Ignition- Contemporary Ceramics Awards

Avi Amesbury

On Thursday night I went to the "Ignition Ceramics Award" run by the Suncoast Clayworkers. There were entries from throughout Australia and it was a great opportunity to see works from Australia's top potters first hand.

Janet de Boos was the judge and no-one could have complained about her selection of Ann Mossman's amazing, intricate piece as the winner. It is made up of thousands of tiny paper thin tiles stacked into a bowl. Combining a sense of fragile intricacy with the generous open form of the vessel this piece is one of the most intriguing artworks I've seen in ceramics.







I was thrilled to win the ANU (Australian National University) Prize for a series of five nest bowls entitled "Mama -with four chicks". Now I'm some distance from the process of creation I realize that this piece is about myself and my mother. I have two children and this amazing, difficult journey has given me renewed appreciation of how hard it must have been for my Mum (who had four). The bowls are slightly oval shaped and the mother and chicks either cluster together or sometimes the Mama tries to face away from the chicks (for a few seconds!), but of course they are always yearning towards her. The metaphor of the nest holds them together, a family.



Here are some of the pieces I particularly liked....


Michael Boulay


Mieke van Sambeek

Earthly Possessions

I was thinking about John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" the other night. This is the heartbreaking story of the "Okies" (sharecroppers who have lost their farms from Oklahoma's dustbowl) traveling across the country in a mass exodus to pick oranges in California. The novel follows the Joads as they face losing their house and packing all their possessions into a truck and travelling the dangerous roads only to face ostracisation, poverty and exploitation in the promised land of California. Throughout all this the family is held together by the humanity and strength of Ma Joad and the far off promise of a dignified life and a home of their own.

In one scene of "The Grapes of Wrath" the wonderfully named "Rose of Sharon" the teenage daughter of the Joads is very excited about going to the orange pickers regular Friday dance as she has a new dress. This is her ONLY dress and in a couple of weeks time it will be old and faded but for that one Friday night it is brand new, pretty and promising.

In this Western world of excess and waste I often worry about being a maker of luxury goods. In the past people would have only had a couple of bowls, there was no possibility of going to Ikea and buying more for $5 each. Everything people had would have been treasured and preserved for as long as possible as it was a privilege to own possessions. Handmade goods are expensive and they still represent the true value of goods, the fact that it takes many hours manual labour to make a bowl means that a handmade bowl should be treasured.


A Jackie Gasson vase from exhibition "Softly Softly" currently showing at Maleny Artworks.


Everything we own should be treasured and I can't help feeling that if the price we paid reflected the true value of the work and resources that went into making something the vagaries of fashion wouldn't be a factor in our purchasing of more stuff and we'd take better care of our possessions.


Two Sisters (close in age) from "Nests-Series 2"

Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards

It is with both sadness and excitement that I write this post. The wonderful ceramics journal "Ceramics Art and Perception" started by Janet Mansfield 18 years ago is leaving Australia.

"Ceramics Art and Perception" has been a source of inspiration and debate for potters around the world. The articles have been of a very high standard and the "Arts/Craft" debate, which continues to grind on was rendered irrelevant in the pages of this journal by the both the quality of the work presented and the quality of the critical debate.

The other aspect of CAP that always excited and inspired me was Janet's editorial letter. Here was and Australian, a potter flying around the world, engaged in international issues, meeting and talking with fascinating people and generously sharing her ideas and inspiration. Under Janet's guidance this magazine drew many Australian artists into the international arena, and bought many international artists to Australia.


Janet Mansfield (third from the left) at the recent Sturt Woodfire conference. This photo was taken to accompany a great article on the conference by Avi Amesbury.

Thanks Janet and all the people who contributed to Ceramics Art and Perception over the years. My emerging years as an artist were made incomparably richer through the intellectual and visual inspiration offered in it's pages.

Nothing, but nothing is too good for these chickens!

Last week the Marauders and I went to visit my friend Renee Blackwell. Renee's husband is a boat builder and their house is a combination of amazing joinery and tricky enviro-systems which run the solar power, composting sewage and rainwater collection.

One of the many things I love about Renee's partner is his enthusiasm for his craft. This is the Balinese temple style gate he built for the chicken house!



Beautiful huh?

It is made from two contrasting woods and the detail and finish of this gate is simple and stunningly beautiful. It is these small details all around Renee's property that continually remind me of the pleasure there is the handmade.