Artist Statement
From my earliest stirrings of consciousness, I have been captivated by the presence of clay vessels. As a child, I was certain that ancient spirits dwelt within the ceramic forms that populated my domestic landscape—vessels that seemed to whisper secrets across millennia. The ubiquitous clay shards embedded in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean soil have long served as catalysts for my imagination, fragments of stories waiting to be reimagined.
Clay stands as civilization’s most faithful chronicler, a keeper of lived experience and cultural memory. Its mysterious and sensual nature offers a compelling metaphor for the human condition itself. The ancient voice of clay represents one of humanity’s most authentic expressions, and the creation and contemplation of ceramic vessels establishes an intimate dialogue with our human narrative.
The relationship between human form and the crafted object is inherently intimate, bound by touch, intention, and breath. The embodiment of utility, divinity, and beauty within the vessel form extends back to the dawn of human consciousness. Through clay’s elemental essence and transformative metamorphosis, I traverse the fertile territories of history, mythology, archaeology, and language, gathering fragments that illuminate both our collective soul and my own evolving identity.
Hand-formed through the ancient technique of coiling, my ceramic vessels are nourished by concepts of fecundity and containment that echo both the human form and the natural world. I stretch and expand these volumes, perpetually seeking balance between intention and serendipity, freedom and constraint, gravity and elevation, stillness and movement.
My practice centres on generously scaled vessels that encompass inaccessible internal volumes—their forms determined by trapped air granting them breath and life. These works hold and preserve while allowing their contents to migrate to the surface, functioning as both repositories and documents of experience. They are containers that reveal as they conceal.
My attention focuses on form and detail that allude to functional elements, engaging with components that serve the dual purpose of structural support and aesthetic consideration—handles and appendages that speak to both utility and beauty. Through surface elaboration with carvings and additions, scars and field divisions, I seek lines that both complement and challenge my forms, creating a visual tension that animates the work.
The relationship between text and clay is as ancient as the written word. My handformed anthropomorphic vessels are adorned with imagery retrieved from ancient manuscripts that have defied the ravages of time and the impermanence of memory. These surfaces become palimpsests where past and present converge.
This body of work represents a link in an ongoing evolution. Forms emerge, expand, contract, and transform; they shift gender, acquire distinct silhouettes, and attract new details. There exists a constant tension between the ideas I am eager to explore and the discipline required to develop them fully. This is the reality of working in clay—it imparts a unique interpretation of time, prolonged and decidedly non-linear.
This collection stands as both homage to and conversation with the late Alan Peascod (1943–2007), the Australian ceramic artist whose influence upon my practice has been profound. In the early years following my migration from Israel,I felt like a tree with its roots suspended in the air.
Discovering Alan Peascod’s work and his passionate engagement with Middle Eastern cultures and design during my student years proved pivotal. No longer did I feel culturally isolated in this distant continent; I could look to history, archaeology, and tradition to inform the present, so the complex baggage of being a person of Middle Eastern origin could gradually transform from burden to asset.
When Professor Pedram Khosronejad, Curator of Exhibitions and Collection at Grafton Regional Gallery, invited me to exhibit alongside Alan’s major retrospective, I was overwhelmed with both joy and the magnitude of the challenge. Although my work differs significantly from Alan’s, I recognize that we draw from the same ancient well.
I was privileged to study his notebooks, handle his collection of ancient shards during my artist residency at Grafton Regional Gallery (May 2024), and immerse myself in his extensive oeuvre. Inspired and humbled, I created this body of work in response to Alan’s vessels and as a continuing dialogue with my own ancestral voices.
Avital Sheffer
October 2025
La Novia II 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 49 x 24 x 17 cm
Albacora III 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 54 x 24 x 19 cm
Avital Sheffer
Albacora IV 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 52 x 25 x 18 cm
Lusitana II 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 52 x 25 x 19 cm
Avital Sheffer
La Novia I 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 62 x 32 x 20 cm
Cantaro IX 2025, 51 x 23 x 18 cm
La Novia III 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 52 x 22 x 17 cm
Kulmus VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 56 x 24 x 20 cm
Calamo VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 56 x 25 x 19 cm
Kankan X 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 55 x 25 x 18 cm Avital
Neuma IX 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 56 x 46 x 24 cm
Neuma X 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 57 x 46 x 23 cm
Avital Sheffer
Lusitana III 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 58 x 37 x 21 cm
Albacora II 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 51 x 25 x 18 cm
Avital Sheffer
Filia VII 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 51 x 28 x 21 cm
Trasluz VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 58 x 37 x 21 cm
La Novia IV 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 45 x 25 x 18 cm
Cantaro X 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 52 x 24 x 17 cm
Avital Sheffer
Celosia I 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 48 x 21 x 16 cm
Fecunda II 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 45 x 36 x 21 cm
Avital Sheffer
Luminaria VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 51 x 21 x 16 cm
Breva II 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 51 x 22 x 15 cm
Breva I 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 48 x 23 x 18 cm
Fecunda I 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 45 x 33 x 20 cm
Fecunda III 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 61 x 25 x 20 cm
Azul VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 37 x17 x 13 cm
Azul VII 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 43 x17 x 12 cm
Azul V 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 44 x 17 x 13 cm
Frasco VI 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 37 x 20 x 16 cm
Frasco VII 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes, printed, multiple fired, 38 x 17 x 13 cm
Text copyright: Grafton Regional Gallery and The Artist
Images copyright: Avital Sheffer
Photography: Sam Clarke
Catalogue Design: Taylor Made Graphics
© Grafton Regional Gallery
ISBN: 978-1-7641885-3-1
This publication has copyright. Apart from fair dealing for purposes of research, study or otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be made to Grafton Regional Gallery.
Grafton Regional Gallery is a cultural facility of the Clarence Valley Council.
Grafton Regional Gallery acknowledges the funding support of the NSW Government through Create NSW.
www.graftongallery.nsw.gov.au
Cover Image: Lusitana III 2025, hand formed E/W clay, glazes, engobes and gold, printed, multiple fired, 58 x 37 x 21 cm
