Sandra Black: Holding light

Featuring 123 works, and spanning over fifty years of practice, Holding light surveys important touchpoints in Western Australian ceramicist Sandra Black’s career, from 1972 through to her current practice.

Foregrounding the quality, delicacy, and understated confidence of her work, the exhibition reveals the artist’s concern for design, craftsmanship and the natural world. These elements converge to imbue her work with a treasure-like quality that is both enticing and intimate, yet relatable.

Sandra Black, Pierced bowl, 1980

Sandra Black, Pierced bowl, 1980, unglazed porcelain, pierced, 6 × 11cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased 1980. Photograph: Victor France. Courtesy the artist and Art Gallery of Western Australia

Since the late 1970s, Black’s process of carving and piercing slip cast and thrown clay vessels has been central to her practice, forming a key focus in this exhibition. It also showcases select examples from her various ceramic series, some of which veer away from carving processes. This diversity highlights how Black’s personal and professional experiences – including encounters with nature, love, loss, study, teaching, travel, and international residencies – have shaped her work, intersecting with and evolving from her career long practice of carving and piercing clay.

Art Gallery of Western Australia
5 October 2024 to 16 February 2025
Perth

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