These pieces are the result of a two week expedition to Fowlers Gap, a UNSW research station 90 minutes north of Broken Hill. Spending time in this very rocky, semi-arid desert zone has changed aspects of my work. I have always had an affinity with the land, having spent my childhood on a farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, however, the geology and vastness of this recent exploration has brought a more organic resolve to this work.
My interest in the collision between man and nature continues. All working farms have a junk pile of old water tanks, machinery parts and odd bits of farm detritus that might just come in useful one day, so stepping into this environment at Fowlers Gap was in some ways quite familiar. I was intrigued to see twisted metal iron from a water tank wrapped around a tree trunk in the dry creek bed behind the main farmhouse. It is a reminder of the power of nature.
Courtesy of Stella Downer Fine Art
Merran Esson is the Head of Ceramics at The National Art School in Sydney, and was the Chair of the organising committee of the Australian Ceramics Triennale, July 2009.
She was awarded Austceram Award (1994), Port Hacking Potters Award (2000), NAS Staff Travelling Scholarship (2003), The Gold Coast International Ceramics Award (2005), NAS Paris Studio (2006), Nava Marketing Grant (2006) and Poyntzpass Pioneer Ceramic Award (2008) as part of the Sidney Myer Fund exhibition at the Shepparton Art Gallery.
Esson has exhibited widely in both Australia and overseas including National Gallery of Australia, the Art Galleries of South Australia and Western Australia, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Galerie Rosenhauer in Germany, also Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Pakistan and numerous galleries in Australia. Merran is represented by Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney, and Gaffer Gallery in Hong Kong.
fired ceramics
61 x 49 x 22 cm
Highly Commended; Finalist
Judges of the 2014 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Lisa Havilah (Director of Carriageworks), Justin Miller (International Art Advisor and former Chairman of Sotheby's Australia) and Gretel Packer (Arts Patron and Trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW).
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