28 May – 14 June 2020

about the exhibition

PORCELAIN brings together the work of six highly respected ceramicists: Prue Venables, Keiko Matsui, Kevin White, Neville French, Shannon Garson and Alice Couttoupes. The exhibition showcases the complexity, beauty and strength of this material.

Shannon Garson’s hand thrown porcelain vessels are beautifully hand painted with drawings “about the strange beauty and wonder to be found in the marginalized eco-systems of the littoral zone.” Her background as a painter also informs her works, as she explains; “When using the vessel as a canvas for a drawing, I consider the whole of the pots – this includes three surfaces, the inside, the outside and the bottom…” Shannon’s most recent work draws inspiration from the flora and fauna she observes on evening walks in the area of marshland near her Queensland home. Swallows and delicate foliage are all intricately drawn and embellished with abstract markings and glazes built up over numerous layers and firings.

Shannon Garson completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts, Queensland University of Technology in 1993 majoring as a painter. Shortly after, she began decorating following a period at the Brisbane Gallery Amfora which then led her to throwing and decorating her own vessels. In 2005 Shannon was awarded the Churchill Fellowship which allowed her to travel to France and Italy studying ceramics before undertaking a four week residency at Dartington Pottery in Devon, UK. Shannon gained her Master of Visual Arts at the School of Art and Design, Australian National University in Canberra in 2015.