Tag Archives: Craft ACT

Living the DESIGN in Canberra

by Wendy Johnson

It’s not every day you get to pop into the studio of an artist and absorb how they think, design and work. But DESIGN Canberra is your chance to connect, create and collaborate with some of the capital’s best artists, designers and craft practitioners. DESIGN Canberra is the capital’s most significant design event. The festival starts in just a few weeks, offering close to 70 activities involving more than 750 participants (21 to 29 November).

Hong Kong House by Guida Moseley Brown Architects. Image provided by company

This year you have a rare opportunity to visit no fewer than 17 Living Artists open studios and workshops, and meet talented designers who work in fashion, jewellery, textiles, glass, furniture, sculpture, wood working, functional objects and architecture. Some studios are owned and operated by one artist or design firm. Others, like ANCA, M16 Artspace, Canberra Glassworks, Six Wiluna and Workshop Level, house up to 35 artists in a collective of sorts.

You can visit all studios and working spaces for free. Most are open for one day during the festival, during set times. Some welcome drop-ins and others require bookings so it’s wise to check out the website to map out what you don’t want to miss. In the meantime, here are some teasers to tickle your fancy.

The Hayshed Open Studio: Julie Ryder, Me, Here, and You, There, 2011. Image: courtesy artist

Take a short jaunt to leafy Pialligo. The Hayshed is throwing open its doors to visitors and hosting informal floor talks by its three professional artists—Lisa Cahill, Kirstie Rea and Julie Ryder (22 November). Lisa and Kirstie use glass as their primary medium, and Julie has been a professional artist for more than 25 years and exhibits nationally and internationally (some of her work is also available through Agency in Braddon).

FINK Open Studio: Water Jug. Image: DMC Photography

F!NK + Co’s workshop tour (21 November) will showcase intriguing demonstrations on how artists and designers form unique and distinctive products. F!NK is one of a handful of design companies that solely manufactures in Australia. First recognised for its distinctive Water Jug, which is now a true Aussie design icon, the company also produces high-quality homewares, lighting and jewellery.

Workshop Level is glass artist Jeremy Lepisto’s professional studio, which he operates with his partner in life Mel George (who also curates the exhibitions at Craft ACT). On 21 November you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the methods and materials these two reputable glass artists use to create custom glass projects for art and architecture, as well as their personal artwork.

In the mood to indulge in a bit of fabulous fashion? The Australian National Capital Artists (ANCA) will host an open day on 22 November at both campuses, home to 35 visual artist studios covering all genres, including jewellery and clothing. At Leafy Studios and Heavy Duty Studios, you can watch artists create work, discuss pieces and even try new techniques yourself.

In Motion collection: Alice Sutton (designer) from Edition, Photographer Andrew O’Toole

At ANCA, fashion designer Alice Sutton, of the independent label Edition, will be on hand with pieces from her stylish collections, each exploring the meaning of place. Award-winning contemporary jeweller, Phoebe Porter, will also be on site. Phoebe hand makes earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings primarily with titanium, stainless steel and aluminium. These are refined, elegant pieces, and each a work of art.

On 27 November, you can drop by Cox Architecture for a chat and learn about the firm’s projects and the daily practice of architecture and design. This is one of Canberra’s most awarded architectural practices. Its 45 hugely talented staff—who all believe that nothing beats a great idea, even if it’s just a sketch on the back of a coaster—work from Kingston Foreshore.

Staying in the world of architecture, you can take one of two tours on 27 November of the offices of Guida Moseley Brown Architects, a multi-award winning architectural, interior and urban design firm carrying out an international practice from the capital. You’ll be guided through a display of building and urban design and master planning projects and talk to the design team about significant projects like the Canberra Airport and amazing structures overseas, including in Botswana, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Other studios sharing their world in the Living Artists segment of DESIGN Canberra are Six Wiluna (furniture, gold and silversmithing and sculpture), Alison Jackson (jewellery and tableware), Matthew Curtis and Harriet Schwarzrock (sculptural work and functional objects), Canberra Glassworks (featuring the work of eight glass artists), M16 Artspace (jewellery, textile design and mixed media), Harris Hobbs (award-winning landscape architecture projects), Myles Gostelow (furniture), Rob Henry Architects and De Rome Architects) and Studio 103 (architecture).

