ARTISANS IN THE GARDENS

from Issue 142, Spring 2024

Travel with Friends

DISCOVER THE WONDERS OF ARTISANS 2024: FROM MICROBES TO MASTERPIECES. SUE WANNAN REPORTS.

Fine art made with microbes and earthworms. An ordinary bloke staring at a computer. An upcycled wine bottle. Ceramic techniques drawn from thousand-year-old traditions. Rusty nails and bone fragments. Seaweed creatively reimagined. Welcome to Artisans 2024 – an exhibition featuring 42 artists, both old favourites and new faces, showcasing work in sculpture, ceramics, feltwork, paper art, glassware, jewellery and textiles. From elegant scarves, tea towels and cards to dynamic outdoor sculptures, Artisans 2024 promises a rich trove of wonder and delight.

Meet Samantha Jade, a Master of Fine Arts from the National Art School, who graduated in 2024 as Dux with a near sell-out exhibition. Her work, acquired by the National Art School archive and the City of Sydney, is a testament to her unique approach. Jade is a photographic artist whose work is created not only in the garden but with the garden. She buries film, waits for the compost to do the developing, then produces fine art prints from the result. Her work ponders the often overlooked wonder of the garden and all its inhabitants, from pollinators to microbes and everything in between.

She is also exhibiting a sculpture of a hollyhock with a silver Euploea core (common crow butterfly) pupa hanging from the tip. The sculpture, made from cultured mycelium, incorporates silver extracted from photographic chemicals. ‘The sculpture is intended to eventually be composted and reintegrated into the garden as nutrients, while the butterfly pupa remains a valuable solid silver relic. This flips perceived notions of value; a prized flower decays while a “pest” becomes a prized artwork,’ Jade explains.

Another young artist gaining international attention is Jessica Murtagh. Using sand carving and engraving techniques, she creates narratives on glass, drawing inspiration from classical artefacts but infusing them with contemporary themes. Imagine an ancient Athenian woman staring at a computer screen, or a modern bar scene depicted in classical Greek style. Murtagh’s work questions what our contemporary culture will leave behind, reflecting on how artefacts made of stone, ceramic and glass allow us glimpses into ancient lives.

Artisans curator Libby Wright notes a significant trend towards using found objects and recycling. The trend has exploded this year, bringing exciting and challenging new techniques to the exhibition. Tanya Reinli, founder of , transforms glass bottles once destined for landfill into tumblers, tableware, vases and ‘eco pours’. Upcycled Glassware’s teardrop vases have a 3D-printed outer sleeve with an upcycled bottle insert, using polylactic acid – a polymer made from renewable resources.

Ben Carroll (Made by Ben) is another remarkable creator who uses found materials. Over his life, Carroll has collected an enormous amount of remnant timber from jetties, old fishing boats, bridges, sheds and fence posts. He has chosen a simple form, the sphere, to display the colour and texture of his beloved wood. Carroll is sending six of his works to Artisans, ranging from large 300 kg spheres to smaller 40 kg versions. ‘Old materials have another unique property: soul. If I handle them properly then maybe that soul will show through,’ Ben says.

Owen Crick, a Pittwater-based artist, also uses repurposed material from local shipwrights, flotsam washed up on shore and found objects. Crick draws inspiration from his Indigenous background and horticultural practices to create quirky, aquaticthemed sculptural forms. ‘With rusty nails, bone fragments, verdigriscovered copper and twisted driftwood, each creature is unique in its construction and personality,’ Crick explains.

Some exhibitors at this year’s Artisans have international reputations, and Libby Wright and her team are justifiably proud of their inclusion. Katherine Boland ’s climate-changerelated works have featured in numerous international art exhibitions. Last year, Prime Minister Albanese gifted one of her works to President Biden during his official visit to Washington, DC. ‘For over 30 years, I’ve been making art about the beauty and mystery of the natural world. Since 2019 – 2020, I’ve been compelled to make art, often with fire itself, to raise awareness about the ecological perils facing the planet,’ Boland says. Boland’s work, including Aquarium II, blends photographs of seaweed foraged during a sargassum bloom with digital images crafted through artificial intelligence, bridging the gap between organic and digital realms.

Another international artist to look for is sculptural ceramicist Amy Kennedy. Her extraordinary work of leaf-thin delicacy is made with a unique clay/glaze material she developed that, when fired, hovers on the edge of melting. ‘I aspire to create work that brings forth a sense of wonder,’ Kennedy says.

Artisans 2024 will be open from Saturday 26 October until Sunday 3 November, at Lion Gate Lodge. Entry is free, and there will be a cafe on-site every day, offering lunch, tea, coffee and sweet treats.

From wonder, we move to sheer joy with Gabby Malpas, who paints detailed watercolours of flora and fauna, imbued with symbolism and a touch of fantasy. Malpas, a Chinese adoptee raised in New Zealand, fuses Western and Chinese styles in her work. ‘There’s a dash of botanical art thrown in too. But mostly, my work is about joy. If my images put a smile on people’s faces, then I consider it a job well done,’ she says.

That’s only eight of the 43 artists exhibiting at Artisans 2024. There are so many wondrous things to discover. From the exquisite, richly glazed ceramic totems of Sharon McEachern, to the massive sculptures of ironmonger Richard Moffatt, whose works you may have seen in the National Arboretum in Canberra. Moffatt’s wedgetail eagle on its nest and huge metal ball near Cooma airport are only two examples of his creations made from welded steel and abandoned farm machinery.

The exhibition also features everpopular birds, ranging from delightful little bird jugs by Dawn Oakford to Wendy Cummins’ felt wall hangings, which she describes as ‘drawing with wool’. Jenny Wiggins’ birds on a stick are predicted to be a big hit.

In jewellery and textiles, this year’s lineup includes Anja Jagsch with her delicate botanical earrings, high-end contemporary jeweller Tracy Hopkirk, contemporary jeweller Daria Fox with her fascination for ‘amulets and talismans’, and textile artist Rae Harvey, who uses recycled fabrics, especially vintage Japanese kimonos.

Artist statement: Sharon

McEachern

Lived experiences and memories inform people’s beliefs and ideologies. I am interested in how the experiences of daily life shape us and create memories conjuring nostalgic thoughts. Scents, sounds and visuals deliver an essence of the past.

Nostalgia, coupled with an admiration and concern for native flora, informs my art practice. My detailed hand-built ceramic forms are inspired by the complexities of the natural environment, combined with deliberately recreated glaze finishes adopted from old decorative Japanese crockery, traditional blue and white ware, and English fine china. Through my works, the audience is free to morph their own memories into new and imagined ones: they are forced to question what is real and what is not.

My exploration of ceramics and research of the history of ceramic decoration and building techniques, has taken me to the historically rich city of Jingdezhen, China, the heart of fine porcelain production by master craftsmen for over a thousand years. Joining an artist residency in 2017, 2018 and 2019, I have had access to the great ceramic and porcelain masters who taught ancient and modern technical skills, many of which have been handed down over hundreds of generations. Most recently, I have taken part in a ceramic residency and workshop in St Raphael, France, with Canadian artist Carol Gouthro. These experiences continue to influence and inspire my practice.

Sharon McEachern’s intricate ceramic works are featured on the cover of this issue, capturing the beauty and complexity of her unique artistic journey.