Crawl glaze - 1100 Celsius

One of my favourite glazes is a white crawl which matures between 1080 and 1100 degrees Celsius.

Frit 4113 75 Ball clay 12.5 Neph syenite 12.5 then add magnesium carbonate light 25% (eg. 250gms to 1kg of mix - let the MgCO3 soak in water first)

conversation between artists

I went to the 2013 graduating TAFE student show in Lismore last week. There was a signature piece by Leila Page, a 1.2 metre stylised ceramic figure, sandy coloured with hundreds of daisy-like flowers on the surface. I discussed the piece with a friend, saying that, for me it reminded me of a Linde Ivimey piece.  For me it had the same overall look and surface qualities, a basic shape with tiny details.  I think it was attractive to me because it was similar to a lot of my own work. My friend didn't see the likeness.  If you look at Leila's, Linde's and my work, I think you can see a conversation between artists with a similar aesthetic. When you look at an artwork, are you looking at the materials used or at the overall effect? How do we decide the connection between artworks?

barrier reef bommie

This piece is based on a coral bommie with an anchor point and small piece of dead coral attached. In the end it turned out a bit like an animal with its four legs. It was part of my 'Hide nor Hair' show at the Tanks Arts Centre. I used paperclay as it is so easy to use even if it dries out and you can make very fine attachments. The barnacles on the bottom were made as sprigs then attached. I have several glazes including a magnesium one that becomes like foam.

Tanks Arts Centre

'Hide nor Hair', artwork by Louise Fulton at the Tanks Arts Centre Cairns, Queensland, 2 - 16 August 2013. Sculpture and drawings on the story of Eliza Fraser from the artist in residence program funded through Cairns City Council.

Artist in residence house

The Tanks Arts Centre residence on Collins Avenue is an elevated timber house and has Saltwater creek on one side(the occasional crocodile has been spotted) and the Flecker Cairns Botanic Gardens on the other side. The back veranda is wonderful on a hot day.

Hide nor hair drawings

'Hide nor hair' launch on 6pm Friday 2 August at Tanks Arts Centre Gallery, adjacent to the Cairns Botanic Gardens. These are some details of drawings that I have been working on at the artist-in-residence house on Collins avenue over the past fortnight. I was thinking about the poignancy of Eliza giving birth on board a lifeboat and the baby being resigned to the deep. I used canavalia rosea vine, also known as Beach bean as the vine most likely to have been used by Eliza to cover her loins.

Hide nor hair pre-exhibition

My new exhibition, 'Hide nor Hair' will be showing at the Tanks Arts Centre Gallery from August 2 - 16 at the Cairns Botanic Gardens. I will be one of their artist's in residence for July and August. I've been making work based on the story of the heavily pregnant Eliza Fraser who was ship wreaked on the Great Barrier Reef in 1836. She had a baby boy in the lifeboat in front of 11 sailors. The baby died and was buried at sea. At sea for six weeks, they finally landed on Fraser Island (named after her husband, Captain James Fraser). They swapped clothes for food with the indigenous people. Eliza lived with the aboriginal women, helping collect fire wood and food for two months before a party from Moreton Bay came to find the missing ship's crew and passengers.

grafton regional art gallery

Two of my submissions for Grafton Regional Art Gallery were selected for their Accessible art collection. Jude McBean has asked artists to respond to two dimensional works within the larger collection that can be accessible to people with disabilities such as visual impairment. The work in this photo shows Godwin Bradbeer's moody 'Man in a squared space" and my touchable version for blind visitors to the gallery space. My other work selected responded to a drawing of a netsuke hidden in a riverbed of pebbles by Darren Chard.