30 May – 16 June 2019
about the exhibition
Western Australian ceramicist Sandra Black is known for her delicate and tranquil porcelain vessels. Inspired by nature, Sandra combines abstract and organic shapes in fluid patterns which she incorporates across the various techniques and themes of her practice. “Reflective Space” is an exhibition that contemplates the importance of the three spatial elements which have influenced the making of her work – the inner space of the vessel, the positive and negative spacing of the decorative elements and finally her working space. She writes of each of these elements, “While in China last year focusing on a bowl I was throwing, I reflected back to my early beginnings at the UWA Pottery Guild in the 1970’s where I learnt to focus on the interior space as the most important part of the vessel – the walls were there to enclose and hold that critical space. My focus from then was to be on perfecting that inner space, and the outside would take care of itself in the careful finishing and balance of the exterior. The second reflective space lies in the positive and negative spacing of decorative elements. To get the balance in the layout of those surface elements takes time, care and inspiration from what the current themes are that I am working on. Each element is carefully placed in balance with the form it is applied to. The third is my working space where the work is assembled. That necessarily quiet and reflective space is in my garden studio in South Fremantle, but has also taken place in the various residencies I have undertaken in other parts of the world. Each of the residencies have allowed me time and a working space to rethink what I am making, to expose myself to different cultures and ways of working in that space, and to play with the clay, freed up from one’s normal daily routine.”
Sandra Black lives and works in Fremantle, WA, and studied at the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). She has been exhibiting in solo and invitational shows since 1976 across Australia, as well as overseas including USA, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan. She has undertaken numerous residencies around the world, most recently in Jingdezhen (China) in 2014 and Maihar, Madhya Pradesh (India) in 2015. Her work is widely represented in regional, state, national and international collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Gifhu Prefecture Ceramic Museum, Japan and the Auckland Gallery and Museum.
