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26th
Gold Coast International
CERAMIC ART
AWARD
AND THE WINNER IS

SIMCHA EVEN-CHEN
Lives and works in Rehovot, Israel
Illusion 2008
stoneware and porcelain
17 x 80 x 40cm
The Judge for this year’s award, master Australian artist, Marea
Gazzard has chosen Israeli artist, Simcha Even-Chen
as the winner of the $10,000 acquisitive prize for her work
comprising three separate elements in stoneware and porcelain
entitled Illusion.
Marea commented
- “ There is an indefinable quality to this work - it
appears heavy and solid yet is so light, it bears the marks of a
precise grid yet has softness and irregularity
- I found myself being drawn back to it “
Simcha Even-Chen, an Israeli clay artist who lives in Rehovot,
Israel was delighted to receive the award. She has the unusual
educational background of a combination of a PhD in Human
Microbiology and studies in ceramics and since 1996, has run an
active ceramic studio in parallel to her position as a Senior
Scientist at the Medical School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Her scientific background informs her work in ceramics, and
the grid design used in this piece is borrowed from the graphic
millimeteric sheets that were used in presenting scientific
results.
She has recently participated in a number of international
exhibitions, including the 8th Biennale de Ceramica in Manises
Valencia, CERCO Aragon 2007 as well as the Sidney Myer Fund
International Ceramic Award at Shepparton Regional Art Gallery and
received a Honourable Mention at the 4th World Ceramic Biennale in
Korea last year. She uses an unpredictable firing technique,
which she describes as "Naked Raku"
Marea continued to comment
“ This exhibition is truly international
- and is a major undertaking for a Regional Gallery to host
and run. 288 ceramicists have entered and I viewed over 600 images.
They reflect the fact that ceramics is a global art form. Of those
only 50 were selected and all exhibit a high standard with good
craftsmanship. The
exhibition also presents a wonderful opportunity to make a purchase
for your own collections at home”
other acquisitions for the collection are:
 
Ray Cavill, Summer 2007
Ray
Cavill lives at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast and his large
platter- shaped work evokes the blistering heat and red rawness of
summer in Queensland. Wood-firing the shino glaze has the
potential for unpredictable alchemic reactions, crackles, pinholes
and crazes and Cavill has created a variety of surface tones and
textures on this piece.
Marea Gazzard commented ‘ The work is strong – it commands
respect’
Although the work is made using this very traditional method of shino
firing, which was first developed in Japan in the 16th
Century and revived over the last 50 years by individual ceramic
artists, Cavills’ own use of the technique is layered with a
strong contemporary concern for reducing his own green house gas
emissions - he
points out;
‘ The fuel (wood) used to fire this work
has contributed significantly less green house gases that the
equivalent electricity or gas. Despite this and many other reasons
to wood-fire, the use of considered design, materials techniques and
tools will be an important progression in the development of this
process for the method to survive.
 
Neville French, Winter vessel 2007
Marea Gazzard commented
- “ There is purity to this work, strength and a compelling
presence.
The
softly altered wheel thrown vessel references the artists’ home
landscape of northern Victoria
- you can almost feel the moist chill in the air and see the
horizon line of fields bathed in mist, an effect created by the
subtle layering of glazes that French has patiently built up over
the surface.
He writes, “The big domed skies and the undulating
grasslands of rural Victoria are my inspiration.
They reflect the colour and light of the seasons, weather and
time.”
French also seeks to evoke a more universal transcendent quality
to his works and it is this element that Gazzard has responded to in
selecting the work.
Born in Victoria in 1955, Neville has been a teacher of ceramics
since 1982 at the Arts Academy University of Ballarat. He completed
a MA in Ceramics at RMIT in 2000. His works are held in a number of
State and Regional Public Gallery Collections in Australia as well
as International public and private collections.
 
Kim - Ahn Nguyen, Spinifex 2 2008
The
Friends of the Gold Coast Arts Centre have generously given the
funds for the acquisition of a work for the collection. The work was
selected by Marea Gazzard and the artist was thrilled to be present
at the announcement which was made by Paul Fitzgerald, President of
the Friends.
Marea Gazzard commented “
This is an exquisite work that has great delicacy and lightness –
made of paper clay; each small spike is rolled between the fingers.
Kim
fled to Australia as a refugee with her parents from Vietnam as a
young child. She connects her own displacement with that of the
Spinifex people of the Western and central desert regions of
Australia who were also moved from their traditional lands during
atomic testing in the 1950s. She has travelled extensively in this
remote desert country and wanted to find a way to express both her
own life story and this landscape and the tough spiky spinifex grass
that thrives in those harsh conditions.
Like
the overall winner, Simcha
Even Chen, Kim has a degree in Microbiology and has worked in this
field for some time and only recently completed her studies in
ceramics at Hornsby Tafe while her children were small.
 
John Mawhinney, Evolution 2 2008
Gold
Coast City Art Gallery is also delighted to receive a donation
from the Award's Founder and Patron Ruth Lyons,
who has given the funds for the gallery to acquire the work
by John Mawhinney for the collection
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