16 February - 6 March 2006
about the exhibition
Fiona Hiscock is interested in the way we use and interact with domestic objects. Our sense of occasion can be enriched by the presence of these objects, and they in turn stand as silent witness to the mundane and the celebratory as we live our lives around them. Fiona makes her pots by slowly coiling them, allowing the hand to familiarise itself with the evolving shape of the vessel, and creating enough space for her to contemplate the work as it emerges. The over-scaled forms are loosely based on simple utilitarian objects, such as robust colonial pitchers and mixing bowls. It is the bold celebration of colourful decoration that typifies her jugs, pitchers and cassoulets. “My recent work responds to an increasing interest in botanical illustration and referencing it as a source of decoration for the vessels. My current working method is to select plants of either a symbolic or personal significance and prepare watercolour paintings on paper. I then transfer the image by building up layers of ceramic stain similar to the watercolour process. Two recent residencies at Hill End were very useful for identifying plants from early colonial gardens and producing drawings of certain species. An unfolding leaf or flower seems very indicative of our struggle to live purposely in this world, and the various stages of a plant’s development provide an unending source of delight and consideration.”
Born in Melbourne in 1965, Fiona completed her training at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the early 1990s. She has been exhibiting consistently since 1991 and her work is represented in the collections of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Queensland University of Technology, Deakin University and the Shepparton Regional Art Gallery. This is Fiona Hiscock’s third solo exhibition at Beaver Galleries.
