Upcoming meetings and events
December meeting
The theme for our Christmas supper ‘show and tell’ will be ‘Celebratory Comestibles’, with a focus on the artifacts and objects that accompany all sorts of festive foods.
February 2025 meeting
In February Circle President Genine Wallinga will speak on ‘Staffordshire Treasure: visiting the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent’.
Staffordshire was the heart of the English pottery industry and this museum is, in her opinion, the English pottery centre of the universe. It has a comprehensive collection that goes back to the Bronze age. She will take you on a tour of some of its highlights, including the pots of the Beaker people, early glass, ecclesiastical tiles, tea wares, sculpture and pottery dialogues across the world.
March Annual General meeting
Annual General Meeting will be held in March with another ‘show and tell’, and the theme will be ‘All that Glitters is not Gold’.
40th Anniversary celebrations
To celebrate 40 fabulous years, we held a cocktail party at the Lyceum Club. Our guest of honour was the noted philanthropist Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM. As well as speaking to us, Krystyna launched the Ceramics and Glass Circle of Australia grant in honour of Patricia Begg OAM. Chris Begg awarded the inaugural grant.
Amanda Dunsmore and Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM
Circle Secretary, Chris Begg and the inaugural scholarship winner, Victoria Lynagh
Out and about
NGV; Collections area, Australian ceramics
Explore the NGV's online Australian ceramics collection (750 digital records ) using this link here
SASSY PARK: I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN SUNSHINE
At the Ballarat Art Gallery, 40 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat
Sassy Park plays with the history of domestic
ceramics exploring ideas of vulnerability and
fragility through scale, intimacy and humour. The
ceramic surface becomes a place for commentary
on which she paints, writes and draws as a way of
memorialising the small stages of life and the
intimacies of the everyday.
https://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/explore/exhibitions/sassy-park-i-have-confidence-in-sunshine
Stephen Bowers: A Conference of Birds.
Internationally acclaimed ceramicist, Stephen Bowers presents a flock of birds across a series of plates, portrayed in bright colours against complex, fragmented backgrounds inspired by designs from ceramics, engravings and textiles. With ornate patterning and inspired by the history of art and design, these works speak to the idea of pattern-in-nature and nature-in-pattern and reflect on the tensions of humanity’s appropriation of the natural world for our own use, the fragments representing this broken relationship.
Mark Thompson: sine qua non. Mark Thompson, one of Australia’s leading set and costume designers in addition to being a painter and ceramic artist, showcases ornate patterning in his work, inspired by the history of art and design within his own unique style. In this current exhibition, Thompson utilises the sculptural form of the bust for many of his fantastical works, with decorative elements and characteristic theatrical flourish.
Stephen Bowers and Mark Thompson – Lauraine Diggins Fine Art