Ceramics

RENEE BOYD MEDIUM: CERAMICS BASED: WAITAKERE AUCKLAND Growing up in Laingholm, on the edge of the Waitakere Ranges, Renee Boyd finds her inspiration in the luxurious native bush and the natural black sand of the West coast beaches. After leaving school Renee studied ceramics at Auckland Unitec, she also completed a Diploma in Ceramics from Otago Polytechnic. Now with ten years experience in ceramic production behind her, Renee’s work has an organic quality which comes from the observation and understanding of her environment. Renee’s botanical themed ceramics incorporate textures and colours from the Bush. The leaf shapes, natural streamlined forms, porous textures which complement the glazed clay and the contrasting colours, all relate to New Zealand’s unique landscape. Renee is gaining National recognition with her home ware range, which includes her now famous “leaf dish”. She also produces a range of lighting with a pacific twist, creating graceful rays of light through Tapa patterned openings. Renee’s work has been selected for various exhibitions and she was a recent finalist at New Zealand’s premier ceramic exhibition - The Portage Ceramic Awards.

SUSANNAH BRIDGES MEDIUM: CERAMICS BASED GLEN EDEN, WAITAKERE, AUCKLAND Susannah Bridges, well-known for her ceramic “Cylinder Range” of lights and vessels, completed a Bachelor of Design in 1998. Since her first exhibition in 1999, she has gained international recognition and has received a Design Distinction Award from the New York based I.D Magazine. Bridges’ ceramics have been shown from New York to Melbourne and have been acquired by the Auckland Museum, and the Dowse Art Museum. The ‘Cylinder’ ceramic vessels and lights offer a subtle compromise between form and colour. The minimalist shapes and the range of glazes in shades of aqua, green, warm red, black and white create a marriage between contemporary style and functional form. The vessel becomes more than its primary function, becoming a design piece on display in its own right. Alongside her own practice, Susannah has worked within a local Government environment as an Arts Project Assistant, and has taught at Unitec Institute of Technology in the Design School. She also has experience in developing and creating Public Art works.

CHARADE HONEY MEDIUM: CERAMICS BASED: HAMILTON Charade Honey is a ceramic artist who grew up on Great Barrier Island. The seclusion that island life provided enabled her to develop a self-reliance and confidence in her own identity which is characterized in her work. After attending a course in Ceramics at Auckland Unitec under the guidance of Lex Dawson, Charade continued her studies and has recently completed a Diploma in Ceramic Arts from Otago Polytechnic which she says “has re-energized” her commitment to ceramics. Charades early pieces combined traditional clay work with Maori elements such as the Tiki figure. Her more recent work shows continuity in her interest in Maori imagery and also represents the ongoing development of her work through her studies. The Maori imagery is presented as a symbolic idea, a currency for all New Zealanders. It is important for Charade to identify with the totems used in her work and that others also identify and relate to these images. She likes the possibilities that arise from re-contextualizing an ancient Taonga in a modern ceramic practice. The flowers and spirals are images that Charade has utilised in her work from her childhood. To give her work an organic earthy appearance, Charade uses a wood firing process where pieces are soda fired in a wood kiln for 12 hours.

JO-ANNE RAILL MEDIUM: CERAMICS BASED: PAPAKURA, AUCKLAND Jo-Anne began working with clay 15 years ago, while training at Teachers College. Since then, she has completed a diploma in Ceramics and now teaches at The Auckland Studio Potters and at UNITEC as well as working on her ceramic creations. Jo-Anne Raill’s ceramic objects have grown from being purely functional forms to becoming three dimensional canvases. Raill has developed an imagery that depicts her observations on today’s society. Her series of robot cups and tumblers presented here reflect on today’s mechanical obsession with speed and direction. Each piece demonstrates her expertise at mixing textures, glaze, colours and incorporating drawings and typography work.

SANG SOOL SHIM & KEUM SUN LEE MEDIUM: CERAMICS BASED: HENDERSON VALLEY, WAITAKERE AUCKLAND Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee are a Korean husband and wife team of potters. Originally a Master Taekwon Do martial arts specialist, Sang Sool Shim tutored members of the Korean royal family before turning his hand to the pottery of ancient Korea. Keum Sun Lee is a Doctor in Public Administration and previously worked for the Korean government as a director. She has specific training in the art of Bak ji, a 15th century form of pottery decoration. Working with both 10th century and 15th century forms of Korean pottery, the two have adapted these traditions, adding colours which give a contemporary aspect to their creations. They have also found compatibility between Maori and Korean motifs which they synthesise in their work. Detailed and elaborate, this style of pottery is painstaking and requires considerable, concentration. The two bring their spiritual philosophy to the art of pottery in which life, so often hectic and fleeting, is deliberately slowed down and savoured.

KATHERINE SMYTH MEDIUM: CERAMIC BASED: WELLINGTON Katherine Smyth vessels bring a contemporary twist on Traditional Old-World ceramic. She draws inspiration from the elongated shapes of the Bronze Age incorporating rough textures, rich colours. She is also strongly influenced by ceramic art of the Middle East. After completing a Diploma of Fine Arts – Ceramics at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia Katherine began to travel extensively, especially around the Middle East. In 1993 she worked in Taibeh, a small Jordanian village alongside English Potter Jim Mason. The project was to teach pottery skills to young village women with the aim of reviving some ancient skills. In 2003 Katherine was awarded a Professional Development Grant by the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand to travel back to the Middle East and surrounding regions for further research of Bronze Age pottery and to develop a new body of work in response to her research. A chef before turning to ceramics, the connections between food and clay frequently inspire her work. In 2004, while researching Bronze Age ceramics at the Palestine Exploration Fund in London, Katherine Smyth came across a small Cypriot pot made in the shape of an inverted opium poppy. Subsequently, she began to see organic forms in other pots. On her return to New Zealand she made a juglet in the form of a fig - a fruit that permeates her memories of living in the Middle East. She began making additional juglets based on Middle Eastern produce such as capers, olives and lentils. Another opportunity to combine Art and Food came from working alongside well known chef Peter Gordon to design and produce crockery for his restaurant and for two of Gordon's cookbooks. Katherine eventually returned to New Zealand, and is based in Wellington. She has continued work as a full time potter selling and exhibiting throughout NZ. She has also guest lectured at Auckland Unitec, Massey University in Wellington and The National Art School in Sydney, Australia.