Earthwork: December 2022

Exhibiting with John Smith at the beautiful Newstead Arts Hub is a delight. Earthwork celebrates the materiality of earth and the evocation of place through a series of paintings by John Smith juxtaposed with my ceramics. We both use earth as the foundation for our art.

John uses found and gathered materials to inscribe his paintings with the colours and textures of place, each being a map to and an expression of the nature of specific locations. Each painting starts with being in the place, with final refinements happening in the studio.

I combine the techniques of hand-building and throwing to create forms, surfaces and textures that engage with places or stories. Often I work with multiple forms creating a series of pieces to express relationships or add to the potency of an idea. In Earthwork I have included two pieces from 2008 – Falling to Earth and Gorges & Gaps, new work in the series Nurturing Lands and Rain Series, as well as a new suite of handbuilt bowls and vessels. This exhibition relates to the colour, land and stories of central Australia and our flinty goldfields region.