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Lucy Be Phillips

Lucy Be Phillips

Lucy Be Phillips

Resident.

November 2019.

Lucy is joining us from Sydney, but has extensive experience travelling the world and making ceramics. She believes that freedom comes from discipline. She says: “I worked hard, traveled near and far to learn from different potters. I have stacked a lot of wood, fired many kilns, rolled slabs, thrown tiny tiny door knobs, and slowly but surely learnt about the true nature of what it means to be a Potter.”

During her residency at CPS, she is hoping to research local flora by creating patterns and translating them onto her thrown tableware. Passionate about woodfiring, Lucy is hoping to get more experience using the soda kiln, and create a functional body of work which reflects her time here.

You can check out more of her work here.

Tanya McArthur

Tanya McArthur

Tanya McArthur

EASS Residency.

September to October 2019

Tanya McArthur is our EASS residency award winner from 2018. During her two month residency from September to October 2019, she plans to further develop the work she created for her Graduating Project at the ANU School of Art and Design. In particular, she wishes to expand her investigations into what materials can be added to porcelain without compromising the functionality of the clay body, then using this porcelain to create vessel forms.

To complement these porcelain forms she also plans to expand her surface and mark making on stoneware clay and with glazes. Taking micropatterns from fungi that she photographs in local and Tasmanian forests, scaling them to the macro on the vessel surface using carving both at leather hard and post-high firing. She sees the residency as an amazing opportunity to be in a creative environment surrounded by fellow ceramic artists, sharing with and learning from each other. She is looking forward to being involved in the CPS community and is more than happy for people to pop in and see what she’s been working on and share what she has learned.

Abbey Jamieson

Abbey Jamieson

Abbey Jamieson

EASS Residency.

September to October 2016

Abbey Jamieson was our EASS residency award winner from 2016. During her three month residency Jamieson concentrated on developing her forms from her graduating show at ANU. Her desire was to soda fire her completed work using Canberra Potters own soda kiln. The end results were beyond the artist’s expectations and resulted in a strong and well-considered body of work.
The artist talk as part of this residency was well attended with Jamieson giving the audience insight into the process and pitfalls associated with soda firing. Her work has certainly encouraged others to consider soda firing for their next project.
Jacob Robertson

Jacob Robertson

Jacob Robertson

June to September 2019

Jacob Robertson will be our artist in Residence from early June to early September 2019. Many of our students and members will have met Jacob already who is currently filling in for the Workshop Manager position.

Jacob lives and works out of Lexington, Kentucky in the USA. He came to Canberra on a working holiday visa with the hopes of expanding his perspective and developing his work further. Being in a brand new environment, he hopes to learn and create skills and work that he can utilize for years to come, as well as develop meaningful relationships with local artists.

Artist Statement:

As an artist, I have become fully entranced by the creation of wheel-thrown and altered ceramic forms.  The potter’s wheel, and atmospheric kilns are my main tools and areas of research.  I am attracted to these processes because they allow me to use my hands to alter and guide the clay into an infinite number of forms. They give me freedom and malleability. This way of working is both therapeutic and challenging in a way that keeps me constantly inventing and exploring.
During the past few years of study, I have achieved a level of mastery that has enabled me the opportunity to research various surface applications.  My work is a study in how these applications can reflect my own personal experiences.  The main concepts and themes are always evolving and changing based on my recent practice.  I represent these ideas through abstracted traditional forms. Traditional ceramicists and potters have inspired me with their dedication and persistence to their craft.  This is something that I aspire to achieve in my own work. I have found that stories and events have greatly influenced my life for better and for worse. Some of my work comes from stories I’ve been told and some has come from personal experiences. Since these experiences have shaped who I am as a person it seems extremely important that they be included as a part of the narrative aspect of my craft. I have found this to be the best way to leave a vulnerable imprint of myself on my artwork.
Marianne Huhn

Marianne Huhn

Marianne Huhn

Resident.

March to early June 2019. 

Marianne Huhn was our artist in residence from mid March to early June 2019.  Marianne studied at RMIT University and completed her PhD in 2017. She has lectured and taught Ceramics and Drawing at Universities and schools throughout Australia.
Marianne has held several solo shows in Australia and exhibited in more than 30 group exhibitions in Australia,  America, and Hong Kong.
She has been acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and several Regional Galleries in Australia.
Marianne has made functional ceramics that explore and play with architectural themes and text on the surfaces. Since her PhD titled Politics and Porcelain she has developed a visual language that comments and records Australian politics. Marianne aims to recreate a space for our personal lives, through the shapes we use, to engage with the political events and machinations of the world around us.

Artist Statement

For some time now I have been making functional ceramics that explore and play with architectural themes and text on the surfaces.
Initially I drew historical architecture to refer to the similarities houses, castles, town walls, forts, dwellings have with functional ceramics. The fact that they both contain space within their walls was a visual clue to the narrative/conversation I was attempting to establish.
I am also interested in; how internal space within the walls of castles were divided, how private space was discovered and subsequently how humans developed their sense of privacy. The spaces we live in build and construct our confines, we live concealing or revealing ourselves.
The creation of streets, cities, has also been a fascination of mine, exploring how we divide and mark our territories. I embarked on a lifelong journey to connect form and user through referring to the forms own functionality and our own personal human history.
I continue to make functional pieces by hand, though a long process, because I still believe in the relationships we have with our everyday objects. When I hand throw my forms I intentionally leave the mark of my hand while throwing, inside or outside the pots surface.
This indicates to the user that each pot is individually made and invites the sense of touch. Recently I have concentrated on the maps in our lives, the boundaries we create through land and cultures.
Srinia Chowdhury

Srinia Chowdhury

Srinia Chowdhury

July to October 2018

Srinia Chowdhury will be our Artist-in-Residence July through to October 2018. Sculpture lies at the heart of her practice and she was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from College of Art New Delhi followed by a Master in Fine Art in Sculpture from Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata.
Srinia began exploring ceramics as a medium for sculpture which she initially pursued using bronze. Starting with slab building techniques she quickly realised the strong visual quality and endless possibilities the ceramic art form lent her practice.
Her recent work uses her own illustrations as decals to express her on-going curiosity with human behaviour and themes of social and political comment. Srinia continues to use slab-building techniques with printed surfaces to make sculptures, overlapping oxides and stains to create layers of textures and designs.
My interaction and healthy exchange of ideas and techniques with different artists from various countries has not only enriched me as an artist but also pushed me to pursue my dream of making ceramic sculptures as a mainstream medium.
During her stay as a Canberra Potters artist-in-residence Srinia will be running a number of workshops and short courses where she hopes to share her skills and insights with you all. Keep an eye on our website, social media and notice boards for updates on these events.