The Space Within: Contemporary Ceramics and Fibre at Sabbia Gallery

THE SPACE WITHIN : Contemporary Ceramics + Fibre 4 - 28 March 2020

DIGITAL CATALOGUE

sabbia gallery . sydney . australia

THE SPACE WITHIN : Contemporary Ceramics + Fibre

In this exhibition we celebrate space – the parts that have been left open and create the feeling of looking through, looking in and looking within. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is the idea that what is left unsaid can have the strongest impact, what is left out can be the most prudent. An artworks success is not always about what is there but what is not there. It is all down to individual perspective as well as the understanding of artistic devices or techniques.

‘The Space Within’ will showcase these selected Australian artists who consistently use these devices in their artwork and explore the empty, open, pierced and negative space – the space within.

Kylie Johnston, Exhibition Curator

Exhibiting artists:

EMMA DAVIES, TRACEY DEEP, ELIZABETH DUNN, PAULA do PRADO, SIMONE FRASER, MARION GAEMERS, LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS, MICHELE MORCOS, MARICELLE OLIVIER + NICOLE ROBINS

EMMA DAVIES Emma Davies is a Melbourne based artist with an established reputation for innovative and creative installations for both the and private commercial sector.

Davies’ work can be seen throughout Australia and overseas in commercial outlets, as part of large scale collaborations and complex commissions in high profile properties.

My process of discovery and invention is largely experimental. I satisfy my curiosity by working with contemporary materials and using unconventional methods to challenge the possibilities of each creation.

My reward is in removing materials from common functionality such as packaging and being able to transform what is intrinsically ugly into something beautiful.

-----------------------------------------Emma Davies guides us through this virtual age; her objects re-awaken the ghosts of stoneware and glass. Craftsmanship was once proven in the capacity of vessels to hold their contents. By contrast, the appeal of Davies objects is their openness. They have an almost platonic simplicity, as though representing metaphysical shapes Kevin Murray 2009

1. EMMA DAVIES Blue Vessel, 2020 recycled bird net, bailing twine, acrylic paint

160 h x 140mm d

$550 AUD incl GST

2. EMMA DAVIES Black Bowl, 2020 recycled bird net, bailing twine, acrylic paint 180 h x 310 w x 300mm d

$770 AUD incl GST

3. EMMA DAVIES Long Bowl, 2020 recycled bird net, bailing twine, acrylic paint 95 h x 800 w x 230mm d

$880 AUD incl GST

4. EMMA DAVIES Small Jug, 2020 recycled bird net 130 h x 160 w x 160mm d

$440 AUD incl GST 5. EMMA DAVIES Large Jug, 2020 recycled bird net 390 h x 240 w x 215mm d

$770 AUD incl GST

6. EMMA DAVIES Screen, 2020 bailing twine, acrylic paint

2120 h x 850 w x 80mm d - as shown

$1,980 AUD incl GST

7. EMMA DAVIES Cloth, 2020 recycled bird net, bailing twine, acrylic paint

dimensions variable - as shown 100 h x 1050 w x 950mm d

$3,300 AUD incl GST

TRACEY DEEP I have been working as a floral sculptor for the last 25 years. Evolving over the last 15 years my art practice spawned from floral art & has developed into the realm of environmental art, sculpture & installations.

My passion is working with used, industrial, organic, discarded, pre loved & discontinued materials, to create sustainable art. I revel in the natural world. My works reflect a poetic play of light & shade, earth textures & sensual forms, inspired by the essence of nature.

Tracey in her studio, Sydney 2019

8. TRACEY DEEP Moss, 2020 wire, netting variable dimensions - as shown 2100 h x 650 w x 320mm d

$5,800 AUD incl GST

9. TRACEY DEEP Amethyst Bloom, 2020 bamboo, fibre variable dimensions - as shown 1250 h x 1000 w x 120mm d

$7,800 AUD incl GST

10. TRACEY DEEP Water Spirit, 2020 kelp

variable dimensions - as shown 1500 h x 1750 w x 150mm d

$8,800 AUD incl GST

11. TRACEY DEEP Scribbly Bark, 2020 wire, fibre 700 h x 700 w x 300mm d

$4,800 AUD incl GST

12. TRACEY DEEP Ocean Bloom, 2020 wire, rope, palm fibre 700 h x 500 w x 290mm d

$4,800 AUD incl GST

13. TRACEY DEEP Lion Fish, 2020 wire, raffia 800 h x 500 w x 280mm d

$5,800 AUD incl GST

ELIZABETH DUNN Kampurara - bush tomatoes.

