Q&A – maker of the week: Sandra Black

Ode to the wheel, knife and drill.

Acclaimed ceramic artist Sandra Black lives and works in Fremantle. She is recognised as a leading ceramicist internationally, and perhaps lesser known in her home state of Western Australia. With a strong exhibiting catalogue you can find Sandra Black’s works in a number of Australian and New Zealand galleries, as well as articles in eminent ceramic journals.

Sandra is an enthusiast and provides an excellent case study into the value of ‘residencies’ (something you know we bang on about quite a lot).

In this short & sweet Q&A, Sandra generously shares her journey – as she developed her craft over the years, the pivotal moments and people that led her towards an illustrious vocation and the tools she can’t live without. She even invites you to her studio!

To learn more about Sandra, click the links below and find a snapshot of her work in our Directory too.

Read on for a glimpse into Sandra’s life with clay.

What is your craft? How do you like to describe yourself?

My craft is ceramics. I have always liked to describe myself as a ceramic artist and teacher. Both making decorative and functional ceramics and passing on my skills have been very important to my practice.

Your studio – where and what is your studio/workspace like?

My studio is a converted garage at the back of my home in South Fremantle, in walking distance to South Beach. In 1988 I was able to convert it from a dark roller door garage/workshop with a corrugated iron lean-to shed into a bright working space. With a carpenter friend and a set of second hand doors and windows it was converted into two rooms. The rusted roof was replaced and insulation fitted to the ceiling. One room contains kilns, glaze materials and a wash up space and the larger room for making and display. Later in 2000, I had a kiln shed attached for my gas firings.

Which of your tools do you love the most and why?

I have three favourite tools!

My Venco potter’s wheel. It’s the third one I have owned – easy to use and great control over the speed.

My carving knife. I invented a carving knife way back in the late 1970s which was made from a piece of split pithy cane with a no.11 Swann Morton surgical blade inserted into it and held tight by waxed cotton string. I still have the original handle though the blade has been changed many times. It sits so easily in my hands and can be used to carve delicate designs and also pierce the surfaces of the vessel being worked on.

My third favourite tool is my hand-held Dremel drill with a fine dental bit, given to me by my dentist. I do all my piercing with it.

Your inspiration – what really pumps your creative heart?

I have drawn creative inspiration from many aspects of my life. Much comes from early childhood as a child growing up in rural East Gippsland in Victoria as a farmer’s daughter. The closeness to nature has always been present in my working life despite living as an urban dweller for the past 50 years. The observance of the natural world and the impacts of industry and climate changes subtly influence what I make.

I am also hugely inspired by the journeys and residencies I have undertaken in different parts of the world. Working in different cultures and countries with other artists has really been inspirational and has inspired new bodies of work. I always go to these places with no expectations, but open to what will happen in different and sometimes challenging environments.

Sandra Black in the University of Manitoba’s ceramics room when I was artist in residence there in 2008.

Sandra Black in the University of Manitoba’s ceramics room (Winnipeg) when she was artist in residence there in 2008.

What was the spark that made you choose this particular medium?

As always, there were some very special teachers who made clay exciting for me. My first was Walter Gebert – my primary school teacher who in 1960-61 brought clay into our little two-teacher primary school. As rural-based children we were taught where clay came from and so went home after our pottery lesson and dug out clay from our farm dams and made pots which we tried to fire over little campfires.

My second great inspiration was attending a summer school workshop at UWA with Joan Campbell in 1971. I had learnt some clay skills previously at Nedlands teachers’ college and WAIT (now Curtin University) with Maggie Brain and Leon Pritchard, but it was Joan’s total passion for the medium which made it so exciting with her Raku firings. From then on I was hooked.

A call from David Walker then head of Craft and Design at WAIT in 1975 was the final moment of choice when I gave up my secure high school art teaching job to take up a resident graduate position in Ceramics at WAIT along with part-time tutoring there.

Your working style – how do you like to start on a project and then progress it? Do you stick to a working schedule 9-5 or flex around a bit? Do you play loud music? Are your pets welcome in your space?

At the beginning of my career in the mid-late 1970s I would work seven days a week in the studio. It was an all-consuming passion and remained so well into my late 40s. Studio work has also been interspersed with part-time teaching at TAFEs, and at Curtin and Edith Cowan Universities. In later years I have taken up community arts teaching at Fremantle Arts Centre.

With my studio work these days I tend to map out a year or two ahead with planning one or two public studio openings, the Fremantle Arts Centre Bazaar and an exhibition either interstate or local. I also usually have planned an international residency once every 2-3 years, generally in China. I also leave space for invitational events i.e. group shows etc.

In preparing for a project/exhibition I spend time cleaning my studio, maintaining equipment, particularly my kilns and prepping the materials I will need for the work. I tend then to make in an intense burst of activity for 2-3 months for a solo show. I always have the radio on in my studio, either ABC radio national or Classic FM .I don’t need loud music but a peaceful background sound. I often have one or two of my cats visiting for the odd snack and pat. Amazingly, they are very careful around my work and have not damaged anything.

