Speakers & Artists

The Australian Ceramics Triennale will be showcasing some exciting work from both International and Australian artists. This list of invited artists will be added to over time, so please come back to the site regularly to see the list of names grow.  

International Artists

Takeshi Yasuda - Japan/China/UK

Currently the Director at the Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop in China, Takeshi Yasuda has been a professional artist for the last 30 years. He is well known for his unique tableware and his critical survey of European eating habits. Born in Japan, he studied at the Daisei-Gama Pottery in Mashiko in the 1960's. Yasuda settled in England in 1973 where he continues to reside, spending his time in both the UK and China. Takeshi Yasuda is really something of a national treasure, not only because of the stately and celebratory pots he makes but because his philosophy

is so direclty engaged with the notion that underpins this activity, that of the pot as a focus in our daily lives and rituals. Not just a visual object, but something to be cherished.

Marek Cecula - Poland/USA
Professor in ceramics: Artist, designer and educator, principle of Modus Design, Marek Cecula works in the field of ceramics in a wide range of creative activities. Marek is represented by Garth Clark in New York and Modernism Gallery in San Francisco; his work is in collections of major art institutions. He is a recipient of grants from Luis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and New York Foundation of Arts, Fellowship and Award. Art & design are the most central components in Cecula's practice, moving between physical and conceptual presentation, redefining in his work the status of ceramic objects and its meaning in our culture. In 1985 he established the ceramic design program at Parson's School of Design in New York and lead this department until 2004. Today Marek Cecula is a professor at  KHIB National College of Art & Design in Begen Norway. He maintains a ceramic studio in Poland and design office in New York City. From 2004 he also acted as a curator of contemporary ceramics and was in charge of the Third Biennale for Israeli Ceramics.                                                    

Virginia Scotchie - USA

Virginia Scotchie is a ceramic artist and area head of ceramics at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. She  holds a B.F.A. in ceramics from UNC-Chapel Hill and in 1985 completed her Master of Fine Arts at Alfred University in New York. "Scotchie turns out an amazing amount of work. Her technique is polished and proficient. Ideas spring from all parts of her life and she delights in teaching and touting the accomplishments of her students. Colour infuses her objects and it is a joy to see many of her works at once. Virginia Scotchie's constant investigation of the world is sure to produce more treasures." Dr Lyn Jones Ennis.     For more  http://virginiascotchie.com

Kim Dickey - USA 

Kim Dickey is a US based artist. Her current work involves the reinterpretation of the ceramic tradition of Bocage. She combines the excessive delicacy of porcelaineous flora with the austere and monumentality of a modernist aesthetic. She has shown at Garth Clark gallery in New York as well as Mass MOCA, the Everson Museum (Syracuse) and the American Craft Museum. She is currently Associate Professor of ceramics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  For more http://www.colorado.edu/arts/3d/dickey.html

Akito Morino - Japan

Akito Morino is a second generation Japanese ceramicist, agraduate of Osaka College of Art and

Kyoto City University of Art where he now teaches.  Akito produces superb engraved and pierced vessels as well as signature ‘Wall Ornament Objects’, delicate but monumental constructions, developed with a particular concern forthe space which they occupy. These works are widely represented in public and private collections in Japan andoverseas.  Akito has presented atsymposia in Europe, South America and Singapore, but will visit Australia fort he first time for the Ceramics Triennale 09.

Kim Won Seok (Korea)

Kim Won Seok is a professor at Kongju National University, South Korea,

he will present a talk about Contemporary Korean ceramics.

Kim-Jeoung-Ah (Sweden)

Kim Joung Ah is an international from Sweden - refereed papers
Full time post doctoral fellow at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

,

Paul Mathieu (USA)

like decoration,function and containment, in a unique relation to various contexts, to time, tohistory and to human experiences.

Noorjehan Bilgrami (Pakistan)

Noorjehan Bilgrami is an artist, textile designer,researcher and film maker.

Her interest in traditional crafts led to the establishment of KOEL, a

workshop that pioneered the revival of block printed fabrics and natural

dyes and handloom weaving in Pakistan. In 2004, she authored the

publication of “Clay, Cloth, Wood, Metal, Stone: The CraftTraditions of

Pakistan”, with an accompanying 45 minute documentary. She curated

a Retrospective Exhibition on Salahuddin Mian, the first ceramist of

Pakistan, Her book “Born of Fire” and documentary “Yeh Kiya!”

accompanied the exhibition.

Abdullah M. I. Syed

 “He (Allah) created man fromsounding clay like unto pottery” (Qur’an: Chapter 55 Verse 14).

