Mildura Pottery Group

Mildura Pottery Group

Mildura Pottery Club was formed to continue conducting classes in pottery when MADEC was going to close their Deakin Ave Studio about 10 years ago. Knowing there were many students who wanted to continue to learn the finer art of creating with clay we took over the running of the studio. (Unfortunately this studio was demolished late last year to make way for a swimming pool for the special school)

After school kid’s classes are very popular with children ranging in age from 7 – 18. They experiment with wheel throwing and hand building and all classed are lots of fun with kids inspiring each other and sharing creative ideas.

Adult members meet every Wednesday evening and they too experiment with wheel throwing and hand building. This ancient art has a place in the modern world and the continuous stream of students confirms this.

Artists Statement

Cow and calf. Jayne Bawden

This work was created in response to our new temporary studio which is in a rural setting. The open doorway looks out on to a paddock of cows and calves, geese, kookaburras and wild ducks. It has been hard not to be inspired by this new environment and many pots have featured the surrounding wildlife both physically and decoratively.

“Cow and calf” is created from a parcel or a pocket of clay and pushed into its final shape with the calf attached from a small separate piece of clay.

Made from stoneware clay this piece is glazed using tomato red and wax resist. This would make a great paperweight for a beef farmer.

Jane Bawden

One lump or two

I am a local artist/potter/sculptor/gardener/soil maker/ hill builder.

Born in Ouyen, raised in Mildura, I was lucky to go to Mildura Tech school in the late 70’s. It was an inspiring place to be with a fantastic group of creative students and an equally inspiring group of teachers who were working towards a new facility (TAFE)

I graduated from Ballarat CAE in 1984 with a Diploma of Fine Art, returning to Mildura and finding employment with the Mildura Rural City Council as a member of the Mall team. This job gave me amazing opportunities for creating some public art work and whilst none of it survives to date the experience was to influence my artistic direction for the next few years. During this time I shared a studio with a New Zealand, Artist Robyn Gibson, who was living and working in Mildura at that time.

Struggling to find somewhere to exhibit our work we created an Artist’s collective and with the help of a band of local artists we created a gallery called “Available space” where we held many successful exhibitions. The space was donated by a fabulous patron and was available to us up until he sold his business. Unfortunately the new owner was not interested in the Arts and the gallery space was reclaimed. The party was officially over. Robyn returned to New Zealand and I went back to University.

1992 I started teaching pottery at MADEC, a job which I still do today, teaching both children and adults to make and shape clay into all sorts of things.

I have worked as an Art and Drama teacher in several schools around the district, Chaffey SC, Irymple SC and Irymple South Primary school and I am currently working at TAFE teaching sculpture.

For more information and news visit
jbflowersandveg.blogspot.com

Colin Straub

Gardens of my dreams

Horticulture has been a lifelong passion and floral design has become a large part of that creative journey.

The journey has taken me to many parts of the world ,exposing me to the influences of some of the world’s most beautiful gardens, galleries and access to meet and work with many of the most respected floral designers in the world today, these many influences have led to the creation of this piece.

Normally I would work with a range of fresh plant material and various structural elements, but the restrictions of the White Cube forced me to challenge and redirect my thoughts to create a structure of wire and incorporate dried, but more familier, organic materials. The metal curls create a surrealist tree form covered with rose petals from last spring ,seed heads encased in silver wire cocoon and stylised foliage created from dried reeds.

The composition incorporates fragile floral elements that never cease to surprise me with their versatility, form and beautiful textural contrasts, even in a preserved state. The metallic linear structure contrasts with the floral elements and remind me of the work of Dali and Massou , creating a dreamlike image of an imagined landscape.

About the artist.

Colin Straub has been interested in ornamental horticulture his entire life and the natural progression to floral design enables him to express himself creatively with a very familiar, but fragile and often short lived, medium .

At present Colin is in an education management role but taught floral design and horticulture at a large metropolitan institute for many years, designing and presenting workshops and demonstrations throughout Australia and in Europe, Asia and the United States. He is a qualified floral design judge and has been involved as the senior judge at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and various shows throughout the world .He is a recipient of an International Specialist Skills Institute fellowship which allowed him to further develop his design skills in Europe.

Colin is also interested in various other visual arts mediums and has exhibited works in oil at a number of solo and group shows and is represented in the Bendigo Art Gallery collection and private collections in Australia.

His other passion is ceramic design, because of the tactile qualities of clay and the limitless potential of the various clay types and firing methods. Colin has been able to throw and hand build a range of containers that enables him to further explore his floral design ideas .The decoration of the pots allows him to experiment with images, glazes and finishes that are largely unpredictable until the kiln door is opened.

Colin’s White Cube installation is his first exploration of a sculptural design without a major botanical focus and the first time he has exhibited in the Mildura region.