What are you working towards right now?

I am working on 10-12 pieces for a small display at Perc Tucker Regional Art Gallery in Townsville for July-September 2020. I had been asked to travel to Townsville and judge the North Queensland ceramic awards, but sadly can only now do it online, instead of the planned trip and workshop, as the state borders have been shut down due to the corona virus! Hopefully, their gallery will be open for local visitors at the time my works arrive.

If you could land the dream commission/exhibition/project, what would it be?

I would love to be invited to do a residency somewhere overseas again, to work in a university or cultural centre in Canada, China, Netherlands, Japan, France or UK. It would be great to also exhibit in these venues as I have done in the past. I learn so much from these experiences and find new directions for my work.

Anything you’d like to add?

I don’t manage the selling of my work via online platforms, I generally leave this to the galleries that I sell through. I am a very visual and tactile person, so when people are buying or selling ceramics, my wish both for myself and customers, where possible, is to physically access the work to experience the quality before purchasing.

I am happy for people to come to my studio to choose pieces. I also offer students short workshops in my workspace and one-on-one consultations to help out with any issues they may have with their own work.

[Collected 25 May 2019.]

View more about Sandra Black and her ceramic art in our Directory – with links to more.

This is a standard set of questions that we ask of all our guest presenters and ‘makers of the week’. They are deliberately low-key.

Q&A – maker of the week: Neil Turner

Turner by name, turner by nature.

Neil Turner Artisan

An ‘atronym’ is the word for when a person’s name ‘is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation’. Neil Turner introduced us to this term. He could have been called ‘farmer’, based on his previous work, however his destiny, it seems, was to become a wood turner.

Neil Turner was a farmer all his life, but from the age of 18, he pursued woodturning as a creative outlet, working in his shed at the end of every day. Upon retiring, he has been able to dedicate his time entirely to creating highly complex turned pieces from native Australian wood.

Neil is a man of few words, but here in this short & sweet Q&A he hints to the meditative enjoyment of working steadily in his workshop, and the joy he finds in timber and nature. To learn more about his craft, click the links below to watch the short story film ‘Neil Turner Artisan’ and find Neil in our Directory too.

Read on for a glimpse into Neil Turner’s woodturning life.

What is your craft? How do you like to describe yourself?

Artistic wood sculptor; woodturner; fine furniture maker.

Your studio – where and what is your studio/workspace like?

My workshop space, in the south-west of Western Australia, is broken into areas for furniture making, carving and woodturning. I don’t have a showroom to display finished products.

Which of your tools do you love the most and why?

The spokeshave – I enjoy using this tool as I feel it’s an extension of my hands.

Your inspiration – what really pumps your creative heart?

Beautiful pieces of timber & nature’s simplicity of design.

What was the spark that made you choose this particular medium?

I’ve always enjoyed timber, not sure why; it just resonates for me. Timber allows me to use creative designs but with limitations.

Your working style – how do you like to start on a project and then progress it? Do you stick to a working schedule 9-5 or flex around a bit? Do you play loud music? Are your pets welcome in your space?

I may have two or three pieces on the go at one time, moving from one to the other. I have ear phones with music on but occasionally I do enjoy the quiet time. Besides the occasional kangaroo that pokes it’s head into my workshop we don’t have pets anymore.

What are you working towards right now?

I’m catching up on work that has been neglected for ‘Turner + Turner’. I’m always trying to catch up; making many pieces at once is rare. Because there are no markets at the moment, only online, hopefully I can “get ahead”.

For ‘Neil Turner Artisan’ I’ve been creating pieces for collectors in the USA with a few more sculptures still to make. I’m designing a lectern and presentation table to make before the end of the year. Also designing pieces for the Craft Triennial exhibition in 2021.

 If you could land the dream commission/exhibition/project, what would it be?

To make a piece for Parliament House Canberra.

[Collected 22 May 2019.]

View a snapshot of work by ‘Neil Turner Artisan’ and Turner+Turner’ in our Directory – with links to websites, shop  and outlets.

Watch short film ‘Neil Turner Artisan’. Film-maker Rae Fallon; Music by Joel Ritchie. (Vimeo 02:50)

Watch a carving and texturing demonstration by Neil Turner for the Rocky Mountain Woodturners  (Recorded 4 June 2015. YouTube 1:37:46).

This is a standard set of questions that we ask of all our guest presenters and ‘makers of the week’. They are deliberately low-key.

Post script anecdote…

We first met Neil through a referral to photographer and film-maker Rae Fallon when we were scouting for local films about makers for ‘Real to Reel: The Craft Film Festival‘. Rae submitted the short film she had just completed with Neil and we were delighted that it was accepted for the 2019 edition of the Festival (which, by the way, is still touring Australia – its dates extended due to the pandemic.) This film from WA was one of three films from Australia to make the cut alongside two animations by Tjanpi Desert Weavers, and 30 other international films.