Bush foods were, until comparitively recently, the primary sustenance for Anangu Pitjantjatjara, thus consuming the psyche of peoples as they worked gathering. In contemporary times, manybush foods are still gathered regularly, although not relied upon in the same way. The art of gathering bush foods are intricate knowledge systems into which women are inducted over the course of their lives. Many songs and dances relate to these practises and the maintanence of supply.

Elizabeth Dunn in the Ernabella studio

14. ELIZABETH DUNN Kampurara/Bush Tomatoes, 2020 stoneware with sgraffito 240 h x 260 w x 240mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST

15. ELIZABETH DUNN Tjukula/Waterholes, 2020 stoneware with sgraffito 110 h x 230 w x 200mm d

$770 AUD incl GST

16. ELIZABETH DUNN Tjukula/Waterholes, 2020 stoneware with sgraffito 140 h x 240 w x 210mm d

$950 AUD incl GST

17. ELIZABETH DUNN Kampurara/Bush Tomatoes, 2017 stoneware with slip, sgraffito 240 h x 270mm d

$2,000 AUD incl GST

PAULA do PRADO Paula do Prado is a visual artist living and working on Gadigal land (Warrang/Sydney) since 1986 where she migrated with her parents at the age of 7. She was born on Charrúa land (Montevideo), Uruguay. Her work explores the intersections between her diverse lineages including Bantu (West African), Basque, Catalan, Portuguese and Indigenous Uruguayan heritage. do Prado uses crochet, coiling and beading to process and transform intergenerational experiences. As a woman of colour and a migrant living on stolen land, she is passionate about exploring making as an active form of resistance. Her alignment with her black heritage is intentional, as is continually seeking to develop de-colonial strategies in both art and life. do Prado holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Textiles) with First Class Honours and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New South Wales Art & Design. Her solo show titled “Iyanla” was recently shown at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery and she was a finalist in the 2019 Fishers Ghost Art Award and 2019 Blacktown Arts Prize. In 2020 do Prado will co-exhibit “Kalunga: Under the Sea” with her young son at Firstdraft Gallery as part of Art Month. She has also recently being awarded an artist residency at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in South Melbourne scheduled for late 2020.

For The Space Within do Prado is presenting her work Renacer/Rebirth 2019-2020 and Encuentro/Gathering 2020. Both works are made using a combination of crochet and coiling using strands of paper covered wire to create malleable and organic forms. Having recently learned to spin and create her own yarn using a drop spindle the work incorporates a range of natural and acrylic yarns as well as the artists own hair. Gaps within the work are left entirely void or embellished with beads symbolising gateways, crossroads and passages of the past, present and future.

18. PAULA do PRADO Renacer/Rebirth, 2019 paper covered wire, wool cotton and hemp yarn, kapok stuffing, artist’s hair, plastic beads, glass seed beads, ceramic and wooden beads, wire, pom pom, cotton fabric, polyfill, kitted cotton as shown - 1800 h x 2000 w x 100mm d

$9,900 AUD incl GST

19. PAULA do PRADO Encuentro/Gathering, 2019 paper covered wire, cotton, wool, alpaca and acrylic yarn, glass seed beads, ceramic and wooden beads, wire as shown - 800 h x 800 w x 50mm d

$3,300 AUD incl GST

SIMONE FRASER My contemporary response to the vessel is to find new rhythms within this ancient tradition - sometimes allowing texture to create form. The use of layered slips and dry and white weathered satin glazes points to the mystery of what might have been.

The negative spaces and swollen distensions interrupt the form allowing a relationship with the space within. .

Simone Fraser in her Sydney home

20. SIMONE FRASER Exo Series I, 2020 mid fired ceramic with matt white glaze

240 h x 210mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST

21. SIMONE FRASER Exo Series II, 2020

mid fired ceramic with matt white glaze 290 h x 200mm d

$1,800 AUD incl GST

22. SIMONE FRASER Exo Series III, 2020 mid fired ceramic with matt white glaze 230 h x 170mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST

23. SIMONE FRASER Exo Series IV, 2020 mid fired ceramic with matt white glaze 240 h x 180mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST

24. SIMONE FRASER Impression Series, 2018 dry glaze, mid fired ceramic 550 h x 230mm d

$2,800 AUD incl GST

25. SIMONE FRASER Landscrapes Series, 2020 dry glaze, mid fired ceramic 420 h x 350mm d

$2,700 AUD incl GST

MARION GAEMERS AND LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS Marion and Lynnette have collaborated on many projects together. A love and concern for the coastal region of Far North Queensland where they work and live brings them together on a regular basis. The use of recycled materials especially ghost net (abandoned fishing net) has seen them collaborate on major projects and sculptures where they create beautifully crafted, yet frighteningly futuristic predictions on life and death within the ocean.

