Collection Thirty Four: Izette Felthun
Female Deities
Collection Thirty Four: Izette Felthun
Special Previews Available by Appointment
22 - 24 March 2023
Phone: 0438 700 712
Email: enquiries@rochfortgallery.com
Opening Celebration & Meet the Artist
Saturday, 25 March, 1 - 3pm
Rochfort Gallery, 317 Pacific Highway, North Sydney
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Izette's body of work focuses on female deities as a symbol of existence and presence.
Inspired by phenomenological theories of Merleau-Ponty, she believes that the body is the primary site of knowing the world.
Izette's pieces undergo a three-stage process. Moulding, firing and finally, release into the world Her sense of touch and mealleability of clay, together with the unpredictability of the naked raku firing process adds energy and life to the forms.
The inner and outer surfaces of the figures are intertwined The sculptures are powerful, united in form and symbolize the outer garment of our inner lives. She uses colour to highlight form - to add another layer to the pieces. The white and pastel slip colour envelop the form with the feminine. The naked raku surface "blushes" like soft tender skin with the works, reinforcing a corporeal connection.
Izette's works is a testament to the potential of ceramics to evoke thought, emotion and another perspective on the world.
Appearing In This Exhibition
Izette Felthun
Izette Felthun is a ceramic artist who grew up and was educated in South Africa. The female form has always been a focus of her work. Her early work was influenced by the highly burnished and decorated blackened beer pots of the indigenous South African Venda tribe. Subsequently, over time, the work has evolved to a point where she explores her identity as an artist and a woman by celebrating the female form.
She creates abstract sculptures, which have a sense of movement and uses the vessel to challenge the perception and representation of the female form in society. Her goal is to break with the ideal beauty of classical sculptures and find a new relationship between art and current perceptions of the female body.
The work seeks to combine figurative imagery with the format of the traditional clay vessel. The vessel is a powerful metaphor for the body, with each part of the pot being named for a corresponding area of the body. A full lip, a gentle curve of the neck, a round belly or a broad shoulder – these elements combine to animate the vessel.
