Skyways

Join contemporary Australian ceramic artist and Churchill Fellow, Shannon Garson to premiere a new body of porcelain, drawings and immersive exhibition exploring migratory bird patterns, clouds and sky. “Skyways” is a play on the word “flyway” a flight path used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering quarters. Shannon draws together patterns created through bird migration, the cloud studies of John Constable which are still used by meteorologists to study weather patterns, star maps and nephology, the science of clouds, to create a body of work that combines her signature finely thrown porcelain forms with masterful drawings that sweep across the three dimensional surfaces drawing the viewer into her singular vision.

Garson is an Australian ceramic artist, writer and curator with a studio practice spanning 25 years that includes commissions for festivals, exhibitions at public and private galleries, and writing and arts advocacy. Shannon’s practice encompasses thrown porcelain vessels, drawings, painting, public art and performance, she works primarily with Australian porcelain and drawings.

“I want the surface of the ceramics to be part of the drawing, not just a surface for the drawing to sit on. I want the whole pot to be experienced, from the weight of it as you pick it up, the texture, the drawing, colour, smoothness of the glaze, all the elements draw the  viewer into experiencing the vessel.”

Enduring themes within Garson’s practice investigate the relationship between human activity and the infinite variety of striations, spots, and marks found in nature. Garson‘s interest in endangered ecosystems has led her to make work about wallum swamps, the sclerophyll forest of South East Qld, endangered (and beautifully common!) birds and the fungi of the sub-tropical rainforest.