Collection Thirty One | 'The Vast Arc' Ceramics by Barbara Campbell-Allen
Collection Thirty One | 'The Vast Arc' Ceramics by Barbara Campbell-Allen
Exhibition Opening: Saturday, 8 October 12 - 2pm.
Live electric viola da gamba musical suites played live by Jenny Eriksson
Barbara Campbell-Allen spearheads a bold trajectory in the contemporary art of ceramics. You can see her visual language as pure geometric abstraction of as personal talismans of a singular artist's journey. An established poet of the terrestrial realm, Campbell-Allen cleaves through the density of her medium with weightless finesse.
In 2019, Barbara received the Order of Australia for her contribution to ceramics in Australia. Campbell-Allen's work can be found within the Public Collections at Manly Art Gallery & Museum and Newcastle Regional Gallery. Her work is currently on display at the Powerhouse Museum as part of the Clay Dynasty Exhibition, which concludes in 2023.
To coincide with the upcoming exhibition, 'The Vast Arc' by Barbara Campbell Allen OAM,
Rochfort Gallery has published a limited edition, hard bound book with only 300 copies available, 100 of which are signed and 200 unsigned.
Photographically captured by Greg Piper
Foreword by Anna Johnson
Signed copies $140, Unsigned copies $120
Appearing In This Exhibition
Barbara Campbell-Allen OAM
Esteemed as one of the most original and important ceramicists of her generation, Campbell Allen was awarded an Order of Australia for services to the creative arts as a potter and ceramicist. Trained at the National Art School (Sydney) and the Gippsland Centre for Design and Art, she has innovated a wood fired kiln technique producing works that are elemental, painterly and intensely sculptural. Utilising paper clay, a blend of paper fibre and clay enables her to create works of unique form, texture and depth of surface. An element of expedition influences her works, journeying into the Australian landscape for research and sometimes for specific materials. To engage her aesthetic is to see that geology has a soul, the earth has a memory and that natural materials have both tactile and sensory power. Hers is work that is profoundly linear and visceral. Scars, remnants and the raked lines of the artist’s hand harness a rough-hewn beauty in her stoneware, evoking the raw power of silent ancient places.
Manly Regional Gallery and Newcastle Regional Gallery purchased sculptures, two consecutive years running. The Powerhouse Museum exhibited three of her larger works as part of the Clay Dynasty exhibition from 2021 - 2023. Her work is collected locally and throughout the world.
