Early work
Early work 1970's
In 1975 I
met Agi Yoeli, an Israeli sculptor who was the artist-in-residence at
Melbourne State College. I had chosen ceramics as a minor subject in the
4 year Higher Diploma Secondary Arts and Crafts course. After Agi
showed me the handbuilding technique she used to make her large surreal
sculptures, such as an astronaut riding a horse, I took to the method
like a duck to water. Otter was one of the first of many animal sculptures I produced that year.
Joy Georgeson, Otter, 1976, earthenware H 35cm, Melbourne State College Student Collection
Educational Excellence
Joy Georgeson, Funky Anteater, 1976, earthenware, H 85 cm L 120 cm
PS In 2011 I was sent a photo of this sculpture sitting in a garden of Sturt's Desert Pea in Tibooburra, NSW
First Exhibition
"At Gryphon Gallery, 757 Swanston St, Carlton, three young graduate ceramicists are showing their diverse directions of style. Joy Georgeson is building animals of varying sizes and expressions. Her strengths are the way she matches the gesture to the character and mood of the animal and her confident technical skills in realising some larger pieces like Zebra and Funky Anteater." Review in Melbourne Age by Ted Greenwood Sept. 1977.
Due to encouragement, promotion and support from the curator of the Gryphon Gallery, Ken Scarlett, the show was virtually a sellout with the Victorian Ministry for the Arts purchasing Numbat I Can See. This sculpture was featured on a poster to promote the Arts Victoria '78 Festival exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Collection Pieces.
First Exhibition
"At Gryphon Gallery, 757 Swanston St, Carlton, three young graduate ceramicists are showing their diverse directions of style. Joy Georgeson is building animals of varying sizes and expressions. Her strengths are the way she matches the gesture to the character and mood of the animal and her confident technical skills in realising some larger pieces like Zebra and Funky Anteater." Review in Melbourne Age by Ted Greenwood Sept. 1977.
Due to encouragement, promotion and support from the curator of the Gryphon Gallery, Ken Scarlett, the show was virtually a sellout with the Victorian Ministry for the Arts purchasing Numbat I Can See. This sculpture was featured on a poster to promote the Arts Victoria '78 Festival exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Collection Pieces.
Joy Georgeson, Numbat I Can See, 1977, earthenware, H 49 cm
Victorian Ministry for the Arts Festival Collection
Joy Georgeson, Young Zebra, 1977, earthenware, H 90 cm
Private collection.
Joy Georgeson, Catdango, 1977, bronze edition of 5, H 13 cm
Private collections.
Large scale work
Joy Georgeson, Spring Anteater, 1978, ceramic H 100 cm
Caulfield Arts Centre Invitation Exhibition
Private Collection
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson, Catdango 2, 1978, ceramic, H 110 cm
Latrobe University Triennial Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition 1978
Private Collection
Private Collection
Racooee
In 1975 at the Teachers' College camp at Noojee in Victoria we built
several kilns during the week. When I took the glowing orange-hot possum
from the raku kiln I was hooked on the process. Since then I have fired
hundreds of pieces and still experience the 'serendipity', the wonder
of the happy accident, created by the combination of heat, clay, molten
glaze and combustion of materials. Raku or 'Racooee' as I called it, is
derived from an ancient Japanese technique of firing pottery, in
particular tea bowls used in the Zen Tea Ceremony. The process was
introduced to America by Paul Soldner in the 1960's who explored the
technique of reduction by placing the hot ceramics in a combustible
atmosphere such as pine leaves in order to achieve a spectacular range
of colours. It has since been adapted and modified by ceramicists
worldwide such as Australian artist Joan Campbell.
Joy Georgeson Noojee Possum 1975 raku H 18cm
Joy Georgeson Smoked Numbat 1978 raku H 20cm
Melbourne State College Student Collection
Joy Georgeson Golden Numbat 1979 raku H 40cm
Jackson Collection
Firebox of a wood-fired raku kiln with tongs and gloves
Backyard kilns
Soon after leaving College in 1976 I built two kilns using firebricks
in the backyard with advice from teachers, suppliers of ceramic
materials and Daniel Rhodes Kilns. One was a 3 cubic feet raku
kiln and the other a larger downdraft kiln that could be adjusted in
size to accommodate the sculptures. They were also used to smoke fire
works. Both were fired with gas cylinders and TM250 burners. Glider at Dusk
was fired in the downdraft kiln to mid-earthenware temperatures and
glazed with a barium glaze and a sandstone glaze developed from ground
Glenmaggie (Victoria) sandstone and mixed with borax.
Joy Georgeson Glider at Dusk 1979 H 160 cm mid-fire
Private Collection
My adjustable downdraft kiln
Large kiln used for smoke firing with sawdust
In 1979 I exhibited at the Gryphon Gallery, Carlton, Victoria with Don Wordsworth, my former ceramics lecturer at Melbourne State College. Don believed that "As an art educator he is aware of the value of the art process to the maker, the value of being able to identify with oneself and others, the value of being able to identify with a product and say This is mine. The significance here is private and individual. However there often comes the time when the artist must be prepared to exhibit the art product publicly to state what he feels and sees." We were both interested in the natural environment. Don's ceramic sculptures reflected his interest in ecology and conservation, where I expressed the characteristics of various animals ranging from Australian native animals to domestic cats. Inspiration for my work came from the ancient cultures of China, Japan and Egypt, combined with observation of animals in zoos, museums and in the wild.
