Emerging from the Earth: Clay & Flowers

Opening 6pm Thursday 28 September by Jodie Cunningham, CEO + Artistic Director of Craft + Design Canberra.

About the Exhibition:

Plants, flowers and clay share common origins as they emerge from the earth’s crust.

Emerging from the Earth: Clay & Flowers challenges the common misconception of floral design as being relegated to “flowers in vases”. Experimental floral designers are pushing the boundaries in their work with flowers and other plant materials, to move beyond utility or decoration into a more considered creative response to a clay object. 

This exhibition, curated by Eve Sawa (VoxFlora) and Narelle Phillips (brave botanics), showcases pairings of botanic and ceramic artists as a symbiotic relationship between the plant material and the vessels which contain or sustain them. This flow of materiality is not limited to the conventional notion of the botanical parts being restricted within the confines of the vessel itself. The flowers or plant materials may instead appear in unexpected and exciting ways. 

This expanded view of the relationship between a ceramic host and its botanical occupant speaks of the very nature of their existence and respective origins, often occurring in tandem.

Participating Artists:

Abbey Jamieson & Caitlin Buckler Jones 

Jacqui Keogh & brave botanics

Julie Paterson & Adele Rae Cameron 

Fran Romano & Amy Kerr-Menz

Tony Steel & Kate Ahmad 

David Suckling & VoxFlora

Images:

top: Jacqui Keogh (ceramics), front tile: Julie Paterson (ceramics)