I had thought of writing something and in the end decided to simply show 2024 visually. Sometimes we just need to keep life less complicated …
Farewell 2024!
Open Studios | 9 and 10 November 2024
I’ll be participating in Open Studios as part of the 2024 Craft + Design Festival. I’m one of 36 artists participating in this yearly event which is proudly supported by Home by Holly.
I’ll have a small display with earlier works reduced up to 50%. I’m keen to make room in my studio as it’s filled with tubs of lovely ceramic plates, bowls, wall works that need a new home.
Pop on in from 10am to 4pm and say hello. Our garden is positively blooming for you to enjoy too. Our address is 27 Wade Street, Watson, Canberra. It’s also known as Gallery of Small Things when it pops up on your Google maps.
Photos: 1st image courtesy of Craft+Design website; Anne holding blue bird by Mel Hill Photo, Anne in her studio by Amanda Thorsen; Garden photo by Mel Hill Photo.
A closer look at the finer details of Birdie
I thought you might like to see a closer look at my birds to see the fine detail of each pattern I drew. The tropical birds and plant life wallpaper in the restaurant provided a starting point to research and draw the patterns required for 22 birds in total. There is the rainbow lorikeet, cockatiel, the Hoopoe and Lesser Bird of Paradise. Each bird was matched with nature’s flora. Plant life included Pink Bromeliad, Escargot, Frangipani, Monstera and a palm-like leaf.
I’ll reveal my making processes over the coming weeks. From slip cast and joining to drawing, drilling, firing and polishing … it’s no wonder the project took me 3 and a half months to make.
Main photo by Andrew Sikorski from @art_atelier_photo; rest courtesy of various sources.
I’m in an ad campaign!
Gosh! This was a while ago and I realised that I totally forgot to post about it here on my ceramics website. Admittedly, it was to promote my gallery (Gallery of Small Things | GOST), but my work did feature in the campaign by my local tourism body, VisitCanberra. They worked with Creative Agency Wunderman Thompson Australia to create a major domestic tourism campaign promoting Canberra and places to visit. I was one of three chosen for their Feb-July 2023 campaign. My little dishes feature in the campaign and I did suggest the pistachio to show just how tiny my ceramic dishes are 🙂
So, to see the ad please click on the YouTube video below:
Care | selected group exhibition at CraftACT
From Oct to Dec 2020, a small selection of my sparrows will be on show at CraftACT: Design + Craft Centre in Canberra, Australia.
In 2015, I investigated the disappearance of sparrows in my hometown Canberra. Five years on and after the bushfires raged across Australia and the Sapphire Coast in New South Wales, I felt compelled to revisit this series. Sitting in my studio, I refined the patterns and pierced more holes to emphasize the fragility of birdlife consumed at a rate unseen before. Now, more than ever, we need to care for our wildlife. This poem is for them.
shape the clay / small bird form
make the mould / a nest for the body
pour two slips / create one whole
slow the drying process / Nana’s hankie shelters the bird
pencil on design / bring it to life with marking
pierce with care / patterns reveals you
two firings / fully formed now
sanding and polishing, completed / light and fragile sparrow
Open Studio | Design Canberra Festival 19
I’m participating again in the Open Studios as part of Design Canberra Festival 2019. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and love meeting new and familiar faces as they see my studio and arts practice slowly grow. I’ve also been a bit busy with a gallery that I run so visitors will have an extra bonus of seeing Canberra’s (possibly Australia’s) smallest gallery – GOST. We have a beautiful garden that surrounds the studio/gallery. I’ll have new porcelain decorations in time for Christmas, along with my new colours in the pollen jewellery range, my popular birds and little dishes. So, pop on in as I’ll be open 11am to 4pm Saturday 9 November 19 along with many other studios on the Northside of Canberra.
Opening night of Protean a huge success!
Well it’s now been nine days later after opening night on Friday 3 July 2015 and I’m still on a high as our group exhibition Protean by 19 members from Claybodies Ceramics Group has been a huge success.
So many wonderful people braved 5 degrees and Canberra’s coldest night to date to support our opening. We were all in a state of shock as you could barely move.
