27th Gold Coast International
CERAMIC ART AWARD

AND THE WINNER IS


PETER COOLEY
Lives and works in the Blue Mountains, NSW
Tree with busted guts and galahs 2010
earthenware with underglaze and engobe decoration
50 x 63 x 30cm

This years judge Stephen Benwell commented that the piece works from all sides, as a sculpture should do. Placing two galahs facing away from each other invites the viewer to circle around the work. Similarly, the gaping tree trunk opens and closes as it is circumnavigated. From the Meissen porcelain of Saxony to the Depression era koalas and parrots of anonymous craftsperson’s in Australia, the tradition of animals and birds in ceramics has inspired Cooley’s Tree, bringing this art-historical context into a contemporary light.

Benwell said that the scale, vivid colour and apparent delight in handling clay, while often demonstrated in other works, were just that little bit more generous in Cooley’s piece.

“I had a moment, barely perceptible, when I stifled a gasp of pleasure. I had wondered how I would be able to choose one work from a field that I knew from selecting the show was outstanding. On my way to the exhibition I thought that the winning work should hit me suddenly without me thinking about it. And that is what Cooley’s work did – it ‘busted my guts’, briefly maybe but enough to single it out”.

Benwell said the exhibition reaches for all the possibilities of the ceramic medium – and consistently comes up with the goods. Classic pots thrown and glazed to perfection, gutsy sculptures of vibrant colour, philosophical reflection on the state of planet earth, revealing insights into social history, atmospheric surfaces and visceral materiality, the ceramic arts are on display here, offering an overview of what the medium of clay may achieve.

Benwell also singled out a mention for:

L to R: Kirsten Coelho – Oil can, tea can;  John Rigby – Bushtucker Toyota Dreaming;  Gerry Wedd – Wahine urn;  Greg Daly – First light;  Chih-Chi Hsu – A dwelling in infinite brightness