Constructivist earrings – long yellow by Phoebe Porter. Aluminium, stainless steel, 925 silver. Image: Andrew Sikorski

DESIGN Canberra is an initiative of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre. The 2015 Festival is bigger and better; running across nine days (including two weekends), and has something for everyone—young and old alike.

Check out their website, Facebook Instagram and Twitter

Canberra’s Festival of Design—by Wendy Johnson

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In just over a month, the most significant design event held in the capital will get you connecting, creating and collaborating with artists and creatives. Wendy Johnson has all the info on the DESIGN Canberra Festival.

Capital of Culture_Cox—Westside; image Rodrigo Vargas

The annual DESIGN Canberra Festival will roll out its exciting program from 21 to 29 November, with close to 70 activities and involving more than 750 participants. The Festival is massive and there’s something for everyone and all ages, with most events and activities free to the public. And this year, DESIGN Canberra will be bigger and better, rolling out over nine days, including two weekends.

So what is DESIGN Canberra about? It’s about putting you in direct touch with Canberra’s creative excellence. Managed by Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre the 2014 event is divided into five event streams.

ACTivate_Lazy Sunday—Image courtesy of designer

ACTivate—Explore an ACTivated Canberra CBD through pop-up exhibitions, installations, studios and shops featuring the diverse work of some of the capital’s most innovative designers.

Capital of CULTURE—See Canberra in a whole new light through exclusive guided tours of architectural and cultural landscape around the city, led by designers, architects and artists.

DESIGN Buzz— Engage in vibrant discussions on big ideas, creative thinking, design for social change, and Canberra’s urban future through unique conversations and a lecture series.

Living Artists— Gain exclusive insights into the innovative work of some of Canberra’s best local artists and design firms through tours of their inspiring studios and working spaces.

Exhibitions— Experience exciting art, craft and design through exhibitions hosted in Canberra’s premier galleries.

Events will pop-up in every corner of the city, with drop-ins welcome for many. DESIGN Canberra is also teaming up with cultural institutions, arts centres, museums, galleries, universities, design centres, studios and workshops. So what’s on offer? Well, here’s a taste.

Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross, one of Australia’s finest comedians, will bring his touring show ‘Man About the House’ to DESIGN Canberra for one night only, to the iconic Shine Dome by Roy Grounds. With musician Kit Warhurst and through storytelling and song, Ross will take you on a journey and leave you cheering.

Living Artist_ANCA—Folded earring by Phoebe Porter; image courtesy designer

ANCA (Australian National Capital Artists) will have an open day across its two campuses—Leafy Studios at Dickson and Heavy Duty Studios in Mitchell—featuring the work of 35 visual artists, including jewellery designer Phoebe Porter, emerging artist Sui Jackson, who specialises in hot glass, and woodworker Peter Giles. This is your chance to engage with these local artists, watching them work, discussing their creations and perhaps even trying some techniques yourself.

Rolfe Classic BMW and boyandgirlco have teamed up for a unique exhibition that will see spare car parts, sample leather pieces and unwanted wooden pallets transformed into one-off pieces of furniture that will be auctioned off to raise money for a local charity.

A unique exhibition at Craft ACT—Discover define develop deliver—will give you an insight into a creative’s mind. Twenty-nine local artists will display a signature piece of their artwork alongside an item that illustrates the thought process behind design, whether it be a page from a sketchbook, an inspirational image or written notes.

Capital of Culture_GMB—Canberra airport; image Rodrigo Vargas

Public tours will be held by some of the capital’s best architect firms and experts, such as a walking tour through the public spaces of the National Portrait Gallery (with the gallery’s Krysia Kitch), the pop-up village at Westside Acton Park (with Cox Architecture), and the award-winning Canberra Airport, including some areas not normally accessible by the public (with Guida Moseley Brown Architects and the airport’s Richard Philips).

You can also visit Pavilion X, a site-specific temporary design intervention in Garema Place and have your say on how you like to use public space and what you hope for the future of Civic. Or you can join in the community workshop being held on top of Red Hill Lookout, with Karina Harris and Neil Hobbs. What are your thoughts about safety issues for wildlife, pedestrians, cyclists and traffic on Red Hill? What are your views on how this precious, urban space can be used?

Living Artist_Harris Hobbs—Open Studio; image courtesy designer

DESIGN Canberra also gives you a chance to visit open studios of a diverse range of local designers to meet them, chat about their work and see where and how they create their fashion, jewellery, glasswork, homewares and more … like Claudia Owen, Lazy Sunday Home, Alison Jackson, Daniel Hadiwibawa, and many designers who operate from Canberra Glassworks.