GEN C - PROPAGATION: With rising ocean temperatures coral reefs are suffering and are prone to regular bleaching events. The dumping of plastics is also strangling life within the waterways. These two hollow vase forms represent a future antiquity, as propagation and evolution become fake.

GEN C - SPAWNING: Between daytime and night-time, high tide and low tide, the transformation of the shape, form and colour of the coral reef is immense.

As some corals adapt to rising water temperatures their reproductive process will change and evolve.

GEN C - CORSETS: natural, while lead infused glazes ran smoothly down elegant works in bold optimism. In the next century beauty is increasingly unnatural and these artificially surfaced forms have been tourniqued by man-made coral mirroring the world of fashion as it constructs a hollow, fake beauty.

Top: Marion Gaemers and Bottom: Lynnette Griffiths

26. MARION GAEMERS gen c - propagation 1, 2020 Ghost Net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 530 h x 200 w x 180mm d

$2,200 AUD incl GST

27. MARION GAEMERS gen c - propagation 2, 2020 Ghost Net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 460 h x 180 w x 130mm d

$2,200 AUD incl GST

28. MARION GAEMERS/LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - corsets (dark green top), 2019/20 stoneware with acrylic, ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 480 h x 120 w x 100mm d

$1,900 AUD incl GST 29. MARION GAEMERS/LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - corsets (white and orange), 2019/20 stoneware with acrylic, ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 530 h x 180 w x 140mm d

$1,900 AUD incl GST 30. MARION GAEMERS/LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - corsets (light green top), 2019/20 stoneware with acrylic, ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 490 h x 90 w x 130mm d

$1,900 AUD incl GST

31. LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - spawning (bottom polyp), 2019/20 copper and manganese glaze on earthenware, with ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 400 h x 140 w x 140mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST 32. LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - spawning (top polyp), 2019/20 copper and manganese glaze on earthenware, with ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 430 h x 160 w x 130mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST 33. LYNNETTE GRIFFITHS gen c - spawning (middle polyp), 2019/20 copper and manganese glaze on earthenware, with ghost net (abandoned fishing net), recycled rope and net 420 h x 140 w x 100mm d

$1,600 AUD incl GST

MICHELE MORCOS We are all interconnected through the fabric of time, the entanglement of space, and the molecular structure of matter and particles that weave and shape our ‘Multiverse’.

I am interested in how we could visualise and pictorially render the elements that invisibly float and interconnect us all on the metaphysical plane.

Through multimedia drawings, paintings and coil woven objects, my art practice creates a multilayered visual landscape that asks us to look at the infinitesimal details of nature and the cosmos, and feel the beauty and poetry that quietly surrounds us in the every –when*, as well as focusing on her Australian/Egyptian heritage and the way both cultures intersect within their coil weaving practices. * At any or all times. The Australian anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner conveyed the idea in his 1956 essay The Dreaming, in which he coined the term ‘everywhen’. “One cannot ‘fix’ The Dreaming in time: it was, and is, everywhen” wrote Stanner, adding that The Dreaming “… has … an unchallengeable sacred authority”. .

Michele Morcos in her Sydney studio

34. MICHELE MORCOS The infinite continuum, 2020 coil woven vessel, hand dyed raffia 145 h x 195mm d

$900 AUD incl GST

35. MICHELE MORCOS Nocturnal arabesque, 2020 coil woven vessel, hand dyed raffia 205 h x 220 w x 175mm d

$660 AUD incl GST

36. MICHELE MORCOS Blue Moon, 2020 coil woven vessel, hand dyed raffia 175 h x 185mm d

$770 AUD incl GST

37. MICHELE MORCOS Celestial Renewal, 2020 coil woven vessel, hand dyed raffia 265 h x 210mm d

$900 AUD incl GST

38. MICHELE MORCOS Stream of Unconscious, 2020 coil woven vessel, hand dyed raffia 320 h x 270 w x 220mm d

$1,500 AUD incl GST

39. MICHELE MORCOS The Hummingbird Effect, 2020 coil woven sculptural wall installation 1900 h x 410mm w x 230mm d

$1,980 AUD incl GST

MARICELLE OLIVIER

Maricelle Olivier was born in South Africa and immigrated to Australia in 2007. Drawing from the journey of immigrating, her work explores the fluctuating tendencies of her cultural identity.

