Form and function catalogue

Form & Function:

contemporary ceramics Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone 28 October - 4 December 2016

GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY

Keiko Matsui, works from, I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight, 2016, series, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric and Stitched bowl, 2016, series porcelain, glaze, thread and old Japanese farmer’s fabric. All works courtesy of the artist.

Form & Function:

contemporary ceramics Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone 28 October - 4 December 2016

Form & Function: contemporary ceramics It is with great pleasure that the Glasshouse Regional Gallery

Like Matsui, Eloise Rankine explores the beauty of imperfection. By

presents Form & Function: contemporary ceramics, an exhibition

pushing the medium of porcelain to its limits, Rankine questions our

of recent works by Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine

ideology of beauty and examines the strength and fragility of the

and Brett Stone. The exhibition continues the Glasshouse Regional

vessel. Her practice explores the emotional responses evoked by

Gallery’s commitment to presenting quality artistic experiences for

the physical qualities of porcelain. The compositional arrangement of

our community and supporting contemporary Australian artists.

her vessels articulates an inner strength inherent within the collective

Traditionally the ceramic form is synonymous with function. The

groupings.

exhibition Form & Function challenges this ideology and provides a

The meditative process of making inspires Brett Stone practice.

new perspective on the medium. With references to contemporary

His ceramic works celebrate the beauty of form and function. The

culture, Freeman, Matsui, Rankine and Stone inspire the viewer to

sublime nature of his glazes distil and capture the essences of our

enquire and challenge their own perceived concepts of the ceramic

natural environment. Multiple vessels are arranged and grouped in

medium.

such a way to inspire memories of landscape. They are reminiscent

The fleeting moments of the everyday are a muse for Honor Freeman.

of water running across a pebbly creek bed.

Her practice explores the relationship between material culture and

I would like to sincerely thank Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise

the activities of our daily lives. Her slip cast works realistically mimic

Rankine and Brett Stone for sharing these marvellous works. It has

the original object, making the viewer question their perception

been a pleasure to work with each artist through the development of

of reality. The ceramic form creates a memory of the past object,

this exhibition. I would like to especially thank Louise Martin-Chew

capturing it’s enduring essence.

for her poetic and insightful essay that provides a context for the

Keiko Matsui practice pays homage to her heritage, and to Kintsugi the traditional Japanese technique of restoration. Her current work explores the relationship between the interior and exterior form through the stitching, altering, reforming and rejoining of fine porcelain. These playful vessels are tantalisingly tactile and portray a softness unlike their material. Matsui aims to find beauty in the imperfections of the everyday.

exhibition. I would like to thank the staff from Sabbia Gallery and Utopia Art Sydney for their wonderful assistance which has made this project possible.

Niomi Sands Curator

Glasshouse Regional Gallery

Brett Stone, Creek bed stones (an installation of 200 bowls), 2016, thrown assorted glazed stoneware and porcelain, size variable. (detail) Courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.

Form & Function: contemporary ceramics Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone

There is a new mood in ceramics, with increased marketplace and

The still life painting tradition, as well as the functional aspect of

critical interest attributed to its inherent materiality, and its satisfaction

ceramics, is reinvented by Honor Freeman. Her work is wryly titled,

as a hands-on practice in an increasingly digital world. It is also fluid,

When life hands you lemons (2012), a porcelain slip-casting of

a practice that continues to push at the conventional boundaries. In

lemons, squeezers and juice, ceramics she suggested are, “Liquid

a recent roundtable discussion facilitated by curator Glenn Barkley,

made solid”. As such she is referring to her process, but also the

Gerry Wedd said, “Ceramics is marginal, maybe littoral, even fricking

preservation of time in the making, the echo of memory and the

liminal. It’s a good place to be, between things, on the edges of

capture of the ordinary and the banal, with the title acknowledging

things. Like country music.1”

the bitter edges of existence.

In this exhibition the disconnect between form and function within the

Keiko Matsui also uses porcelain, introducing embroidery into her

ceramic tradition is examined, with artists selected for objects that

medium with a series of works titled, I stitch my porcelain bowl

firmly favour form over function, on the outer lip of Wedd’s “edgy”.

tonight (2016). In these works Matsui intervenes in the porcelain

Given that ceramics were originally functional, to assist humanity

process to ‘reinterpret’ the object. In so doing she also draws on

in the facility of their lives (while still giving pleasure with form and

her memories of Japan and the increasingly endangered practice

decoration), to unpick this foundation leaves them to exist as vessels

of mending garments to extend their useful lives. However the

for ideas. Accordingly, Form & Function looks at work by Honor

functionality of these pots is disrupted through the use of perforation

Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone. The “edgy”

and redundant thread, introducing a conceptual double bind. They

status of their work puts it into a place where experimentation and

remind me of a news item describing developments in orthodontics

stretching boundaries becomes its raison d’être.

in Japan in which teeth are “corrected”, made crooked instead of straight, a fashion that has cultural traction in the centuries-old Wabisabi tradition which sees beauty in imperfection.

