Upcoming meetings and events
November meeting
Carl Wantrup will speak on ’Japanese tea-wares from the Momoyama to Showa periods’. Carl is a long-time friend of the Circle, an independent consultant and dealer in Asian art with over twenty-five year’s experience, and an Approved Valuer for Asian arts under the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Carl will cover the origins of tea culture in Japan and the influences and wares from China, moving on to the birth of wabi-cha in the Muromachi period, the explosion of tea-wares from the Momoyama to Meiji periods and the renaissance of tea-wares in the Showa period.
December meeting
The theme for our Christmas supper ‘show and tell’ will be ‘Celebratory Comestibles’, with a focus on the artifacts and objects that accompany all sorts of festive foods.
40th Anniversary celebrations
To celebrate 40 fabulous years, we held a cocktail party at the Lyceum Club. Our guest of honour was the noted philanthropist Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM. As well as speaking to us, Krystyna launched the Ceramics and Glass Circle of Australia grant in honour of Patricia Begg OAM. Chris Begg awarded the inaugural grant.
Amanda Dunsmore and Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM
Circle Secretary, Chris Begg and the inaugural scholarship winner, Victoria Lynagh
Out and about
NGV; Collections area, Australian ceramics
Explore the NGV's online Australian ceramics collection (750 digital records ) using this link here
SASSY PARK: I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN SUNSHINE
At the Ballarat Art Gallery, 40 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat
Sassy Park plays with the history of domestic
ceramics exploring ideas of vulnerability and
fragility through scale, intimacy and humour. The
ceramic surface becomes a place for commentary
on which she paints, writes and draws as a way of
memorialising the small stages of life and the
intimacies of the everyday.
https://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/explore/exhibitions/sassy-park-i-have-confidence-in-sunshine
Stephen Bowers: A Conference of Birds.
Internationally acclaimed ceramicist, Stephen Bowers presents a flock of birds across a series of plates, portrayed in bright colours against complex, fragmented backgrounds inspired by designs from ceramics, engravings and textiles. With ornate patterning and inspired by the history of art and design, these works speak to the idea of pattern-in-nature and nature-in-pattern and reflect on the tensions of humanity’s appropriation of the natural world for our own use, the fragments representing this broken relationship.
Mark Thompson: sine qua non. Mark Thompson, one of Australia’s leading set and costume designers in addition to being a painter and ceramic artist, showcases ornate patterning in his work, inspired by the history of art and design within his own unique style. In this current exhibition, Thompson utilises the sculptural form of the bust for many of his fantastical works, with decorative elements and characteristic theatrical flourish.
Stephen Bowers and Mark Thompson – Lauraine Diggins Fine Art