Masters Ceramics

 

My work in-situ at FORM Studio and Gallery

Creating a box to match the narrative behind Making our mark

This beautiful box* was made by a School of Art (SOA) Furniture workshop student, Andrew Carvolth. It is made with American White Oak and Australian Blackwood. The idea behind the box was to have the American White Oak represent Marion Mahony Griffin being an American in Australia – hence the white inside and the Blackwood on the outside.

In my research I discovered Marion used Japanese White Oak and Australian Blackwood in her furniture and objects she made when living in Australia in the early 1920s.

I discovered it is hard to get Japanese White Oak and the Head of the SOA Furniture Workshop Ashley Eriksmoen suggested I consider the American wood as they were fairly similar and there would be a nice connection that I wanted between Marion and myself.

For more work by Andrew Carvolth please visit his website.

*Box does come with a lid. Watch this space and professional photos will be uploaded on the website in the coming weeks.

My first group exhibition: 10 February – 3 March 2014

Hello everyone,

Please find attached an invitation to visit my first group exhibition since graduating from the Australian National University School of Art Ceramics Workshop. The exhibition, ceraMIX  features 12  ceramicists (local and international) who form part of a collective called Claybodies.

Opening night is Friday 14 February at 6pm and you can also visit between 10 February – 3 March 2014 to check out our works. All details on invite: Invite ceraMIX by Claybodies

If you can’t make the night we are also hosting an Afternoon tea all day! on Sunday 23 February.

Afternoon tea_ceraMIX_FORM_flyer_final

Cheers, Anne