Suvira McDonald

The relationship between ceramics and the landscape is ever-present. There is a synergy of visual and thematic terms, and also of materiality itself. This synergy is what drives Suvira McDonald’s work. Following his studies in Fine Art in New South Wales, McDonald has continued to explore ceramic surfaces and their references to landscape and geology. Fascinated by the ‘micro-tectonic’ visual language found exclusively in woodfired ceramics; McDonald’s pieces are richly textured with the intensity of memories of the anagama wood-fired kiln, one he has built himself. Fire is impatient; it rushes through the kiln firing everything in its path, layering ash and causing a variety of gaseous and flame-induced firemarks on the ceramic surfaces. Fire marks, soft hues and ash glaze drip off McDonald’s earthly forms; resonant to the land that surrounds us. Derived by McDonald’s thirty years of observation and research into the landscape, his vessels use shades of white as delicate as watercolour or as opaque as shells and polished stones. And, architectural in vein, McDonald’s forms have a monolithic quality, evoking the iced jagged turrets of ice cliffs and glaciers. Through influences of Asian traditions and his Australian art ancestry, his is an individual and tireless creative force. A pioneer in the field, McDonald has a lengthy exhibition history as a curator and his works are internationally renowned and exhibited in collections globally.