Strathnairn Arts Anita McIntyre for Ceramics
Residency & Exhibition Award 2015

Sue Hewat

Artist Statement for Strathnairn Arts EASS 2015

I am a Canberra based ceramic artist and a recent graduate from the Australian National University.  I hold a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours).  My major work was completed within the ceramics workshop of the ANU School of Art. My Honours practice-led research was an investigation into how I could use ceramic materials and techniques to represent the hybrid nature of the intertidal zone of the Australian beach. I am drawn to the layers, lines, threads and traces that weave and connect, outline and define place.

As the recipient of the Strathnairn Arts - Anita McIntyre Award for Ceramics, Residency and Exhibition Award I have had the use of a studio at Strathnairn Arts that is situated in an idyllic location enveloped by an ever changing mountainous environment. This three month residency has been an opportunity for me to explore the visual links between the seascape and the mountain scape. I have had time to consider how an intuitive palette of colours, textures, lines and shapes could all contribute to an artistic representation of this landscape.

Monoprinting, a traditional print based method translated into a ceramic genre, has become my primary vehicle to combine and build colour, pattern and texture.  A love of wheel throwing has enabled me to make ceramic forms that metaphorically represent the essence of the mountain scape.  By integrating these processes I have created an abstract impression of the varying moods of the surrounding environment at Strathnairn.

ANU School of Art & Design Graduation Exhibition Catalogue 2015