But, the excitement and buzzing in the room was fantastic and everyone later said it felt like good vibes and happy people! We think more than 200 visitors attended and stayed till closing.
Sales kept our artists busy and catalogues flew out the door. Well at $8 for a beautifully designed book, we are not surprised!
Our group worked really hard to bring this exhibition to fruition as early as August last year. Meetings were held monthly and hotted up from February this year as it became apparent we had a lot of work to coordinate and delegate. Works were discussed with our Curator, Mark Van Veen, former CMAG curator and he provide guidance on selecting 1-3 works each and teaching us the essence of contemplating fewer objects rather than en mass. He also helped with sizing of plinths as we had to make our own plinths. This is rare as most galleries supply them but Nishi Gallery don’t have storage room.
So, my husband Adam spent many weekends and week nights custom making 17 plinths. Our garage became a mountain of boxes until a group of women descended with paint rollers in hand! It was such a great day as rollers went swishing and the boxes started to resemble art gallery plinths.
We also engaged a photographer, artist statement workshop and designer to pull together a stunning catalogue to showcase our works. All of this was purely funded by the artists. No financial assistance was received by local or state government. You wouldn’t want to know how much it cost…but we all truly believe in our practice and that ceramics is a truly wonderful art form that deserves prominence.
So, what work do I have this time? I’ve created a new body of work based on the domestic sparrow. Here is my artist statement in the catalogue:
Dull and brown, flittering in shadows, domestic
Poor little sparrow you are invisible
But I can change that
Porcelain and light, patterns piercing you
Delicate, white and now seen
A few photos from the exhibition which runs till 19 July 2015. Get in quick as works are selling fast! Also check out The Canberra Times and Sydney Morning Herald for a wonderful arts review by Kerry Anne Cousins.
My next exhibition…save the date!
Hello everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I’ve been busy since Boxing Day making new work for an up and coming exhibition. So, please save the date and if you would like an invite please send me an email request. Thanks, Anne
My next exhibition – claybodies@strathnairn – 14 June 14
I just realised 14 seems to be a popular date when it comes to me being in group exhibitions. My last exhibition was 14 Feb 14. So, I hope this is a lucky number for me as my 2nd exhibition for 2014 is just @ the corner. As I write this I am down to the wire as I continue to fire my works…but shush! don’t tell anyone ;).
This work is quite different to the Marion series I created for the Feb exhibition and thankfully took less time (3 months vs 2 years!). I did have grand plans of showing a body of work that would involve the flying ducks with a twist. However, technical issues prevented me from continuing this work*. I had to bite the bullet and go back to familiar territory – working with shellac and porcelain.
This series is all about Winter seeds – in particular gumnuts captured in a graphic motif. The colours are as crisp as a Canberra’s winter’s morning and evening – white (morning frost), black (evenings) and bottle green (lush green grass). The white in particular stands out as I’ve used Southern Ice Porcelain – Australian white clay renowned for its finesses and whiteness[1].
This is just a sneak preview of the work which is designed to adorn the walls of your home or work place. They are @ 11.5 c and come as 1, 2 or 3 in a set. Hopefully this snippet will entice you to come and see the exhibition on the opening night – 4pm Saturday 14 June (nibbles, wine and warm fireplaces as winter hits Canberra with a shock!) or Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays till end June.
Here is the invitation front and back with details.
* Don’t despair – the ducks haven’t been shot down! I do plan to re-visit them as I really want to explore this iconic wall adornment and reinterpret it with a twist. So, watch this space!
[1] It is also renowned for its translucency – as my work is about wall tiles this feature was not a focus.
The Journal of Australian Ceramics : The Journal of Australian Ceramics 522 July 2013, Page 100
The Journal of Australian Ceramics : The Journal of Australian Ceramics 522 July 2013, Page 100.
I am very excited to announce JAC has published my first article in its 52/2 July 2013 edition pages 98-101. It is my perspective as a graduating student on the need for education and widening skills base for those involved in the visual arts.
Thanks to the Australian Ceramics Association for including me in this issue which has a focus on Education, Greg Piper’s evocative portrait shots from Clay Push Gulgong 2013 and a showcase of Open Studios Ceramics Australia.
Enjoy reading!