ACTivate_Claudia Owen—Alchemy Silk Scarf; image courtesy designer

The DESIGN Canberra website is being updated with info on this year’s festival activities in the next week or so. Keep your eye out for the distinctive pink and yellow DESIGN Canberra program that will be distributed for free through Canberra’s best cafes, shops and cultural institutions around the end of the month. You’ll want to study the program carefully and check off everything you want to explore. Some events and activities are open every day of the festival with others open at select times, and some are not-to-be-missed, one-off events.

For more information check Design Canberra website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

An Amazing Body of Work!

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Bodywork: Australian Jewellery 1970 – 2012

It’s on and it’s worth a visit. A fascinating exhibition, Bodywork: Australian Jewellery 1970–2012, has opened its doors to the public here in the capital. This unique and must-see travelling exhibition showcases the work of 42 of the country’s most influential, contemporary jewellery designers. By Wendy Johnson.

Sunrise and shade, brooch 1981, by Elizabeth Olah. Using sterling silver, 18 carat gold, porcelain, and opal
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Crafts Board Collection donated by the Australia Council 1982

Bodywork has worked its way through five states, inspiring and intriguing thousands of visitors, and has now come home for its last show. Even though the collection is owned by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), the exhibition is at Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre, as part of its outreach program. Each piece of jewellery in Bodywork was hand-selected by Dr Robert Bell AM, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, NGA, who wanted to ‘inspire, intrigue and inform’. The work is beautifully displayed in six specially designed cases.

And Canberra can hold its head high. Four jewellery designers from here were selected for Bodywork; Robert Foster, of Fink + Co, Simon Cottrell, Head of the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop at ANU, both Accredited Professional Members of Craft ACT, and Helen Aitken-Kuhnen and Johannes Kuhnen of Bilk Gallery in Manuka.The jewellery is grouped under six themes— Romanticism, Interpreting the Vernacular, Encapsulating Nature, Technics, Social Message, and Sculpture for the Body. All pieces come from the NGA’s jewellery collection, which is the largest collection in the country.

The diversity of design, materials and technique used to design and create each piece in this stunning collection is fascinating and so too is the short film featuring Dr Bell, which provides deeper insights. Pieces include brooches, arm bands, lockets, rings, bangles, and pendants created out of a wide range of materials such as gold, sterling silver, copper, coral, aluminium and polypropylene.

Image left: Sheep, pendant c.1979
sterling silver, carved quartz by Eléna Gee
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Crafts Board Collection donated by the Australia Council 1982

Some pieces will take you by surprise, like Brenda Ridgewell’s Space edifice armband (2002), made of silver and carat gold. Brenda’s jewellery is architectural in form and often articulated and adjustable, allowing it move with the body.

Brenda Ridgewell Space edifice, armband 2002 by Brenda Ridgewell, using 925 silver and 9 carat gold National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2003

Space edifice, armband 2002 by Brenda Ridgewell, using 925 silver and 9 carat gold
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 2003

The superb Ocean blue necklace, by Canberra’s Helen Aitken-Kuhnen, is made with finely crushed glass mixed with other materials to form a paste. The glass paste is then put into a mould and heated to fuse it together.

Craft ACT was a natural fit for the last show of Bodywork. “The National Gallery and Craft ACT are both the same age, having opened in the 1970s,” says Dr Bell. “Craft ACT has been part of the national scene for a long time. It’s appropriate that Bodywork’s final showing is in its home town and with our friend CraftAC.”

Image right: Ocean blue, necklace 2009 in sterling silver, cast glass pâte-de-verre, and stainless steel by Helen Aitken-Kuhnen
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Purchased 2009 with funds from the Meredith Hinchliffe Fund.

Bodywork: Australian jewellery 1970–2012 is on until Saturday 24 October 2015.

Also showing at the same time at Craft ACT Gallery is Table Tools, a solo exhibition by gold and silversmith Alison Jackson, who is also Craft ACT Accredited Professional Member.

10 Vessels in 10 Days

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Following on from our Scoop on scoops, LFW learnt of another project by gold and silversmith artist Alison Jackson, who undertook the ultimate challenge of designing and making ‘10 Vessels in 10 Days’. By Wendy Johnson

Artist Alison Jackson – photo by Christine Pobke

Tucked away in her fully functioning studio, Alison Jackson makes tinkering sounds—falling somewhere between bells and glass crystal singing—as she hand raises her objects using stakes and hammers.