The traditional notions of perfection associated with porcelain are

community of strength, and the circularity of the elements. “Nature is

also subverted in the vessels of Eloise Rankin. She constructs cities

constantly trying to round things off, and stones in the creek become

and gardens with her collections of vessels, in which the porcelain is

smooth. But then there are the bits that come off in the rivers – silt

carved to arouse an emotional response in the viewer. Her interest

and clay – which I have made into round bowls again.”

is in changing the narrative in Western society, the connection between perfection and beauty we have developed into high art. Her assembled collections of objects see some lying prostrate, cracked around the neck. The faulty vessels, as in the fallen down assembly

Strength in numbers (2016), appear like relics of earlier civilisations.

They imply that aspects of our society may be struggling, broken.

Rankin said, “In the same way that there can be strength and beauty in people who are struggling, damaged or fragile, my porcelain bottles remain strong and beautiful despite the imposed imperfections.”

This circularity of idea and form has a neat synchronicity. Earlier this year, Barkley suggested that, “Ceramics... constantly has one eye on the past whilst looking forward to new forms, techniques and processes developing in the present.”2 The selection in Form &

Function is a vignette of freshness, as much music as country.

Louise Martin-Chew October 2016

Brett Stone, unlike the others in this group of four, works mainly in stoneware, with occasional porcelain vessels. Creek bed stones (2016) is an installation of some 200 bowls which, if isolated, would be the most ‘functional’ in this show. However, grouped together, they speak to landscape and memory – pebbles in a stream. They also evoke the collective as more powerful than the singular, becoming a

1 Barkley, Glenn. Here today, tomorrow next week!: A ceramics roundtable [online]. Art Monthly Australia, No. 281, Jul 2015: 17-23. Availability: <http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=282125948236137;res=IELLCC> ISSN: 1033-4025. [cited 26 Sep 16].

2 Turn, Turn, Turn: The Ceramic Studio, which he has curated for the NAS Gallery (5 June – 8 August) and acknowledges the history of teaching ceramics over the past 50 years. http://ginafairley.com/artshub/new-ceramicists-dont-care-to-be-cool/

Eloise Rankine, Strength in numbers, 2016, porcelain and stoneware clays, 900 x 220 x 160mm. Courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.

Eloise Rankine, Gardening I, 2016, porcelain , 17 x 41 x 41cm

Honor Freeman, When life hands you lemons, 2012, slipcast and handbuilt porcelain, 8.5 x 58.37cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabbia Gallery, Sydney.

Brett Stone, Creek bed stones (an installation of 200 bowls), 2016, thrown assorted glazed stoneware and porcelain, size variable. Courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.

Biography HONOR FREEMAN

KEIKO MATSUI

Lives and works in Adelaide, SA

Lives and works on the Central Coast, NSW

Honor Freeman is an Adelaide based artist whose practice involves

Japanese born, Central Coast based ceramic artist, Keiko Matsui

crafting objects that belie their materiality and purpose. Freeman

works in porcelain and creates functional and non-functional objects.

completed her studies (with Honours) in 2001 at the South Australian

Keiko Matsui moved to Australia in 1999 and completed a Bachelor

School of Art, University of South Australia. Following graduation,

of Fine Art (Honours) degree in 2006 at the National Art School

Freeman took up an Associate position and later a Tenant residency

in Sydney.

in the ceramics studio at JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design.

Her work begins on the potter’s wheel and is then manipulated, cut

Her work has been curated into major exhibitions at institutions

and reassembled to evoke a quite and subtle abstraction. Making

throughout Australia, including the Museum of Contemporary

and reinterpreting objects is her focus. She pays particular attention

Art’s Primavera 2007, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, and Adelaide’s

to the form and proportion, the profile or outline of a vessel and the

Samstag Museum. She has undertaken international residencies

interconnectedness between the interior and exterior.

at Guldagergaard, Denmark’s International Ceramic Museum and

She had her first solo exhibition at Sturt Gallery in Mittagong in

in the US at Indiana University’s School of Art & Design. In 2006 Freeman travelled to Chile to exhibit and participate in the The South

Project and to continue her ongoing project on/off/on, installing slipcast porcelain light switches and powerpoints clandestinely in public spaces.

