Past Exhibition

7 NOVEMBER – 1 DECEMBER 2019

Opening: Thursday 7 November 2019

2019 is Ian Jones’ 40th year as an independent professional potter, a moment to be celebrated by this exhibition of current work.

Jones has been making natural ash glazed wood-fired ceramics at Old Saint Luke’s Studio in Gundaroo since building a 14 metre anagama kiln there in 1984.

In conjunction with his wife, the potter Moraig McKenna, he has attempted to make their studio into an informal “centre of excellence” in anagama firing, where they have worked with and mentored Australian and international potters and students of ceramics for periods of up to 6 months. This has included potters such as Hervé Rousseau from France, Svend Bayer from the UK, Woo Sihyeong from Korea, Tani-Q from Shigaraki, Japan, and young potters from France, Switzerland and Australia.

In 2013 and 2014 in conjunction with the ‘Awaken the Dragon’ festivals, Jones was the invited Director of Firings for firings of the 44 metre and 36 metre long dragon kilns at Jalan Bahar. He also presented a paper, ‘The Development, Evolution, Spread and Use of the Dragon Kiln’, at the Dragon Kiln Symposium held at the Nanyang Technical University, Singapore.

Inspired by his deep interest in the contemporary wood-fire movement, in 2008 Jones started a course of study for PhD at ANU examining the sources of the natural ash glaze, wood-fire aesthetic. Due to some personal setbacks it wasn’t completed until 2016; his dissertation title is “Wabi-cha and the Perception of Beauty in Wood-fired Ceramics”.

Jones lived in Japan for three years in the early 1990s studying ceramics and teaching English. During this time he assisted Honma Shunuchi in Fujisawa, Asao Kempei in Iga-ueno and Kudo Shuji in Miyagi Prefecture with firings and attained Level 2 in the Japanese Proficiency Exam.

As an established potter with both a national and international reputation, this exhibition is an important inclusion in our 2019 exhibition program and a fitting end, bar the Christmas Fair that follows it, to our exhibition year.

8 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER 2019

A group exhibition of work by ACT artists Karen Green, Iva Hancevic-Grabic, Gosia Orzechowska and Clare Solomon.

These four artists are at different stages of their careers: Karen Green and Gosia Orzechowska are mid-career artists; Iva Hancevic-Grabic and Clare Solomon are emerging. The exhibition’s title, ‘Four Words’, represents the artists moving forward individually using a single word as a representative theme for their work. Using these four words they are creating a unique and dynamic exhibition with a view to engage the viewer in a meaningful & authentic way.

The Four Words are:

Wrinkle – Karen Green; acrylic paintings on canvas and mixed media

Shapes – Iva Hancevic-Grabic; acrylic paintings on canvas.

Whisper – Gosia Orzechowska; figurative paintings using mixed media

Consider – Clare Solomon; sculptural works with accompanying stories; installation

The exhibition visitor will be able to view each artist’s work individually but will be provided with a meaningful experience within the context of a diverse and topical group exhibition.

11 – 28 JULY 2019

Opening: 2pm Saturday 13 July 2019

Stillness: Still Life on Paper is the result of a collaboration between Canberra Potters and contemporary artist Genevieve Swifte. Genevieve recently completed an artist-in-residence project and two workshops in the Watson Arts Centre Gallery.

The workshops welcomed young artists from thirteen years of age, creative professionals and complete beginners alike, with each participant invited to show work in the exhibition.

Stillness: Still Life on Paper displays meditative drawings undertaken collectively in the workshops, accompanied by personal explorations of objects found at the Canberra Potters: old ceramic pots and fragments of vessels juxtaposed with glass, fruit and cloth. The result is a multifaceted and immersive exploration of still life that questions the stillness of seeing and drawing through a series of mark making techniques. The techniques privilege the movement of the hand, unravel our perception of depth and work to dissolve elliptical forms into fluid variations of light, shadow and line.

Genevieve Swifte works between drawing, photography and video, she has a PhD from the ANU School of Art and Design and is a resident artist at the Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres in Braddon, ACT. She also works with the community as an independent arts educator teaching the observational drawing course Eye to Hand.

Genevieve’s works are held in public collections in Australia and internationally.

23 MAY – 16 JUNE 2019

This annual event is our opportunity to celebrate the skills and creativity of the many students—adults and children—who attend classes at Canberra Potters. It can be quite daunting putting your work on public display so participating in this exhibition is not mandatory but instead we leave it up to the students to decide when they feel ready to exhibit.

A very full program of classes is run throughout the year. Adult classes include hand-building and wheel work and provide tuition for both beginners and experienced potters. Canberra Potters has one of the best facilities in Canberra for after-school, weekend and holiday classes for children including pottery wheels for every student in a class and a range of other equipment. Class work includes decorating and glazing techniques and students gain an understanding of the firing process.

A strong, experienced team of teachers is invaluable in guiding students in their exploration of clay and creativity and we are fortunate to have experienced teachers who are all excellent potters in their own right. Their work is exhibited along with the student work.

Winners

21 MARCH – 14 APRIL 2019

Opening: Thursday 6pm on 21 March 2019 by Mr Richard Thomas, Director, Canberra Potters, Watson Arts Centre

This year we farewell three of our studio tenants, who are represented in this exhibition: Richilde Flavell, Lia Tajcnar and Jo Victoria. This is an opportunity for us to acknowledge these artists, and for them to present some of their final works made at Watson Arts Centre.

Watson Arts Centre has four purpose-built studios providing affordable space for emerging and established ceramic artists. Since 2011, when the studios were built, they have helped a growing number of artists develop and expand their arts practice within a community of like-minded people.

Left to Right: Jo Victoria, Lia Tajcnar, Richilde Flavell.

21 MARCH – 14 APRIL 2019

Opening: Thursday 6pm on 21 March 2019 by Mr Richard Thomas, Director, Canberra Potters, Watson Arts Centre

Departures 1 features the work of Michelle Young-Hares from Scotland, an artist-in-residence at Canberra Potters from December 2018 to February 2019. Michelle’s current practice explores the nature of growth and fecundity. Fascinated by pattern, shape and form, her work describes the experience of being alive, of growth and potential contained within buds, nodes, pods, swellings and tendrils. Her complex clay sculptures are formed by attaching, grouping and creating new forms, recognisable in parts but startling in new juxtapositions.

She took advantage of her Canberra residency to explore and utilise in her work some of the plants, seedpods, insects and geological formations she found in the Canberra region. This exhibition features work made during her residency.

Images: Artist supplied; Canberra Potters

19 APRIL – 6 MAY 2018

Come and see the work of our eight Studio Tenants over the last 12 months.

Opening: 6pm Thursday 19 April 2018 by Richard Thomas, Director Canberra Potters

Watson Arts Centre has four purpose-built studios providing affordable space for emerging and established ceramic artists. Since 2011, when the studios were built, they have helped a growing number of artists develop and expand their arts practice within a community of like-minded people. With each studio currently housing two artists, there are eight tenants represented in this exhibition. With time-limited tenancies, some are in their final year at the Centre, others have only moved into studios recently. It seems timely, then, to present their work in an exhibition and show something of what emerges from behind the studio door.