Baked or unbaked clay has an ambiguous meaning and relationship in the Pakistani Muslim culture.

This paper

will explore such meanings, from clay’s ancient past and religious significance,uses, and taboos to

the dying Kumhar culture of Pakistan. Furthermore, issuessuch as the rate of development of Ceramics

as an art form in Pakistan, and howand why they were marginalized as craft, are discussed.

The lack of government support and art infrastructure and the dearth of institutions where ceramics might flourish are

debated as key concerns within this paper. Abdullah is affiliated with the University of Karachi, 

Department of Visual Studies, Pakistan and the University of New South Wales, COFA, Australia.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jiansheng Li - China.
Jiansheng Li (Jackson Li) established the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute on

the outskirts of Jingdezhen. The centre offers residencies and studio

opportunitiesto visiting international artists. Jackson has attended a number

of events in Australia and returns with enthusiasm to show his award

winning film Tao Yao, a film documenting the pottersand the dragon kiln of Yellow Mountain. This is part of the exhibition at COFA titled

'Another Silk Road' curated by Jacqueline Clayton. Jackson will demonstrate brush making by popular demand at the conference.

www.chinaclayart.com

Hae Sin Ro is a Professor at KongjuUniversity. She will present a 

lecture about the development of her finely crafted coloured and 

layered porcelain. She stains her porcelain slip and forms

geometric shapes such as sphere, cylinder and cube. She pours

layers of coloured  slips into her moulds andwhen the pieces

are leather hard they are carved back to reveal the layers of

colour beneath the surface. Hae  Sin will also demonstrate her

techniques at the conference. She  returnsto NAS, having

Andrew Livingstone PhD (UK)

Subject leader in ceramics at theUniversity of Sunderland, UK. His work predominantly examines the interfacebetween ceramic

and non-ceramic media, including both video and the integrationof digital elements. Andrew has exhibited widely including the

Garth ClarkGallery, New York and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC. Recent papershave been given at “Crafticulation”

Helsinki, ‘New Craft Future Voices’ Dundeeand ‘ICMEA’ China. His paper at this conference will explore a disciplineactivated

reading of video within ceramic discourse. Further information - www.andrewlivingstone.com

Ying-Yueh Chuang (Taiwan/Canada)

SearchingFor a Tien-Yuan Paradise

As a Taiwanese-Canadian, I will talk abouthow my practice has evolved from the traditional and representational work to complex

installations and imaginary-realism. I shall explore my invention of beings and environments using multiples of ceramic forms that

Australian Artists

These are the artists that will be speaking and/or demonstrating from Australia. There will be more, so please keep coming back to the website for updates.

Damon Moon (SA)

Damon Moon's 2006 doctoral dissertation examined the role of Bernard Leach's A Potter's Book in the development of Australian ceramics in the post-war years.

As well as being well known as a writer on many aspects of Australian ceramics, he has also worked in the contemporary arts in Australia and overseas.

Damon Moon maintains a studio and showroom in Willunga, South Australia.
http://damonmoon.com

Danie Mellor (NSW)

Danie Mellor's work deals with the nexus of Indigenous and Western cultural frameworks through a wide spectrum of iconographic images including native animals and

Spode ceramics. His work is held in most State gallery collections within Australia as well as the National Gallery of Australia. Recently he won the 2008 National Works

on Paper award. He is currently a lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney.

Simone Fraser (NSW)
The vessel form carries within it this wonderful idea of antiquity - the footprints of our civilization. On to this timeless canvas I add a contemporary story using dry glazes and textured layers to conjure images of landscape, from the lime green lush of my immediate environment to the Australian red earth sea and sun.  The work is wheel thrown and then manipulated by hand, manifesting the inherent plasticity of the clay. Surfaces are enhanced with slips, oxide washes, and finally a dry glaze. I want my work to have a beauty that speaks for itself. I want the viewer to experience the mystery within the surface, the balance and proportion of the form and the harmony that each piece

engenders.

http://www.simonefraser.com.au

Roger Law (UK & NSW) Roger Law used to be famous.  In the 80s and 90s he was the artist and energy behind the UK puppet show Spitting Image.

The success of the satirical show, which pilloried the rich and famous, made him rich and famous so he quietly deported himself to Australia to concentrate

what was left of his talent on that sunburnt country. Roger Law presently spends time between Australia, UK and China, where he visits Jingdezhen regularly

working on large scale ceramics in The Pottery Workshop studios.

Tania Rollond (NSW)

Tania Rollond’s studio is in the Southern Highlands about an hour from Sydney; here she works with porcelain and explores drawing on individual pieces.

