I have just visited the Museum of Brisbane (MoB) to view the exhibition
Clay: Collected Ceramics. It focuses on Brisbane's cutting-edge ceramicists. Five brand-new works have been exclusively commissioned and are on display with hundreds of other amazing pieces. It is the flagship exhibition of Brisbane Art Design (BAD) 2023. This year's theme of BAD is "Culture, Community, Clay".
Cathy da Silva is the Executive Producer of Brisbane Art Design and Museum of Brisbane CEO. Cathy said,
"BAD is a wonderful way for the local community to discover the incredibly talented visual artists and designers shaping the creative landscape of the city." Clay is the first MoB exhibition to focus solely on potters and clay.
The five artists whose works have been chosen to be showcased in the exhibition are Bonnie Hislop, Steph Woods, Kenji Uranishi, Jane Du Rand and Nicolette Johnson.
Bonnie HislopSarah Engledow, Curator of the exhibition, called Bonnie's work
"ironic, sardonic and joyous." I have to agree. Bonnie took her first pottery class at the age of eight and has been a full-time ceramist since 2017. She had a solo exhibition locally last year at paper boat press gallery. Her colourful, fun creations were a highlight of the show for me.
Steph WoodsSteph is a graduate of visual arts from the Queensland University of Technology. Her brightly coloured sculptures are art for art's sake, not vases or vessels. After all, we don't expect paintings to have a "useful" purpose. It is not surprising that she has an international following.
Kylie JohnsonKylie is a Brisbane-based artist, published writer and owner of the paper boat press gallery in Ashgrove. Her parents were both potters so it seemed inevitable that she would be a creative as well. She studied art with a major in painting. She makes one-off art pieces, many of which incorporate her poetry. She is a proponent of Kinsugi, which is the beautiful art of repairing ceramics and has visited Japan to pursue her love of Japanese objects. Kylie's own eclectic collection of ceramics is included in the exhibition.
Artist in residence: Jody RallahJody is a Yuggera/Yuggerabu Biri/Bindal artist from Brisbane and a graduate of the Queensland College of Art. She works with clay from Country which gives her a strong sense of her ancestors. I witnessed this talented and ambidextrous artist creating a mural with clay paints within the exhibition. Very impressive.
The Clay: Collected Ceramics is on at the
Museum of Brisbane, Level in the City Hall, King George Square, Brisbane CBD. It is on from 13 May–22 October 2023 and is open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily including weekends. And best of all is that the exhibition is
FREE. Don't forget to check out the MoB gift shop too. they have an extensive range of ceramics by local artists and books (which gladden my heart).
