Queensland ceramicist Jessie Gibson (1932—2021) was a fierce advocate for the promotion and understanding of craft artforms. Gibson’s gift to the Gallery, comprising some 48 artworks, collectively capture the energy and innovation of 29 Australian ceramicists and glass artists during the 1980s and 90s. ‘My concerns are the promotions of all crafts, especially quality ceramics,…
Australian artist Yasmin Smith is known for her research-based ceramic installations that formally and chromatically evoke the landscape from which they are produced. As part of her investigative method, Smith gathers natural materials and, through analysis, determines how she can harness their chemical properties. Key to the artist’s process is burning plant material as a…
Continue reading » “Ceramic installations evoke the landscape from which they are produced”
Over her long career, Kimiyo Mishima has become one of Japan’s most widely exhibited female ceramic artists, noted for her wry humour and material sophistication. Her background, however, lies not in Japan’s justly honoured disciplines of craft and design but in the avant-garde, accompanied by a persistent fear of being buried in the ever-accumulating castoffs…
Continue reading » “A sense of absurdism: Breakable throwaway objects”
Ceramics have played important practical, social, and cultural roles for tens of thousands of years. Early pottery traditions have been studied and admired for their technological advances and remain an indicator of societal evolution, marking the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. From Neolithic times pottery has incorporated aesthetic modifications, providing the foundation for…
Native to the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia, the call of the laughing kookaburra is recognised by all, and just happens to be LJ Harvey’s favourite bird. During his career, Lewis Jarvis (LJ) Harvey (1871-1949) produced several carved screens (or room-dividers) to protect the face of someone sitting by a fire — and our screen…
Continue reading » “LJ Harvey: A distinctively Australian style”
Australian ceramic pieces dating from the 1960s to 1980 by six highly respected ceramic artists and teachers of the period are fine examples of the artists’ practices at influential periods of their careers. You can view a selection of QAGOMA’s ceramics in Gallery 3 at the Queensland Art Gallery. Ivan Englund In 1956, Ivan Englund…
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