From Darkness To Light Recent Ceramics By Hiroe Swen

 

Japanese trained potter Hiroe Swen has lived in the Canberra region since 1970 and is a major figure in Australian ceramics through her exhibiting, teaching and mentoring. She has practised ceramics continuously over the last 50 years. With many major exhibitions and 18 years of inspirational teaching at the Canberra School of Art, she has had a significant impact on the Canberra visual arts landscape. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, State and Regional Galleries and The Australian National University Art Collection.

The slab-built vessels in off-white clay in the exhibition are infused with feelings of intense sorrow and loneliness engendered by the fear of being parted from loved ones, following the death of her father and her mother’s admission to an aged care home. The artist’s emotional agitation is expressed in dramatic black brushwork and carved relief decoration that evoke the sea in its more ominous moods.

Curated by Karen O’Clery, Director of Narek Galleries