Freeman has been exhibiting since 2000 and her work is held in

2012 after exhibiting many group shows since 2003. Her recent achievements includes Gosford Art Prize (Winner in Ceramics, 2014 & 2012), Vitrify Alcorso Ceramic Award (Finalist, 2013), John Fries Memorial Award (Finalist, 2011) Small Art Object Prize in Vallauris, France (Winner, 2009) and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.

(Viewer’s choice award, 2008)

numerous private collections as well as important public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, ArtBank, Deakin University Art Gallery and Washington DC’s National Musuem of Women in the Arts in the United States. Freeman’s porcelain works feature in the publication 101 Contemporary

Australian artists, published by the National Gallery of Victoria.

ELOISE RANKINE Lives and works in Sydney, NSW

BRETT STONE Lives and works in Sydney, NSW Brett Stone started his art career during the heady days of the mineral boom in Perth in the mid 1980s. Lured to Sydney by Rex Irwin in 1987, he worked with him until 2016. He is now a consultant curator at Utopia Art Sydney. In this role he has encouraged the blossoming of many emerging artists’ careers, and helped build many private collections. Realising he can't draw, he has recently become a part

Eloise Rankine completed her honours in ceramics at the National

time potter: "Being around potters and their pots has taught me a

Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney, in 2014. She throws then carves

great deal about life. Pots have taught me that the humble can be

her ceramic works, made using Southern Ice Porcelain. Her work

impressive, And I have learnt to love the calm and contemplative

explores ideas surrounding domestic and everyday experiences,

process of making them. Living with handmade bowls makes you

nostalgia and a search for comfort and ultimately a sense of home.

more aware of what you put in them. My bowls are functional, simple and unadorned - they want to be used."

List of works HONOR FREEMAN

ELOISE RANKINE

Dust Collects II, 2015, slipcast porcelain, 24 x 26 x 20cm.

Skylines (2 pieces), 2016, porcelain, 19 x 31 x 31cm.

When life hands you lemons, 2012, slipcast and handbuilt porcelain, 8.5 x 58.37cm.

Gardening I, 2016, porcelain, 17 x 41 x 41cm.

All works courtesy of the artist and Sabbia Gallery, Sydney.

Strength In Numbers, porcelain and stoneware, 2016, 22 x 16 x 90cm.

KEIKO MATSUI

All works courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #1, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 4.2cm x 3cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

BRETT STONE

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #2, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 5cm x 3.5cm Photo credit: Greg Piper.

Creek bed stones (an installation of 200 bowls), 2016, thrown assorted glazed stoneware and porcelain, size variable.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #3, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 6.5cm x 3.5cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #4, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 6.8cm x 4.5cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #5, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 8cm x 5cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #6, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 8cm x 4.8cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #7, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 9.5cm x 5cm. Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #8, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 8.5cm x 6cm . Photo credit: Greg Piper.

I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight #9, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric, 10cm x 7cm Photo credit: Greg Piper.

Stitched bowl #10, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 18cm x 8cm.

Courtesy of the artist.

Stitched bowl #11, 2016, porcelain, glaze, thread and old Japanese farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabric, 17cm x 9.5cm. Courtesy of the artist.

Stitched bowl #12, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 19.5cm x 10cm.

Courtesy of the artist.

Stitched bowl #13, 2016, porcelain, glaze and thread, 15cm x 12cm.

Courtesy of the artist.

Courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney.

GLASSHOUSE REGIONAL GALLERY Niomi Sands: Gallery Curator Bridget Purtill & Anne-Marie McWhirter: Gallery Assistants Marie Taylor: Graphic Design | Chrysalis Printing: Catalogue Printing Niomi Sands, Louise Martin-Chew, Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone: Text Copyright Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine and Brett Stone: Image Copyright Š Glasshouse Regional Gallery 2016 ISBN 978-0-9871534-5-6

Form & Function: contemporary ceramics on show 28 October to 4 December 2016 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research, study or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be made to Glasshouse Regional Gallery.

The Glasshouse Regional Gallery would like to especially thank Louise Martin-Chew, Honor Freeman, Keiko Matsui, Eloise Rankine, Brett Stone and the staff from Sabbia Gallery and Utopia Art Sydney. Special thanks to the Glasshouse Technical team and the Glasshouse Marketing, Front of House teams and Volunteers for all their hard work on installing this exhibition.

The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW. Cover image: Keiko Matsui, works from, I stitch my porcelain bowl tonight, 2016, series, porcelain, glaze, thread and ceremonial kimono fabric and Stitched bowl, 2016, series porcelain, glaze, thread and old Japanese farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabric. All works courtesy of the artist.

Printed on recycled paper

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