Images by artist and photographer Darius Michael @meltedtape
The feelings that are evoked during long sojourns along neighbourhood walking paths towards the southern bayside in Melbourne have been imbued in my psyche. The constancy and transitional space entered is a haven rich with undiscovered aspects of the Self through breath and wonder of the fragile life - opportunities to continue a search towards a mystical and evasive truth - to feel the essence deep within.
Series “ The Liquid Sound Realm “ 2020.
Southern Ice Paper Clay, Glaze by artist “ Blue Waves of Sounds “, Image: Rachel Main @shuttermain Instagram.
Listening to music of choice during my year long artist in residence at the Kingston Ceramics Art Studio offered space to deliver creative ventures from an intuitive source. Intentions are directed by the sound waves internalised and the emotive states experienced during what seems to be periods of timelessness. The act of creating mood forms is not just rewarding but a joint venture where clay is not controlled but given a voice to move with my dancing fingers. The driving force and magical worlds ignite the connection with the Unseen & Unseeable. These musical imaginative sojourns fill the corporeal state with renewed vigour through the depth of new breath. Leading me into deeper levels of inner understanding and pathways to the spirit of One.
When emotions are heightened and the experience of creating reaches another platform, we are sometimes confronted with the whispering of another dimension. Mysticism and it’s fluttering highlights a brief encounter with intimacy, graciousness and belonging. Layered clay sculptures carved from the intense compression and release of the underlying feelings.
The discovery of Max Richter’s reimagined composition of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ established a direct connection with deep emotions - some that were pulling at me so strongly that l became lost in multiple worlds of intensity and ambivalence. These pieces hold the concurrent struggles with personal relationships and the ability to resolve strong emotions through the discovery of accepting the richness of the moment and relinquishing it’s assumed control.
My attempts to capture the essence of the feelings evoked when listening to specific music is transmitted in these early works. The sways and pulls, the tension and comfort amongst a plethora of emotion direct the outcome of the unfolding form. Appearing similar to the tube between two worlds l am continuing to delve into the musical portals now so commonly sought in this existence.
The fluidity along with the glossy finish of these amorphous forms, captures the maker’s quest. A yearning to incorporate tranquility and calmness away from the noisy commotion of Melbourne’s transformative expansive landscape.
This inner world of solace and quietude is a blissful state to create a new found freedom and ultimately leads me to reconnect with the natural world. A momentary glance at local bright coloured rosellas and the sound of the native kookaburras while working with clay offers more than one realises. A transcendence into other possible exciting spaces to experience. These forms are those momentary experiences in short breaths of life.
Threaded is a series of small sculptural clay pieces. It presents an intense collection of weaved motions of sound, embedded in clay through a personal transmission of musical energy. The intensity of the music experienced, along with the suppleness of the clay meet at a cross road of emotive quests, suspenseful states, and, continual desire to seek more of the above.
In Fantasies of flights, inspirations from the Mountain bluebird are captured within the porcelain clay body and rich satin matte blue glaze. The subjective tokens of flying and music are united in a dance of small imaginative yet abstract pieces. Exploring the inner surge of music and it’s intoxicating veil of emotions, these delightful nuances are a pleasurable result.
In the Greek mythological story of Icarus and his father l found myself exploring the options of firing other materials. Along with capturing the imagery of clipped wings and pursuits of flying in porcelain clay, l wanted to evoke the eventual demise by firing steel with blue glass. It is a reflection on the metaphor of finding the balance between taking risks and steering too far from the truth. Freedom and death are not as distant as believed. The beauty however, lies somewhere between.
Inner quests reveals the journey over the last three years and the collection of perspectives enhancing my art practice. How l interact with my surroundings inevitably permeated my work whether through a conscious actualisation or the autonomous projection of absorbed energies through time and space. This archive l wish to share. It’s importance is just as significant as the final creations. l have included photographs of Melbourne, Paintings and drawings and small ceramic experiments that sit close to my affections.
My attempts to capture the essence of the feelings evoked when listening to specific music is transmitted in these early works. The sways and pulls, the tension and comfort amongst a plethora of emotion direct the outcome of the form unfolding. Appearing similar to the tube between two worlds l am continuing to delve into the musical portals now so commonly sought in this existence.