Exhibition - Offering - 2 April – 11 May 2024

OFFERING is an exhibition of works by ceramics artists Luke Atkinson, Antoinette O’Brien and Wally McGregor curated by Lismore Regional Gallery [LGR]. These works are a meditation on friendship and gratitude, and an act of healing through creative endeavour. In 2023 the artists spent time together on a residency at The Corridor Project (TCP), a beautiful rural property on Wiradjuri Country near Cowra. The residency, offered by Lismore Regional Gallery and TCP enabled solace, reflection, a deepened support network with fellow artists, and, crucially, a space to prioritise art in the aftermath of the Lismore floods. The Corridor Project Creative Producer was invited by LRG to facilitate a floor talk between Luke, Antoinette and Wally reflecting on their AiR experience. Go HERE to review their residency and others in 2023. Read the artist statements below to understand their process and outcome.

ARTIST STATEMENTS

LUKE ATKINSON

My body of work focuses on decorative and non-functional bowl inspired vessels which are all wheel-thrown from stoneware clay and decorated with coloured slips and oxides, of which the colour palette is derived from the landscape around me. Bowls and their use, have a long and powerful history of symbolism across many cultures, which can include hope and prosperity, abundance and purification as well as a strong connection to ancient spiritual belief systems.

 My exploration of making these vessels began with the joy of making them, an emotion that helped me to reconnect with my craft after the catastrophic floods of 2022. I slowed down my making process and dedicated a lot more time to refining each shape, compressing and shaping the clay body, often working without a final shape in mind, and simply allowing the vessel to appear without expectation.

These vessels are made as purely decorative, almost sculptural in intent and are not for everyday use. I wanted these vessels to be elevated above the domestic usage of a functional bowl and looked at as ritualistic pieces, revered for their beauty. Some are inspired from various bowls used in ceremonies, for instance, the Buddhist Alms Bowl, used to receive offerings from both spiritual and human beings. While these bowls are empty, I have experimented with various surface decorating techniques with the hope of highlighting each piece’s interior, encouraging the viewer to look into these bowls and to see ‘something’. In some I have placed rings of colour, continuous, unbroken lines that offer up a meditative calmness. In others, the interior is a void of darkness that is encased in an intense, brightly coloured exterior, symbolising hope and potential after such adversity.

There are two distinct colour palettes in this body of work; dry, textured, earthy tones and lush, soft greens and greys. The earthy tones are a reflection of the rugged, rock-strewn landscape of Wyangala, the land of the Wiradjuri people where we spent ten days on residency, and the softer, greener tones are inspired by the view from our Northern Rivers home, looking through the lush valleys of Lismore to the horizons of the rich fertile lands of the Bundjalung nation.

ANTOINETTE O’BRIEN

This collection of works have been made in the year since the residency at the CORRIDOR project at Cowra. The residency marked a turning point in the creative process in the aftermath of the flood. It was like a buoyant life-vest, nurturing and nourishing through human support, and support from the unique environment of Cowra.

I have soothed myself by transforming clay into the forms of people and places, and indulged in the celebration of glaze in bringing these works to resolution. I have collaborated, and worked alone. I have collected algae and flood water, cast skulls from ice and built rafts. Rather than obscuring aspects of self, the masks in this exhibition can be seen as enabling the expression of Self or Other, to see more not show less.

I was awarded the opportunity to visit and witness the braided river in Ōtautahi, and the land where houses had been cleared after the earthquakes in Christchurch over 10 years ago. In Aotearoa New Zealand I set an ice boat afloat (with the help of artist Erica KiKi) on waterways that run clear, as clear as this river in Lismore also ran as little as 40 years ago. My son Strummer and I have inspected the micro water animals with Richmond River Keeper, planted riverside trees and very recently I constructed a series of art rafts to acknowledge the river and to commemorate the second floodiversary. All these experiences inform this body of work.

The engagement with community in launching and experiencing the rafts was significant. The flaming ring of fire art raft highlights the challenges people faced after the flood. Many say the administrative response to the flood was harder to deal with than the flood itself and that it would be easier (and more fun) to jump through a flaming ring of fire than to navigate the obstacles they faced from insurance companies, and from the government implemented response. I have fought to keep my sons and I in our house, and contested the damaging process of eviction when buy-back houses were forcibly vacated, boarded up and left empty.

The most poetic aspect of the work art raft was experienced when it was launched. Cathie and I suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the river working intimately together, communicating with consideration, harmony, respect, love and trust, to balance each other, and move into a sitting position to light the fire. The video work afloat documents a subsequent launch, where two participants paddle backwards fiercely to keep the raft in tow. Kezia, Rebecca, Phoebe, Luke, Wally, and Fiona, were like the first art raft vessel, that kept me afloat and propelled me forward.

WALLY MCGREGOR

These works explore memory and thought as structure, and the creation of a sanctity, or reverence, around a particular memory or idea. Within the aesthetics are traces of heavy metal imagery, futuristic motifs reminiscent of alien spacecraft, and echoes of iconic sites like Stonehenge.

With the burgeoning prevalence of virtual existence and perpetuated myth of infinite economic growth, I discern a growing societal inclination towards re-engaging with the tangible, finite realm of materiality. My artwork reflects an acknowledgment of our corporeal entrenchment within a finite material world. Paradoxically, amidst our quest for external perpetuity, we often overlook the infinite expanse of imagination that resides within each individual.

I find beauty in forging a symbolic bridge between external and internal worlds, wherein material artifacts serve as conduits for the expression of deeply entrenched psychological or spiritual phenomena. In this synthesis of the tangible and the intangible, I aspire to create a potential for fostering connections and a deeper understanding of the human experience.

Image credit - Lismore Regional Gallery and The Corridor Project