ACCOLADES TO PIPPIN DRYSDALE

Unbeknown to Pippin and to mark her 80th birthday, a number of significant curators, collectors and gallerists have generously written the accolades that follow, leaving no doubt of her standing as artist and friend.

The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK:

“Getting to know Pippin as a friend and as a hugely admired artist has been the most exciting aspect of our ceramic life. We were bowled over when we first saw her work nearly 20 years ago and her new work still has that incredible ability to astonish and delight in equal measure. Many of her works have been on display to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Chatsworth every year and they are probably the most popular of all our contemporary additions to the Collections, which span 400 years. Pippin the person and Pippin’s pots are equally wonderful and loveable and we are very lucky to have her in our lives.”

Colin Walker, Director Art Gallery of Western Australia:

“The ceramic forms that emerge from Pippin’s Fremantle studio have an international reach and importance. One of Australia’s most significant artists, she has done so much to convey the complex and fragile beauty of Western Australia’s unique environment. Whether in single objects or in carefully fashioned groups, Pippin’s work opens up not only what it is to look at a landscape but to be fully within it. In this manner, she has been intently focused on making works that match the subtle nuances and rich sophistication of the places she engages with. Her cultivation of a peerless skillset and vision has been, therefore, generously expansive; it is about creating dialogues between the land of her inspiration and the people who will carry forth her concern for it.”

Adrian Sassoon, Director of Adrian Sassoon London:

“Happy Birthday Pippin! We wish we saw more of you and that you saw more of the many sincere admirers of your wonderful work in the UK and USA. Through your remarkable work you send so much pleasure across the world and we adore being a part of delivering that.”

Patti Belletty: Curator, John Curtin Gallery

“Well… what can one say about Pippin Drysdale other than she is a complete FORCE OF NATURE and we have had the absolute pleasure to know and work with many times in the last two decades.

“The John Curtin Gallery has held not one but two major exhibitions of Pippin’s evolving ceramic forms. The first in 2007 ‘Lines of Site’ featuring the full range of her art practice at the time, from the slab works, lustred and other vessels through to the larger closed forms. Then in 2018, she pulled off the unthinkable and (with Warrick’s help and expertise) created the extraordinary, lustred marbles that were truly a vision to behold in a darkened, cavernous exhibition space showcasing over 100 new marbles. Curtin University is proud to have awarded Pippin a welldeserved Honorary Doctorate in 2020 to further cement her status as a Living Treasure.

“Three cheers to you Pippin! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Congratulations to a fabulous Octogenarian. Love from all the staff at the John Curtin Gallery.”

Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator, Powerhouse, Sydney:

“I adore Pippin Drysdale’s gently undulating rocks, they are so caressable. Her vessels take my thoughts to places only rarely visited: each time I encounter Pippin’s exquisitely made pieces, I see miniature floating clouds (or maybe tiny tornadoes?), glowing intensely with those burned yellows, oranges, blues, greens…Their allure is overwhelming. While Pippin’s vessels seem to belong to another world, we know they are born from the artist’s deep respect for the history and unique beauty of the Australian landscape, and that is where their power comes from, that is why these works are so engaging, almost spiritual. I know I’m not alone in my admiration. Pippin’s Breakaway series - Palm Valley, NT was recently on display in the Powerhouse’s ‘Clay Dynasty’ exhibition in Sydney. In this 5-piece work Pippin ‘wanted to create a visual response to the topography of chasms, gorges, gaps and cavities created over millions of years’. I could not resist the pleasure of observing how our visitors were drawn to this small installation in the vast space of the gallery of some 400 objects; most would linger at this showcase, take time to take the work in, and as my gallery colleagues happily testify, often exclaim in delight. Happy Birthday Pippin Drysdale!”

Lisa Cahill, CEO and Artistic Director, Australian Design Centre:

“I am honoured to be asked to write a few words celebrating the magnificent career of Pippin Drysdale. With a masterful passion for her craft and a highly artistic perception of landscape, Pippin creates extraordinary works of sheer beauty in her unique partnership with Warrick Palmateer. In her work Granite Warriors Winborn Rocks Central Desert, currently touring in the Australian Design Centre exhibition SIXTY: The Journal of Australian Ceramics 60th Anniversary 1962–2022, the viewer is transported by forms and colours, capturing the rocky formations and weathered fractures of a unique landform.”

Linton Partington and Gary Kay, Directors, Linton & Kay Galleries:

“Congratulations, Pippin on your wonderful career, you’ve achieved so many high points, always with passion and a rigourous eye to the quality of your art practice. Your warmth and generosity to your friends, colleagues and collectors is legendary. As the decades roll by, you continue to aim for more, to challenge yourself and to tackle new obstacles head on. Happy birthday to our dear, charismatic WA Living Treasure.”