Amelia Black
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Material Provenance / Clay Matters – Claire Ellis, Amelia Black, Jane Sawyer and Kate Jones
2 May - 15 June 2024
A group exhibition at Craft Victoria, Watson Place
Naarm/Melbourne
Material Provenance forms part of the launch of Conscious Craft – a Craft Victoria initiative showcasing innovative creations by makers and designers who are actively considering sustainability and ethics in their production methods and use of materials.
This exhibition is part of Melbourne DesignWeek 2024, an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Australia.
Four past and present artists from the Clay Matters collective present works produced using responsibly sourced materials and participate in a public program to discuss their research project. The participants choose to work from a limited list of currently traceable materials in order to make work from a place of broader understanding of the environmental impact, the process of extraction and the labour used to make the materials ready for ceramic application. Examining the questions of locality, transparency in material sourcing, energy usage, and circularity as they highlight the variety of colours, textures, and overall aesthetics possibilities within a more understood palette.
Materials used: Bennett’s clay, ball clay, silica, calcium carbonate, gerstley borate, neph syenite and copper.
Crafted from a blend of stoneware and terracotta clays extracted from the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, these vases are meticulously glazed with materials sourced from traceable sites, including Ball Clay from Axedale, Gerstley Borate from Boron, California, Nepheline Syenite from Canada, Calcium Carbonate from NSW, silica from Lang Lang, Victoria, wood ash from a local pizza joint, and the iron in the terracotta clay itself. The glazes are applied in a way that mirrors the striated patterns found in natural materials, emphasizing the tactile quality and materiality of the pieces.
The forms of the vases are inspired by ideas of support, balance, and the inherent vulnerability of handmade objects made from resources extracted from a fragile ecosystem. Their compact and understated design encourages careful handling and contemplation. The cylindrical convex vases, thrown upside down as double-walled vessels, are particularly evocative of these themes. The rounded vases, upturned to create lids, reference an earlier body of work that began in the United States and has evolved through the my immersion in the Australian landscape and its unique materials.
Through this series, I am seeking to highlight the importance of responsible material sourcing and sustainable ceramic practices. By using traceable materials and creating functional objects, she invites viewers to consider the interconnectedness of all things and the care required to maintain a healthy and harmonious environment.