I began using broken fragments and pre-fired work as a way to build complex assembled forms while undertaking my M. Phil. at the School of Art, Australian National University. By working from a storehouse of small ceramic pieces and fragments, elements of chance and uncertainty can be explored. I can create a distance for myself from the pieces, either through the act of breaking them or by ‘rediscovering’ pieces that were made at an earlier time and in a particular way. This distance allows me to approach constructing the forms in an intuitive way, where the end is somehow just always out of reach. It also means creating a dialogue with the disparate pieces and allowing the weight of their material presence to influence my own creative and aesthetic agenda. By working in this way I am also able to keep the fleeting and spontaneous qualities of the quick sketch or experiment present in the larger constructions.

I am interested in examining the struggles involved in the creative process. To express this experience in material form, I include the elements of what we traditionally associate with creativity, such as moments of clarity, joy and intuitive leaps into uncertainty. As I am interested in working with all the aspects of the process I also try to include the things that are usually discarded along the way to a ‘successful piece’ including the recycling and re-working of ideas, as well as mistakes and frustrations. These imperfections, loose ends, and half-formed ideas are allowed to flourish and often become integral to the end product.
Within the assembled sculptures there can be slightly awkward or off-balance areas which seem to want to go in different directions or refuse to add up to a cohesive whole. This suggests the possibility that other forms could have been created in other circumstances. The work becomes a tangible expression of a mutable fluid existence and a lack of inevitability. The possibilities inherent in the work reference multiple readings of perception, understanding and knowledge. They also speak of how, in the act of perception, there are always more variables then we are able to fully comprehend.

Balance Series

This series, consisting of vessels on sculptural bases, was first exhibited in a group show, The Edge of Function. Both the vessels and the bases reference the ocean. Conceptually, the sculptures sea references allude to the edge of perception, as the ocean is often a metaphor for the fathomless depths of the subconscious. Aesthetically, I am interested in the intricacy and beauty of coral forms and sea creatures, in particular nudibranches or sea slugs. These delightful-looking creatures seem far more interesting than they need be for mere biological survival, referencing what I think of nature’s ‘will to art’.

The bases are made from an amalgamation of various pre-fired ceramic elements that include broken fragments from other works. In a reversal of conventional ideas of function, the destruction of the whole into fragments creates the possibility for new forms and use. A fragment can actively present the experience of creativity, as the viewer must engage with their own imagination to fill in the missing parts. In addition, as broken fragments speak of entropy, deterioration and impermance, they also work to bring in characteristics of the opposite or the antithesis of creativity into the work. This complexity acts as a metaphor for the incomplete and inconsistent nature of perception, understanding and knowledge.

The work deals with the ‘edge of function’ on another level, as the vessels are functional vessels. Inserting a branch or flower into the vases gives the sculptures other levels of possibility and meaning. This reinforces ideas of ongoing creativity, chance and impermanence, as the overall sculpture changes depending on the plants used, and changes again as the plants wilt and die to be replaced with others. Combining plants and nature-inspired representations extends the connection between animate and inanimate elements in the work itself. It also seeks to problematise facile and rigid systems of classification that place the animate and inanimate firmly in opposition.

The work is built and arranged so that not all the information is available to the viewer in a single glance. The disorder in the bases represents the complex process of bringing an idea into form. The vases, created with purpose and refinement, contrast with the density of the bases and represent the distillation of an idea. In this way, the relationship between the vessel and sculptural base relates to the creative process and can be likened to an iceberg where much of the information is submerged yet is still integral to the form. As they balance on only a few points, the bases also appear to be floating, reflecting the ungraspable nature of knowledge.

These intricate and multi-layered sculptural elements encourage an active experience of a static object. They allow for a sense of discovery as the viewer tries to uncover more of the work from different angles. I have also begun showing the work on black painted glass and employing the reflective qualities of resin on top of the bases. This allows for hidden areas to be dimly reflected as well as giving an alternative view of the compositions. This means that ideas of the ‘whole’ must be created using memory and imagination as the viewer must both physically and intellectually move around the work and let go of information to process additional information.

From top: Balance Series (Blue), middle image: detail; multi-fired various clays, resin, h.25cm, w.22cm, photo: Lia Tajcnar

Balance Series (Green), detail, multi-fired various clays, resin, h.20cm, w.21cm, photo: Lia Tajcnar