Past Exhibition

10 MAY – 3 JUNE 2018

Presentation of awards: Saturday 12 May 4pm

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 will be exhibited along with the student work.

Best overall: Michelle Nelson, #13 Handbuilt pot, Raku fired with horse hair and ferric chloride.

Best Adult Hand-built: Colin Jefferson #64 Banded bottle with drip.

Best children’s 10 and over: Rose Mether #15 Barry the Badger.

Images: Ian Hodgson

17 AUGUST – 10 SEPTEMBER 2017

Opening event: 17 August 2017

This exhibition is a collaboration between two sisters – Jane Kelly, a Sydney based professional photographer, and Josephine Townsend, a Canberra based ceramicist. The sisters chose a botanical theme with images of flowers, trees and ferns as the start point for developing the exhibition. Jane’s images are presented in high quality prints and are reinterpreted on Josephine’s pots.

Strong composition, styling and subtle lighting are the hallmark of Jane’s images, whilst Josephine’s forms are essentially tactile, with surfaces, colours and curves that invite the touch.

The works in the exhibition successfully marry two-dimensional images with three-dimensional curved continuous surfaces. There is a conversation between the photographs and the forms that gives new meaning to both the ceramics and the images. Where flower images leap off the wall in bold colour out of a deep black background, on the soft curves of the ceramic works they are reinterpreted as monochrome images on coloured backgrounds. On some ceramic works the images are crisp and bold and on others they float quietly under a tranquil glaze.

One of the major challenges of collating the exhibition was the tyranny of distance, having to make decisions on the basis of phone camera images and text messages. 

3 – 13 AUGUST 2017

Marsden Arts Group reflects on change in nature with animals and plants, or with humans.

Opening event 6pm Thursday 3 August

Meet-the-artists afternoon tea 1-3pm Sunday 13 August.

Marsden Art Group this year visits the theme ‘Evolve’, which reflects a process of change whether in relation to humans, animals, the planet, weather, plants, thought or process. In their explorations of Evolve, MAG’s emerging and established artists use a diversity of mediums and interpretations. The theme has provided opportunities for the artists to develop thoughts and processes, unfold stories, advance ideas and unravel histories.

Marsden Art Group, established in 2003 by Barbara Van Der Linden, continues to evolve while maintaining its strength of inclusiveness, mentorship, the provision of opportunities that may not be available when working on one’s own and the promotion of education in the business of art.

This year’s exhibiting artists are: Ian Baird, Julie Delves, Liz Dovey, Val Gee, Margaret Gordon, Susan Hey, Penina Huho, Marilyn Hutchinson, Sally Jones, Margaret Kalms, Manuel Pfeiffer, Saggu Sukhvinder, Barbara Van Der Linden and Delene White.

13 – 30 JULY 2017

Opening event 6pm Thursday 13 July with Helen Maxwell, former Canberra gallery owner and curator

Artists floor talk 2.30om Saturday 15 July

From poetry to pottery; from paint, strings and glass to clay.

Steve Roper, Robyn Campbell, Lesley Lebkowicz, Georgie Bryant and Anne Langridge.

Gather a painter, a guitarist, a curator and illustrator, a glass artist and a poet together and you’ll find yourself with a ceramics exhibition.

The Changes show was initially the brainchild of painter Steve Roper and glass artist Robyn Campbell. They invited poet Lesley Lebkowicz, illustrator and curator Anne Langridge and musician Georgie Bryant to join them. Most of the artists were already well established in their first field. And all had come to work with clay.

DH Lawrence believed that what characterized an artist was the factor of creativity, and that an artist could work in many forms. He was a painter as well as a novelist and poet. So it’s not surprising that some artists diversify their work. What is interesting is the relationship between the different forms. How does a poet make a pot? How does a musician? What happens when a painter or an illustrator steps outside the frame on the wall or the page of a book? What difference does a change in material make to the work? These questions are the implicit theme of the show.

The ceramic styles of the five artists vary enormously: Roper works with sometimes whimsical, sometimes caricature-like figures most of which are designed for display outdoors as are Langridge’s large sculptural pots. Lebkowicz’s bowls are coloured with free-flowing patterns. Campbell’s work focuses on texture and a precision of form and Bryant incorporates wood in her work. The variety of the work promises an interesting experience.