Expressing what one feels and sees
In 1979 I exhibited at the Gryphon Gallery, Carlton, Victoria with Don Wordsworth, my former ceramics lecturer at Melbourne State College. Don believed that "As an art educator he is aware of the value of the art process to the maker, the value of being able to identify with oneself and others, the value of being able to identify with a product and say This is mine. The significance here is private and individual. However there often comes the time when the artist must be prepared to exhibit the art product publicly to state what he feels and sees." We were both interested in the natural environment. Don's ceramic sculptures reflected his interest in ecology and conservation, where I expressed the characteristics of various animals ranging from Australian native animals to domestic cats. Inspiration for my work came from the ancient cultures of China, Japan and Egypt, combined with observation of animals in zoos, museums and in the wild.
Joy Georgeson Run Brushtail Run earthenware1979 H 55 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Spots Before My Eyes earthenware 1979 H 25 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Racooee 1979 raku H 23 cm
Private Collection
Integration of form and finish
Since purchasing a 100 acre bush block on the Far South Coast of New
South Wales in 1978 the influence of the native flora and fauna there
has been a consistent theme in my ceramic sculpture. A solo exhibition
of my work at Gallery 180 in Toorak Road, South Yarra in 1979 contained a
majority of subjects based on Australian animals. The colours and
textures of the granite rocks and huge gum trees provided the palette
for smokey surfaces with hints of gloss. Many pieces were raku-fired or
smoked in pits or metal containers. My domestic cats provided
inspiration as well.
Joy Georgeson Inimitable Numbat 1979 raku H 40 cm
Private Collection
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Polecats 1979 smoked earthenware H 90 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Possum Tree 1979 raku H 35 cm
Private Collection
The Olympic Games of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
At the end of 1979 I received an invitation to participate in the
International Ceramics Competition/Exhibition in Faenza Italy by a panel
from the Crafts Council of Australia including Stefan Szonyi, David
Bradshaw and Janet Mansfield. Ten 'craftsmen' were chosen to produce
several pieces to be displayed at the Crafts Council Australia Gallery,
The Rocks, Sydney. The largest piece of a sculpture called Lounging
was selected to go to Italy. When the work was displayed at the
McLelland Gallery, Langwarren, Victoria, the curator David Bradshaw described
the cat in the sculpture as 'Languorously posturing.' The piece was
decorated with oxides, stains and glazes and fired to 1000 degrees. It
was then smoked with inner tubes in a gas-fired firebrick kiln. See Backyard Kilns above.
Joy Georgeson Lounging 1980 smoked earthenware H 60
Private Collections
Bush Aesthetics
Moving from suburban Melbourne to a rural property in south eastern
New South Wales in 1980 had a great impact on my choice of subject
matter, visual aesthetics and source of materials. I experimented with
local clays and crushed sandstones for glazes. With an abundant source
of wood and gum leaves, many works were smoke-fired in pits, brick kilns
and metal containers. Apart from exhibiting in 7 exhibitions (including
the Faenza selection, see The Olympic Games of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy above) that year, my daughter was born as well!
Joy Georgeson Pregnant Mouse 1979 raku
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Pair of Volplaners 1979 raku H 8cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Moon Cat 1980 smoked earthenware H 28 cm
Private Collection
A simple wood-fired raku kiln
The following is another quote from the Pottery in Australia
article (see Using natural resources) referring to the Ivan Englund
wood-fired raku kiln: "Another morning was spent collecting mounds of
dead wattle which is the hottest burning wood available locally. The
Ivan Englund designed wood-fired kiln was modified a little with a door
added (using 9 firebricks)...In a frenzy of wildly combusting gum leaves
and sweet smelling smoke, surfaces emerged embodying the satin charcoal
beauty of a burnt log spattered with dried gum leaf colours. Half the
beauty of these firings was the simplicity."
Using local natural resources
During a 3 week workshop I gave in
the bush for 7 final year Melbourne State College ceramics students
we made our own clay and glazes using natural resources from the
local area. The following is an extract from an article I wrote for
Pottery in Australia 1982 Vol 21, No 1 "We had no money to spend
on exotic ingredients and turned to the environment to provide
everything...to the cliffs of Twofold Bay to gather soft ochre and
salmon rocks and the inspiring coastline of Quarantine Bay with
crumbling sea walls of shale, to a road cutting of magenta and cream
crushable rocks suitable for glazing....to a vast, overwhelming
source of fine earthenware clay where the topsoil had been removed
for construction work....we discovered (not from books, but by
observation) that the coastal clays were generally finer and that the
mountain clays contained lumps of granite and debris. It was a
combination of the gutsy hill clay and the smooth lowland clay that
we mixed by the bucketful." In addition to this we added crushed
shale from the old Kalaru wood-fired brickworks on the New South
Wales south coast.
