Australian Ceramics Triennale - Canberra July 9th

I've just been to the Ceramics Triennale in Canberra - a fantastic week. Lots of great exhibitions, presentations and demonstrations.

I had a piece in the Surrounds exhibition at the Canberra Potters' Society.

 

New Year 2015

Finished my Masters in November and had my graduating exhibition in December. It was a great way to end my seven years of part-time study at ANU.  I have really enjoyed all of my time there - their approach to flexible learning meant I could go at my own pace and fit the rest of life in as well. Thanks to Greg, Janet, Joanne and Franz!

It was fantastic to see my work in a gallery - looking so different to the way it looks around the studio - you get so used to seeing it in bad light, crowed into corners - it was great to have it all spaced out and to have the pieces relating to each other the way they do in my head.

The large open form at the back was chosen for the exhibition invitation - very exciting.

There were two pieces from 2014 that I really want to take forward. They came closest to representing the kind of tones and textures of landscape that I am interested in:

(Photos by Stuart Hay - ANU)

These are loosely based on the view I have of the forest opposite me on Baragoot Lake near Bermagui and on beachscapes of Baragoot Beach.

Making progress.....

It's mid-semester and I've just had a great two weeks on the farm at Bermagui. I made a lot of progress with my bigger pots. The lake is in flood and the water looks great amongst the reeds.

I've been playing with this shape below - I really like the scale of it. It's a great canvas for the scenery I see around me.

Here is a large pot I just finished - the wave in the rim really seems to help the pot keep some liveliness. The brown band works really well I think.

I also finished this one - playing with a new glaze I have developed. The curve in the rim also helps this pot look lighter.

I am off to school again on Monday for two weeks to finish the work for my graduating exhibition - luxury!

One to go!

Just finished Semester 1 2014 at ANU - only one to go to finish my Masters.....Here are the two big pots I made for assessment:

I am trying to get some of the feel of the landscape around me at Bermagui onto these pots - not literally, but more a sense of the landscape. This one above turned out to be a bit more literal though.

This large vase is about 75cm high and was great fun to make...

 the copper green stripe was a bit more pronounced than I thought it would be, but I liked it in the end.

 I really like the rain like texture on this small cup

 

The texture on this vase worked really well I think 

The smokiness of the white on this vase is caused by adding a bit of soda ash to the glaze

Glaze tests:

I had a great week in January with Greg Daly at ANU testing glazes. Here are some samples:

The dry white second from the right is the one I have been looking for..

I love these crimsons - barium, nickel and zinc...

I really like these greens too - barium, lithium and chrome

and these very soft white/greens

Lots more testing to do now.......

The bonsia pots are glazed now:

I have glazed a few more vases and tall vessels too:

This little planter has a lot going on!

I wanted to try a vase with no copper - I've been using a lot of green lately, so wanted to see what just black and tan would do

I like this tall form below the most - the bands of colour really worked well

 These test cups look great all lined up:

Bonsai pots

I made these bonsai pots for a client over Christmas - glazed them this week and waiting for the kiln to cool to see how they worked out.