She says of her works “that they have travelled a path from eye to brain, to hand, through the materials and processes, by way of memory and invention....

into being. If making is a statement of what you know about the world, then these pieces must be not just what is seen, but how I see and understand my world.

I hope that they are works which do not directly imitate nature, but parallel its dynamics

Rod Bamford (NSW)

Speaker and panelist

Toni Warburton (NSW)

Speaker

Jenny Orchard (NSW)

Demonstrator

Steve Harrison (NSW)

Speaker

Dr. Steve Harrison’s PhD investigated the relationship between landscape, geology and ceramics. His MA Hons degree was in wood firing.

He has a long-standing activism on environmental and conservation issues. He is the author of several books and many articles on ceramics.

His art practice is based on the use oflocally sourced ceramic materials and environmentally friendly wood firing. In the past decade his creative

out put has centred around the bowl form.

John Edye (NSW)

Speaker 

John Edye has been making and teaching ceramics for the past 40 years. He undertook studies at Harrow Schoool of Art in London in the seventies,

and then returned to head Sturt Pottery in Mittagong NSW. He then set up his own pottery in the Southern Highlands of NSW which

he ran on a production scale for many years. More recently he has been working in Egypt as a technical advisor to an aid project set up there.

His work is held in private and public collection overseas as well as the National Gallery of Australia.

Won Seok Kim (NSW)

Demonstrator

Somchai Chareon (NSW)

Somchai Charoenis a ceramic artist based in Sydney. Somchai  trained inBangkok and was a lecturer at Silpakorn University, 

Thailanduntil he migrated to Australia in 2002. For the Australian  CeramicsTriennale, Somchai will demonstrate mould making for 

ceramicsand plaster forming techniques using DIY jigger.

Lynda Draper (NSW)

Speaker

Cameron Williams (NSW)

Cameron has been a full time clay worker for almost 30 years.He specialises in large hand thrown

vessels, and has successfully completed many commissions over the years, including

collaborative work with some of Australia's top artists. Cameron takes great pride in his teaching and 

demonstrating, and lecturiing at the National Art School. He has invested a great deal of time developing 

ceramic cooking concepts from the Tandoori and pizza ovens to various accessories to go with these.

Cameron maintains a studio and residence on the far south coast of NSW  where the lifestyle of making 

pots and looking after a young family keeps him busy.

Penny Byrne is a visual artist and freelance ceramics conservator based in Melbourne. She alters vintage ceramic figurines to create

socio-political art imbued with wit and humour.

She is represented in Sydney by Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art. www.ssfa.com.au 

Tina Lee (VIC) 

Tina Lee is an artist currently lecturing in the Ceramics Department atRMIT University in Melbourne and at the Hong Kong Art School, Hong Kong.

Tinahas exhibited her ceramic sculpture both nationally and internationally invarious commercial and public galleries over the past 14 years.

In 2004 shereceived The Margaret Lawrence Scholarship for Postgraduate Research inCeramics and undertook a Master of Fine Arts by Research

at The University of Melbourne,Victorian College of the Arts. Tina’s researchexamined the psychology of collecting art objects and involved

cataloguing TheMargaret Lawrence Ceramic Collection that was bequeathed to The University ofMelbourne-Victorian College of the Arts.

This important Ceramic Collectionspans from 1900-2005 and is primarily composed of significant Australianceramists producing studio works.

In2007 she completed the Merrigong Environmental Sculpture Project sited at theMt Keira Summit Park, Wollongong, New South Wales.

This project was acollaboration between indigenous and non-indigenous artists depicting the storyof the creation of the Five Islands and Mt Keira.

The project engaged nineindigenous women from the Illawarra region to assist in design and constructionof the work. This public art project

Greg Crowe (WA)

Potter / TAFE Lecturer -Perth, Western Australia. I work predominantlywith thrown woodfired and saltglazed pots.

For the last few years Ihave focused on thrown forms which are textured, altered and cut beforeexpanding to develop

stressed and abstracted surfaces on the forms. I was aguest demonstrator and exhibitor at the Ceramics Ireland International

Festival,Thomastown / Kilkenny, Ireland 2006 and I have recently completed a McKnightArtists Residency for Ceramic Artists

Johanna DeMaine

Shifting the Boundaries

Johanna DeMaine has been a practising ceramic artist since 1971.  During that time the focus of her work has

shifted from Salt glaze to Overglaze and in that transition she has incorporated both computer and print

technologies into her studio practice.  Originally learning her craft in regional Qld, she developed an enquiring

mind and developed her own methods of working.   

Rowley Drysdale

Speaker

Helen Stephens

Panalist

Peter Haynes

Panalist