These are the words of Mel George, who has curated a new solo exhibition by Canberra’s gold and silversmith Alison Jackson. The words describe perfectly how this young gold and silversmith works. And they describe what happened over 10 days in April when Alison challenged herself to create one vessel per day. Alison wasn’t working to a deadline set by anyone other than herself for 10 Vessels in 10 Days, and the results of the challenge forms part of Alison’s Table Tools exhibition, on now at Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre.

“It’s a project I had wanted to do for some time. I set myself the challenge of creating one vessel each day, all within working hours. Some days were busier than others. Some days I was tired and some days I really focused and could spend a lot of time on a vessel,” says Alison. “So each vessel has its own character about it.” But why pursue such a high-pressure project?

“It was an avenue for me to explore different ideas and processes ticking over in my head, a sort of three-dimensional sketch if you like,” says the artist.

For this series, Alison worked in both fine silver and copper. She created the vessels using a technique that has changed little over the centuries. She started each with a flat sheet, sinking it into a hollow of a tree stump to give the metal some shape. Each sheet was then annealed—heated to a critical temperature that returns the metal to its soft state so it can be worked again.

Next came the raising process. “Raising is a traditional silversmithing technique, which is a becoming a dying art. It’s intensely time consuming and labour intensive, but is also an incredibly rewarding process,” Alison says. “It’s amazing what you can achieve with a sheet of metal and a hammer. Each day I began with a rough sketch, a scribble on a piece of paper or sometimes just an idea in my head. As the day progressed so too did the vessel. Some ideas changed and evolved through the making process and it became apparent that I needed to be open to these changes.”

But how did Alison deal with the perfectionist burning within, given the time constraints and challenges she set herself for the project?

“Often things didn’t quite turn out how I wanted, drill bits broke in the vessel, shapes weren’t quite as I thought they would be and holes weren’t always centred. It was a challenge to work with these hiccups and still complete pieces I was happy with. Where I usually would re-make a piece, I actually needed to persevere and work with these bumps in the road to achieve a result at the end of the day,” she says.

In the end, Alison has developed a special relationship with the set of 10 vessels and is over the moon with the results, saying, ‘they’re quite playful and interesting—each with its own character—perhaps shaped by my thoughts on the day’.

Many bowls in the set are roughly the size of a hand. Some are polished, while in others the patinas contrast with the silver. In some, steel wire—normally only used to secure an object while being made—is used as a feature on the finished work.

Alison works full-time out of her own fully equipped silversmithing workshop, called Pocket Studio. She studied at the Australian National University of Art, Gold and Silversmithing Workshop and spent six months studying in Germany at the University of Applied Sciences, Gemstone and Jewellery Design in Idar-Oberstein. She has exhibited throughout Australia and Germany.

Table Tools, including 10 Vessels in 10 Days, was made possible in part because of an Australia Council 2015 New Work Grant and artsACT project funding.

Alison has also just produced two new lines of jewellery, available at Agency, Ori Building, Braddon, along with some of Alison’s more permanent retail range of tableware and cutlery. You can explore Alison’s work on her new website http://www.alisonjackson.com.au

All vessel photographs by Angela Bakker

Table Tools, including 10 Vessels in 10 Days runs from 11 September to 24 October at Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City. Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday 12 pm to 4 pm

The Scoop on scoops!

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or ‘Art for Foodies’ by Wendy Johnson

Brass scoops by Alison Jackson photo by Christine Pobke

Brass scoops by Alison Jackson – photo by Angela Bakker

It’s not every day that a famous chef, restaurateur and judge of a multiple award-winning television show gives the big tick to the work of a Canberra artist. But that’s what MasterChef’s Gary Mehigan did this week for the gorgeous pieces in Table Tools, a special exhibition by gold and silversmith Alison Jackson. And a mighty big tick it was, with Gary saying Alison’s new work is ‘the ultimate art collection for foodies’.

Artists Alison Jackson – photo by Christine Pobke

It’s no surprise when you think about it. This is Alison’s first solo exhibition and she is destined to become a star. “It only took me seven years to get around to doing an exhibition,” she says. “It’s amazing that it’s now here.”

