16 July 2021 - 19 September 2021
Anne Mossman Eucalypt Study III 2019 coloured porcelain, dimensions variable
Beauty & Awe is an exhibition of ceramic vessels made in response to artist Anne Mossman’s immediate environment around her home in the Gold Coast hinterland. For this exhibition, Mossman has drawn inspiration from the disparate colours and tones of the eucalypt tree trunks – observing the bark as it peels off in sheaths to reveal nude-like patches of new ‘skin’, which is invariably smooth and lighter-coloured than other parts of the bark. During the recent bushfire season Mossman began to see as much terror as beauty in her large eucalypts. Seeing the potential treacherous nature of her home, her palette moved to also include more reds, blacks and oranges and, with this, an increasing sense of movement and chaos. The artist has also drawn inspiration from the movement of light and shadows that are evident in her garden of bromeliads, created by the passing of breezes and clouds. She has cut and rearranged patterns to create vessels of fiery reds, oranges, yellows and greens. Mossman uses coloured porcelain in the nerikomi technique, where porcelain is stained, layered and manipulated to form variously striated blocks of clay. The blocks are subsequently sliced and rearranged to form vessels. A Tweed Regional Gallery initiative. An outcome of the Community Access Exhibitions Program.