Joy Georgeson Presenting Cat 1980 H 40 cm smoked earthenware
Using clay dug from house site and crushed local sandstone
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Volplana 1980 H 25 cm smoked earthenware
Using clay dug from house site and crushed local sandstone
Private Collection
Ivan Englund inspired wood-fired raku kiln
Joy Georgeson Elyon's Bandicoot 1981wood-fired raku and timber H 27 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Nightlight 1981 wood-fired raku H 28 cm
Private Collection
'Volplana' Australian Bush Block
Volplana is a 100 acre bush block in the Great Dividing Range in the Far South East of Australia. The name is a derivative of the French vol (glide) and plane (flight) inspired
by the marsupial gliders that live there. I purchased the property in
1978 and it has had a great influence on my artwork. The area is
sparsely populated but abundant in wildlife such as wallabies, wombats,
possums, echidnas, many reptiles, and numerous species of birds
including lyrebirds. The colours and textures of the Australian bush are
earthy and subtle and this palette, as well as the textures of granite
and gum bark are present in my sculptures.
Joy Georgeson Apricot Numbat 1982 H 26 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Gliding 1979 L 60 cm
Private Collection
Fostering the Arts
The Australian Government in the 1980's encouraged artists through
the Australia Council. I applied for and received a Workshop Development
Grant for $5000 in 1981. This allowed me to develop my work in a remote
part of Australia (see 'Volplana' Australian Bush Block above)
surrounded by my main source of inspiration. Some of the work produced
at that time was shown at the Cook's Hill Galleries in 1981.
Love of Nature
"Joy Georgeson in a showing of more than 100 pieces (Cook's Hill
Galleries, Newcastle) demonstrates her intense interest and love of
nature, the environment, its life and animals, wild and domesticated.
The technique and handling of the ceramic sculptures are self-sufficient beyond criticism and further comment.
The grace and flowing line, so evident in many pieces, intrigue the eye.
Specially noted are Full Moon, Leaf Glider, Twighlight Wallaby, Ribbon Gum Possum, River Rock Possum and Picnic Point Bandicoot."
Charles Pettinger, Art Critic, Newcastle Herald, August 1983
Joy Georgeson Kowari 1981 raku H 15cm
Newcastle Regional Gallery Collection
Joy Georgeson The Glider Jumped Over The Moon 1981 raku H 13cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Goodnight Possums 1 1981 earthenware H 93 cm
Private Collection
The technique and handling of the ceramic sculptures are self-sufficient beyond criticism and further comment.
The grace and flowing line, so evident in many pieces, intrigue the eye.
Specially noted are Full Moon, Leaf Glider, Twighlight Wallaby, Ribbon Gum Possum, River Rock Possum and Picnic Point Bandicoot."
Charles Pettinger, Art Critic, Newcastle Herald, August 1983
Joy Georgeson Palm Possum 1983 raku H 12 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Full Moon 1983 raku H 24 cm
Private Collection
Joy Georgeson Picnic Point Bandicoot 1983 raku H 19 cm
Private Collection
Quote from Australian Contemporary Ceramics Bruce Anderson and John Hoare, Darling Downs Institute Press, Toowoomba 1985.
Inspiration
"I have had my work displayed with Aboriginal paintings from the
Pitjantjatjara tribe and have received many comments that the animals
seem to belong to the paintings. When I look at our own bush I find it
full of dots and stripes and the earthy colours of Aboriginal art. I
have also been influenced by the strong yet graceful forms of ancient
Egyptian and Chinese animal sculpture. I have always admired the cat -
its sensuality, fluidity and tension, and have found that the Australian
animals I choose as subjects often have these qualities."
Quote from Australian Contemporary Ceramics Bruce Anderson and John Hoare, Darling Downs Institute Press, Toowoomba 1985.
Joy Georgeson Flushed Bandicoot raku 16cm 1985
Dancing Roo
In
2006 I visited the Shepparton Art Gallery to view their extensive
collection of Australian ceramics. I was surprised not only to find one
of my pieces in the collection, but that the work 'Dancing Roo' was in
the Aboriginal ceramics section. I was very honoured to have been placed
near a work by Thancoupie as the curator thought my sculpture had been
produced by an Aboriginal artist.
Aboriginal Ceramics Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria 2006
Joy Georgeson Dancing Roo raku 19cm 1985
Dancing Roo (see above) was exhibited with works by Valerie Georgeson at the Kintore Gallery, South Australian Royal Society for the Arts. My pieces were comprised of native animals and domestic cats with surfaces representing ground litter, gum tree texture and lichen. This was the last exhibition produced at the bush property before moving to Canberra.
Joy Georgeson Glider in a Gum 1985 mid-fire H 45cm ceramic
Work by Joy Georgeson and Valerie Georgeson
Kintore Gallery, South Australia 1985