In the last years, the ancient material has transcended its traditional functionality and has been elevated to its own form of fine art.
Sarah Rayner, Entwined, 2020, hand carved porcelain, 28 x 28 x 10 cm (2 components). Courtesy of the Artist and Gallery SallyDan-Cuthbert
Ceramics are a long-lasting art form seen through most cultures across the world — from the ancient pottery left behind in Rome and Greece to the Palaeolithic Venus of Dolní Věstonice. In Australia today, clay is booming as an art medium, especially during 2020 when a nation in lockdown turned to social-distancing activities. Through this, clay has become a fine art material, pushing designers and craftspeople to test the limits of their practice. A vase or a mug is transformed into a piece of art that can be appreciated every day. Functionality is at compatibility with aesthetics.
The concept of clay within fine art adopts temporality, fragility, durability, and pertains reminders that what we leave behind might remain thousands of years later. These are philosophies that feed into the conceptual approach of many Australian ceramic artists working today. Their crafts are honed by a collective methodology to act minimally and resist the consumerism that drives contemporary design. Instead, their works are at the crux of fine art while connecting their audience by basic design functionality.
Taiwan-born, Melbourne-based Zhu Ohmu uses clay to build her artworks as an antithesis to the destruction of nature. Ohmu makes all her work by hand with each vessel/sculpture taking approximately six weeks — sold exclusively with Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert in Sydney. Her work rejects design philosophies driven by demand, but rather by the whims of seasons and ecology, making her one of Australia’s highly sought-after artists.
Zhu Ohmu, Keep the earth clean it’s not Uranus. COVID19’s effect on air quality can be seen from space (stage iv), 2020, glazed ceramic, 32 x 26 x 26 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Gallery SallyDan-Cuthbert
In her series, 植物繕い (Plantsukuroi) (2016), Ohmu responded to concepts within biomimicry – the imitation of models or systems of nature – while also evoking the practice of kintsukuroi (金繕い) – the art of mending broken pottery with gold lacquer. Instead of traditional gold material, the artist inserted plant life into the cracks; as such, the artworks take on living form, evolving throughout time.
Another artist who uses an eco-engaged methodology is Sarah Rayner, also shown with Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. Based on Australia’s east coast in Maleny, Queensland, Rayner’s ceramics completely resist classical notions of clay in their embrace of the fragility in nature. Using the medium of porcelain, Rayner’s artworks appear to be lifted from the ground in highly detailed forms, particularly the cyclic metamorphosis of native plants.
In Sydney, Alana Wilson’s sculptures – inspired by the surrounding ocean and sandstone cliffs – engage both physicality of touch and design functionality, with the clay moulding into her hands or in contrast, a vessel revealing her maker’s mark. “I like that ceramics could be in someone's house or be used and still affect their daily life, but it's not like just a flat painting on the wall,” the artist thoughtfully considers. “When I visited Japan, I was so astounded with how many people appreciated domestic daily life, and there's a whole different appreciation for pieces; art would be sculptures and ceramics, but they would be used every day.”
Amber Creswell Bell
One Australian art enthusiast realised clay was having a moment back in 2014. Amber Creswell Bell, both a writer and curator, had started seeing more imagery of ceramics popping up across Instagram. “The ceramics were beautiful, and the artists themselves seemed to have an elevated aesthetic awareness; their images were always atmospheric and aspirational,” she recalls. “They also shared behind the scenes of their making processes, and their packed kilns — and the whole gamut was just so intriguing.”
Alana Wilson, Touch Studies, Inversions, Graces - a body of ceramic and bronze works dealing with gesture, impression, and ephemeral process was included in a group show at Reading Room in Melbourne, March 2020
In January 2015, Creswell Bell curated her first exhibition at Saint Cloche Gallery in Sydney, putting ceramics and other modes of art together — something she described as unusual for the time. Art:Vert confirmed her instincts, as the ceramics sold out in moments. At the same time, the curator and writer had begun to put together a book on Australian ceramists. The project grew into an international survey, and Clay was published by Thames & Hudson in 2016, covering ceramic artisans worldwide.
Nicolette Johnson, High Spirits, 2020
Since then the industry has exploded, but with COVID-19 lockdown confirming pottery as a new hobby, clay and ceramics have refined as artists resist the norm. In one example, Creswell Bell shares Brisbane-based Nicolette Johnson's distinctive work, who distorts the idea of the classic vessel with her clay artworks. Following the vase form, otherworldly finishes jut from the object. “Nicolette Johnson is one artist who really pushes the art form to its limits and really defies the notion of ‘handmade’ — her precision is breathtaking,” Creswell Bell muses on the sculptural pieces that are sold in galleries rather than homeware stores.
“I think looking back, around five years ago, the interest in ceramics was more for cute bud vases and wabi-sabi style handmade mugs. Initially demand was driven by things that were functional and had an obvious purpose,” Creswell Bell observes. “But I think as tastes have matured and understanding increased, people are looking for pieces that exemplify originality, creativity and technical skill.”
Cassie Hansen, Commission Jugs
Melbourne-based emerging ceramicist Cassie Hansen uses the concept of the functional vessel – a jug or mug – yet in a style akin to Bauhaus: the functionality feeds into a piece of art. Following the same geometric angles, Clae Studio by Britt Neech offers distinct formalities that separate art from design in the clay medium. The very art of the work is revealed in the fragility of clay, the process being a long one of making, drying, firing, and glazing.
Clae Studio
Since 2018, Creswell Bell has been working for the esteemed Sydney gallerist, Michael Reid, curating a selection of emerging artists and a specialised clay focus. This led to the new art gallery on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Michael Reid | Studio Direct. Here, the curator can flex her researching skills from writing and her keen eye for emerging talent. Some that stand out include Kirsten Perry, for “making work so beautifully original and so weighty and substantial,” or Penelope Duke with “the most crisp lines and forms, so clean and almost mid-century in their vibe,” and Jane McKenzie, who crafts “clay-bending architectural pieces which are so striking and throw the most amazing shadows.”
Michael Reid, Northern Beaches, "gallery shelfie"
As the curator observes in her gallery, now collectors have a growing appreciation for clean lines and brutalist aesthetic; for structural works that are ‘functionless’ to help both novice and experienced collectors add clay to their collections. As I began my research for this article, I realised the overwhelming diversity of the medium and how far it has stretched in contemporary art. From the early days in 2014 where pottery first met art to today with artists like Rayner and Ohmu who challenge the concept as well as the medium.
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