Gathered Time: Lisa Stevenson

27 MARCH – 26 APRIL 2026

Opening Preview: 6-8pm Thursday 26 March 2026

Gathered Time operates less as an exhibition and more as a field of inquiry, where woven ceramics, bioplastics, and sculptures evidence the artist’s ongoing investigation into material experimentation and narratives of place. Drawing on long-held knowledge of basketry techniques, Lisa Stevenson weaves forms that are transformed through kiln-firing into precarious objects that reflect a felt sense of uncertainty, the idea that everything is in flux.

First shown at the 2025 ANU Graduate Show, works have been further developed while artist-in-residence at Canberra Potters under the Emerging Artist Support Scheme (EASS).

ARTIST STATEMENT

Following the spiralling line of twined fibres—circling, returning, forming—my hands trace a path that can be viewed both through and beside the woven object. Weaving, for me, becomes a record: of time and experience, of learning and unlearning, of connection, rupture, and renewal. By capturing these woven forms in ceramic and submitting them to the heat of the kiln, their final shapes emerge—influenced by placement, material tension, space, and the unknown. In this transformative process the original forms are rendered fragile and delicate. 

These delicate, now ceramic, objects are the result of a year-long exploration into the meeting point of materials and techniques, of combining basketry with the heat and energetic unpredictability of ceramics. The soft, resilient woven paper structures are first submerged in liquid clay, then fired multiple times. Many vessels collapse or distort under the weight of the liquid clay during firing, yet these broken and buckled forms are often the ones I find
most compelling.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Lisa Stevenson is an emerging multidisciplinary artist living and working on the unceded lands of the Ngunnawal people. With a passion for using natural materials, Lisa has been growing and harvesting her own basketry materials, as well as sustainably foraging materials from her local area. Using various basketry techniques, Lisa seeks to explore the materiality and potential of the fibres to create dynamic sculptural forms and biomorphic shapes. Completing her degree in visual arts at Australian National University in 2025, Lisa was the recipient of the ANU Drawing Prize 2024 and the 2025 QPRC Sculpture Award and was awarded the 2026 ANU Emerging Artist Support Scheme (EASS) residency at Canberra Potters following her graduate exhibition in 2025.