‘Water Vessel, with Ancient Text’

stoneware ceramic with glaze

43 x 31 x 23 cm, 2023

The vessel is a container, for collection and enclosure. A holder of liquid its shape expresses a

fluidity of form. This work is suggestive of a body, and an emblematic representation of water. It acknowledges the significance and ecological importance of water as an elemental life force.

Hand-built coiled stoneware clay and water, with its surface embedded with layers of alchemic glaze, is inscribed with a ancient text or musical language. Echoing forms of antiquity and referencing ancient calligraphic signs, the painterly marks fuse and float within the ceramic surface. It Implies a language to be understood or deciphered with the increasing need for water security; clean water, the preservation, allocation and the increasing need to understand and work with at times is a scarce resource. The water vessel standing quietly and humbly on its own is a testament to this essential source, the giver of life, water.

The Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Award runs from 7th August - 20th September, 2026