The exhibition features about 48 high-end pieces, made from materials such as fine silver, silver, copper, brass, and steel wire. Alison has created spoons of varying shapes and sizes, scoops, pouring vessels, whisks, bowls and more. Each piece has been handcrafted using traditional and intense silver smithing processes and techniques, both of which require a high level of skill. Alison starts with a flat sheet and hammers the metal over many stages and through many processes to create a whole new form.

Artist at work – photo by Christine Pobke

While it takes oodles of time and patience, this rather primitive process is near and dear to Alison’s heart. “It’s a way for me to explore different ideas and processes that are ticking over in my head,” says the artist. The result with Table Tools is a series of one-off designs that will be treasured by those who ultimately own them, forever and a day.

Stainless steel pourers – photo by Alison Jackson

Alison describes all of her work as simple, refined and pared back. Don’t be fooled, however. This is contemporary work that is highly functional, and beautiful. “I create for people to use my pieces every day,” she says. “They’re great for special occasions, but not just for special occasions. And they’re made to stand the test of time.”

Assorted utensils - photo by Christine Pobke

Assorted utensils – photo by Angela Bakker

Mel George, Curator and Exhibitions Manager at Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, says Alison’s work doesn’t just happen. “Her work is informed by research and she’s extremely focused and dedicated to her art, fusing traditional silver smithing handcraft techniques with contemporary industrial processes,” says Mel. “Alison is intrigued by the way people interact with their objects as well as how objects shape a space, influence an environment and become part of experience.”

While all pieces in Table Tools have names, Alison doesn’t want to dictate how they should be used. “Pieces are designed to be flexible. I want people to be inspired by their imagination and not restrict themselves to one use,” she says. “I want the objects to transform everyday experiences—like eating out of a bowl—into something special.”

Ladles – photo by Angela Bakker

Alison works full-time out of her own fully equipped silversmithing workshop, called Pocket Studio, where she also teaches short courses. She studied at the Australian National University School of Art, Gold and Silver smithing Workshop, working part time at Australian contemporary design firm, Fink and Co. Alison has also spent six months studying in Germany at the University of Applied Sciences, Gemstone and Jewellery Design in Idar-Oberstein. She has exhibited throughout Australia and Germany. Table Tools was made possible in part because of an Australia Council 2015 New Work Grant and artsACT project funding.

Alison has also just produced two new lines of jewellery, available at Agency, Ori Building, Braddon, along with some of Alison’s more permanent range of tableware and cutlery. You can explore Alison’s work on her new website: www.alisonjackson.com.au

Table Tools opens tomorrow at Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre and runs until Saturday 24 October.

Table Tools—11 September to 24 October, Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City. Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm. Saturday 12 pm to 4 pm

Ceramicist Margaret Brown Steps Up!

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Stepping Up: Profile on ceramicist Margaret Brown. By Wendy Johnson

Black lines working their way mysteriously through southern ice clay. It’s Margaret Brown’s signature look and not an easy one to achieve.

Margaret is a top-notch ceramist who works from her studio in the quiet surrounds of the Bega Valley, New South Wales. These days life isn’t all peace and quiet, however. Margaret is getting ready to participate in two exhibitions being held as part of the prestigious Australian Ceramics Triennale, named Stepping Up in 2015, coming to Canberra this week (9 to 11 July). She’ll also be participating in the free one-day Market Day being held for the public at the National Gallery of Australia on 12 July (11am to 4pm). And she’s just placed some of her beautiful work in Agency, the new store that has opened by Craft ACT: Design and Craft Centre in the Ori Building, Braddon. Phew …

Porcelain is Margaret’s preferred medium. She’s drawn to it for its pureness and translucency.

Having created and wholesaled domestic pottery for 20 years, Margaret took a short break and then completed a Diploma in Visual Arts (Ceramics) at the Australian National University, focusing on porcelain. “My whole outlook changed when I went to university,” says the artist, who received a Technical Award upon completion of her course. Today Margaret creates domestic forms that are part of daily living, like mugs and beakers, but beautiful, unique pieces that combine function with quality craftsmanship and design.

The black lines that make their way through her pieces—each one entirely individual—are about capturing movement within a space, says Margaret. “No two pieces are the same,” says this high-end ceramicist. “While I have control over the shape of the piece I don’t have complete control over where the black line travels. It’s about letting go a little bit to see what happens. It’s like watching bugs in the sky dash around. Where will they go?”

