DAVID POTTINGER

My work is an exploration of form through the interplay of colour, tension, rhythm and pattern in porcelain, utilising the ancient technique of Nerikomi. ‘Nerikomi’ (or ‘Neriage’) is a traditional Japanese decorative technique that involves the layering and stacking of coloured clay bodies (porcelain), and then cutting or slicing through the clay to reveal delicate striated patterns. My work is inspired by the palette of nature, the colours of the sky and trees, the water and the earth, the rhythms and shifts of the winds as the seasons changing from winter to spring. This work is also suggestive of the paradox of nature: constantly shifting, moving, growing and dying and yet remaining complete and whole.

Born Queensland. Initial training, Kelvin Grove College, Associate Diploma in Ceramics 1987. Career highlights: completion of Masters of VIsual Arts, RMIT; representation at Collect 2008, Victoria Albert Museum and Sofa 2007, Chicago. Exhibitions include: over 12 solo exhibitions and over 34 invitational group exhibitions, most recently, Containment: 2012 Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award, NGV Melbourne; Korea 2013; Important Exhibition of Australian Ceramics: A Tribute to Janet Mansfield, Mossgreen Gallery Melbourne 2014. Awards and Grants include: Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Development, 2006 & 2008; Siemens Fine Arts, Scholarship Award, 2001; Sidney Myer Fund, International Ceramics Award, 1997. Collections include: Victorian and Albert Museum Ceramic Collection, London; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Featured in national and international Ceramic Art publications including: Ceramics Art Today, Jeff Snyder; Contemporary Ceramics, Emmanuel Cooper.