Finally I managed to take some time out to visit a couple of exhibitions in Hobart. Ben Richardson is a potter working with wood firing and using locally sourced materials. The photo above is detail from a vase I bought about 12 or more years ago which takes pride of place in my home. He curated and participated in an exhibition of work produced using wood fired kilns at the Carnegie Gallery. The website introduces the show…

“This exhibition will present the work of three Tasmanian ceramic artists who are renowned for working with woodfire processes; a technique that leaves traces of the fire marks within the work. Working Fire will be a rare opportunity to see three differing approaches to this technique in the one exhibition. ”

Set in a gallery with black walls and spot lighting, the work is diverse between the artists and when you connect the work with the process, which is revealed in a short and beautifully created film on one wall of the gallery space, appreciation for the skill and beauty of the pieces is hard to ignore.

The exhibition is on at the Carnegie Gallery which occupies the upstairs floor of the Maritime Museum, 16 Argyle Street, Hobart and it continues until June 21st.

Belinda Kurczok is currently showing her superb bird paintings at the Sidespace Gallery in Salamanca. Her skill is undisputed really and the paintings feel as if the birds will suddenly take flight and leave the frame! I can’t find the details for the length of the show, but I imagine that it will be closing very soon, so if you have an interest in our feathered companions then this is an exhibition not to be missed.

This is an invite to an exhibition in Melbourne at the Utopian Slumps Gallery. I thought the Leah Fraser paintings were very interesting and if by chance I happen to be in Melbourne at the right time – Between May 30 and June 13, then I will surely pop in and have a look!

I recently wrote about these test pots, but I thought I would write a complete blog about the test as it was such fun! At this stage the pots have been bisque fired and I have made up glaze mixes using a range of quantities of both red and yellow ochre, clay and whiting.

So this is what the fired test pots look like – quite a different appearance now! So from this group I selected four to work with on the tiles I have made.

Each of the pots has the mix I used to create that glaze written in iron on the bottom of it. This means I can recreate it with some degree of accuracy for the tiles.

I added water to the mix and then painted it onto the tiles. The actual leaf emboss has been painted with temoku glaze, which is a glossy black, and the background is in a range of the homemade glazes. So now they are waiting to be fired, which will hopefully happen this week and I will be able to pick them up on Wednesday, which is my last Adult Ed pottery class for the term. There are nine tiles in the group and they go together to form a design that I hope to be able to mount as a wall piece. So if all goes well, there will be yet another post about this!

It is a time for putting together the final works for the submission and tidying up loose ends at uni. As well as preparing for the ‘after the departure’ from the comfort of the university facilities, support and social gatherings in the tea room.  First step is to tidy up the studio at home and that means a set of draws to keep all the prints and paper in. An old set in need of some tender love and care arrived in the garage and my son Anthony has been busy painting them up to new again! They are looking really great and will be the pride of the studio before too long.

My pottery classes are in the last few days for the term over the next three weeks, so it is a crazy scramble to complete all the projects in time. I made this mad vase which was a lot of fun! I was trying to make it look like a rock face.

As a support work I’m planning on having the embossed tiles as a wall piece (the print of the lino cuts for the tiles is in a previous post), so this week I have made a set of test pots using a glaze I have made with red and yellow ochre. It will be exciting t o see what comes out next week!. Disaster probably… novice at work! I’m trying to write a few posts on my main website art blog about the approaching examination, which will be happening in mid June – details to come!

Last night was the opening of an exhibition of ceramics, paintings, sculpture, textile art, prints and photography at the Off Centre Co-Operative in the Salamanca Arts Centre. This group of potters and artists have been offering hand crafted skills in their gallery store for a ong time and the current exhibition showcases the extensive experience amassed between the artists.

Opened with humour and a glass of wine, the show will continue until April 20th. Jude Maisch is one of the members who have worked tirelessly to keep the gallery full of fresh and interesting work. She is also my ceramics teacher and generously invited me to join in the exhibition with a print.

“Ripe” was originally developed for Meadowbank, but looks right at home amongst the pottery! I’ll try to get in for another look and maybe some general views of the show before closing time!

Pottery classes have started up for me again and this time the project is to make bowls. The intention is to have a ’set’ of bowls that will represent the body, and specific glazing that suggests the genetic carriage of life’s experience. The challenge is to actually create bowls that have a sense of the formal – being similar in shape etc – and get the glaze to actually work. Big ideas for a learner potter, but that’s what creates the drive to ‘do better’, whatever that means, because at the end of the day it is all subjective opinion (the idea of perfection that is) so mostly it is the simple pleasure of potting that takes me there.