Coloration typical of Australian avifauna echoes colourful compositions typical of African fabric patterning and art. Combining her African heritage with the Australian fauna allows an exploration of the sentiments of her identity on the ceramic surface, providing a space to link personal history and geography.

Currently, Maricelle is working as Ceramics Studio Manager for Ernabella Arts Centre, located in a remote Aboriginal community in the far north west of South Australia. Maricelle graduated with a MFA in Ceramics at the National Art School in 2018, and has exhibited in many galleries in Sydney, such as Gaffa Gallery and White Rhino Space. Maricelle’s work has been acquired into the National Art School Collection and City of Sydney collection. .

40. MARICELLE OLIVIER Australian Princess, 2020 terracotta with slip and glazes 330 h x 450mm d

$2,200 AUD incl GST

41. MARICELLE OLIVIER Black & White Rememberings, 2020 terracotta with slip and glazes 370 h x 300mm d

$1,800 AUD incl GST

42. MARICELLE OLIVIER My Love, Marloth Park, 2020 terracotta with slip and glazes 320 h x 260mm d

$1,400 AUD incl GST

NICOLE ROBINS I have lived in Sydney’s Inner West for over twenty years and have been making baskets for almost ten years, starting with a Meri Peach workshop in the Botanical Gardens.

Nearly all of my materials are gathered or grown in the local area. Sydney is a very green city with a wonderful climate for gardening and harvesting leaves and vines all year around. The sustainable element of my work brings me great joy. My choice of fibres celebrates Sydney’s diverse plant life. I like to use whole, recognisable fibres whenever I can, juxtaposing indigenous plants, exotics and, yes, even ‘weeds’. I use basketry techniques that will showcase the beautiful fibres, rather than the other way around. Sculptural ideas are driven very much by the inherent sculptural qualities of each fibre.

My practice is centred around my contemporary plant world in Sydney. I am trying to use traditional techniques from basketry while embracing our current range of domestic, native and non-native plants. I am interested in documenting the plant world we live in and less in functional basketry pieces.

I am inspired by the plant world around me in Sydney, but the shapes are drawn from all domains of life – how people live and what they choose to have around them to give their environment beauty and meaning. I lived for 7 years in Latin America in my 20s and early 30s and it feels like I have been looking at basketry and weaving and craft all around the globe for a long time. I am drawn to the artistry and colour of handicrafts everywhere and how living arts relate so closely to people’s lives – often women’s. As a non-Indigenous Australian weaver, I am also extremely privileged to have grown up around some of the most beautiful fibre art in the world. The learning and inspiration from being able to see, and even pick up and examine exquisite work from Australia’s First Nations’ makers is immeasurable. Out of respect for these cultures I aim to appreciate rather than copy. I don’t use materials or designs or even language which I think is intrinsic to the fibre art made by Indigenous artists here. Of course, this line will always be a fine and nuanced one that artists need to keep talking about here in Australia.

I hope to bring the natural world into our interior landscapes, beautifying and texturizing our living and working spaces. I like the idea of hanging work – baskets, flat pieces, wall sculpture and pendants – and making a statement about valuing artisanal objects and considering them as art worthy of putting on our walls. Not everyone realizes that all baskets are handmade and that the gathering, drying, soaking and weaving process takes considerable time. The politics of the slow craft/ slow stitch movements have great resonance for me.

43. NICOLE ROBINS Catch of the Day, 2020 Bangalow Palm Spathe 1150 h x 500 w x 200mm d

$1,650 AUD incl GST

44. NICOLE ROBINS Spiral Tote 1, 2020 Dracaena Draco handle, Coral Pea and Star Jasmine body 500 h x 470 w x 230mm d

$660 AUD incl GST

45. NICOLE ROBINS Spiral Tote 2, 2020 Star Jasmine vine with Dracaena Draco 800 h x 420 w x 230mm d

$660 AUD incl GST

46. NICOLE ROBINS Spiral Tote 3, 2020 Star Jasmine body twined with Dracaena Draco, handle: local fibres, yucca, iris bangalow palm spathe 500 h x 360 w x 220mm d

$660 AUD incl GST

47. NICOLE ROBINS String Swag, 2020 Bangalow Palm spathe, Teal Blue Coconut fibre 850 h x 320 w x 180mm d

$880 AUD incl GST

48. NICOLE ROBINS Open Weave Dracaena Draco Wall Vessel, 2020 Dracaena Draco fibre 1200 h x 550 w x 240mm d

$850 AUD incl GST

The Space Within: Contemporary Ceramics + Fibre, Sabbia Gallery Sydney, March 2020, Interior Image 1

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