Amelia Black
Selected ExhibitionsCeramic Projects
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Trace Sediments
Clay, weathered rock, is formed across geological time. Shadows, by contrast, are cast in mere moments—capturing the exact form of a tree and the specific angle of the sun shaped by the earth's daily rotation. My practice brings these vastly different timescales onto the surfaces of the vessels and wall works I make from these materials of rock transformed and recorded light.
Working with Australian terracotta to create my forms, I burnish each surface with terra sigillata made from the same material, then on these surfaces I project the shadows collected from the surrounding landscape. Using water, I patiently etch away layers of clay, inscribing the ephemeral traces of light onto a material shaped by time. The resulting work holds both: the slow transformation of stone into clay and then fired into ceramic, and the transient shadows that anchor each piece back to a specific time and place.
The work situates us within overlapping cycles: the patience of geological metamorphosis and the presence required to notice the uniqueness of each moment. Meaning emerges through sustained attention to processes unfolding at different scales, revealing changes that are both larger than us and capable of shaping us through careful engagement with material and place.
At its core, this practice offers a way of relating to the world. It is a form of patient material inquiry, grounded in awe at the earth and in allowing ourselves to be taught by the matter that surrounds us. Making becomes not an act of production, but a cultivation of ongoing relationship.