But don’t be fooled. The technique Margaret uses has taken time to master and it requires a great deal of skill. “I put a slice of black clay into the white clay before throwing each piece. I have to throw very quickly on the wheel so I only get one or two lines,” says Margaret. “They don’t all work out. I’m not so keen on multiple lines … these pieces tend to go back in the bucket.” The process is based on an old Japanese method called Neriage which roughly translates into ‘to knead’ or ‘to mix’. The colour is diffused on the inside and outside of each piece and the lines capture the movement of clouds as they drift by.

Margaret also creates lamps out of translucent porcelain, which are slow but relaxing and rewarding to produce she says. The hand carving of one lamp can take up to 12 hours. “These lamps can’t be slip cast like commercial products can,” she says. “I sit and hand-carve them so each one is unique. I carve possums, frogs, kookaburras, horses, Australian nature—the things I see in my everyday life.”

Since 2002, Margaret has held several exhibitions in Canberra and NSW. As part of Stepping Up, she is participating in two of the 35 free public exhibitions that will be held across the city. Her work features in Belonging: embodied commentaries inspired by place, which is on now and will carry through to 11 July at the ANU School of Art Foyer Gallery. This is a must-see exhibition of the works of more than 150 members of the Australian Ceramics Association.

Margaret’s work will also be in Stomping Ground, which features the work of Craft ACT-accredited professional members. The title refers to frequented or favourite locations and references between the ground and each artist’s chosen medium of clay. Other ceramicists participating in this exhibition are Avi Amesbury, Sarit Cohen, Linda Davy, Cathy Franzi, Bev Hogg, Ian Jones, Anita McIntyre and Gail Nichols. It’s on now at the ACT Legislative Assembly and will close 15 July.

At the Market Place, Margaret will have on hand her black and white creations. This is a unique chance for Canberrans to talk to, and buy from, 30 ceramists, including several who have never shown in Canberra before.

For a complete list of free public exhibitions being held during Stepping Up—with some underway now and some extending into August—and a list of the ceramicists who will be at the one-day-only Market Place visit the Australian Ceramic Triennale website.

The Australian Ceramics Triennale starts this week.

http://www.australianceramicstriennale.com.au/2015/

Credits—Artist: Margaret Brown, Images: Andrew Trousdell

Get with the right AGENCY!

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It seems there is no stopping bustling Braddon from bursting at the seams. The latest venture to launch at the Ori Building is AGENCY, a new high-end store by Craft ACT: Craft & Design Centre that opens to the public this Friday (3 July). Wendy Johnson checks out the diverse range of arts and crafts on display and for sale.

Classically simple salt and pepper by Nadege Desgenetez

Agency is no ordinary store. It has a new and innovative approach and it’s not just with the work of the designers and artists it is stocking. “We’re selling a service, experience and lifestyle all in one go,” says Halie Rubenis, Business Development and Retail Manager. But what does that mean? Continue reading →

Canberra’s Unique Ceramic Experience!

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The creativity of ceramics will soon be celebrated in Canberra across four days in July, when the capital hosts the prestigious Australian Ceramics Triennale. For Canberrans and visitors alike, this is a unique (and wonderful) opportunity to see the works of some of Australia’s best ceramicists as well as many from around the world. More than 35 free public exhibitions will take place across the city in Stepping Up, the name of the 2015 Triennale (9 to 11 July). By Wendy Johnson

Stunning ceramic bowl by Johanna DeMaine

Stunning ceramic bowl with precious metals by Johanna DeMaine

Avi Amesbury, CEO/Artistic Director at Craft ACT—herself a ceramicist—says this is Australia’s premier ceramics event and the last time Canberra hosted it was in the 1980s. Although the conference component of the Triennale is an opportunity for high-end ceramicists to get serious about expanding their skills and ideas, through presentations, panel discussions and workshops, the Triennale offers a great deal for the public.

Much of Trenna Langdon’s work explores the colours and texture of the Canberra region

Continue reading →

LFW MAGAZINE

never lost for words

Tag Archives: Craft ACT

Living the DESIGN in Canberra

Canberra’s Festival of Design—by Wendy Johnson

An Amazing Body of Work!

10 Vessels in 10 Days

The Scoop on scoops!

Ceramicist Margaret Brown Steps Up!

Get with the right AGENCY!

Canberra’s Unique Ceramic Experience!