Anyway, when we premiered ‘Real to Reel 2019’ at The Backlot in Perth last year, we were delighted that Neil and his wife Suellen were able to join us (they live in a coastal town, about 175km south of Perth). Neil had a busy schedule in Perth that weekend as he is always in demand to give talks and demonstrations at the WA Wood Show; he even crammed in a radio interview with Bec Bowman on ArtBeat at RTRfm. Rae was also amazingly able to make it too, with husband Shane, having just welcomed baby Tully a couple of weeks before.

Q&A – maker of the week: Claire Townsend

Jeweller, Metalsmith and Educator

Claire Townsend March 2019We first met Claire Townsend when we started up Maker&Smith and were looking to plan some craft specific talks and discussions. In March 2019 we hosted a one-day forum, ADORN, about contemporary jewellery and metalsmiths in partnership with the City of Joondalup, to complement an exhibition of work by the JMGA-WA (Jewellers & Metalsmiths’ Group of Western Australia) and the City’s Urban Couture festival.

After an illuminating talk from Katherine Kalaf about her journey promoting contemporary jewellery in Australia, Claire introduced the gathered throng to her work, alongside five other ‘smiths’, and later ran an enamelling workshop for keen amateurs.

We are pleased that our work on the ADORN programme grew our acquaintances in the local jewellery & metalsmithing network and our knowledge of their unique talents. It has also informed us of the challenges they face as skilled makers in Western Australia (WA).

Claire highlights in this short & sweet Q&A her love of rings and her desire to see craft and design nurtured in Western Australia.

Read on for a glimpse into Claire’s smithing life.

What is your craft? How do you like to describe yourself?

I mainly make jewellery and like to use traditional techniques to make wearable art.

Your studio – where and what is your studio/workspace like?

I live and work from my studio in Lesmurdie, in the Perth Hills. I love it!

Which of your tools do you love the most and why?

I have a beautiful old hammer that came from my grandfather’s shed. He used to make wooden toys, so I never knew why he had a metalsmith’s repousse hammer, but I love that he used to hold that same handle.

Your inspiration – what really pumps your creative heart?

I am most interested in the marks we leave on each other through our exchanges. Friends, strangers, lovers, family, we all affect each other, so I guess I’m interested in humans, and how we interact.

What was the spark that made you choose this particular medium?

I made my first ring in high school and I gave it to a friend. The joy I had in seeing him wear it with pride has given me an ongoing desire to make things for others to wear.

Your working style – how do you like to start on a project and then progress it? Do you stick to a working schedule 9-5 or flex around a bit? Do you play loud music? Are your pets welcome in your space?

I am really flexible, because I work around my family of four. I am in the studio whenever I can be, my dog keeps me constant company, and I mostly listen to podcasts. Huge fan of true crime, and I love getting immersed in the story while I’m immersed in my work.

What are you working towards right now?

I want to make a new selection of rings to sell at some galleries over east*, and am exploring more enamelling in my pieces.

If you could land the dream commission/exhibition/project, what would it be?

I would love to put together an education program for contemporary jewellers in Perth. A program that produced and fostered the future of craft in WA amongst this ever changing fiscal and technological driven landscape. I’d also get to make rings at the same time!

*this is the term that people in WA use to refer to the eastern states of Australia.

[Collected 3 November 2019.]

Learn more about Claire Townsend and view a sample of her work in our Directory – with links to her Instagram feed, website and online store.

*Since we had this chat with Claire, we’ve had many discussions with her about the need for a craft specific centre of excellence in Perth and Western Australia. We continue to have conversations along these lines with many local craftspeople of differing specialisms. If you’d like to join one of our chat sessions and/or can contribute any intel, please contact us.

This is a standard set of questions that we ask of all our guest presenters and ‘makers of the week’. They are deliberately low-key.

Q&A – maker of the week: Justine Bonenfant

Haute Couture Embroiderer and Designer

Justine Bonenfant visited us in August 2019 to deliver Hand & Lock classes in haute couture embroidery techniques, not commonly taught in Western Australia, such as Goldwork and Tambour Beading. Participants enjoyed tuition and chats with Justine over the one, two and three day immersive classes in Perth and Midland. We were also delighted to host such a generous and congenial teacher who shared many stories of her life as an embroiderer to top fashion houses and celebrities, and her work in India.

Justine highlights in this short & sweet Q&A her inspirations and her desire to see better acknowledgement of the many skilled artisans who contribute to the fashion houses and who rarely get a mention.

Read on for insights into her embroidery life.

What is your craft? How do you like to describe yourself?

I am a hand embroidery designer, maker and teacher.

Your studio – where and what is your studio/workspace like?

I am based in London. My workspace is a small study under the rafters of a Victorian house. A skylight lights up my embroidery frame. A collection of ribbons, beads, spools, samples, inspiring pictures and cards are placed on shelves (or on the floor, where I tend to lay out my selections). This space is like my creative nest where I feel isolated from everything.

Which of your tools do you love the most and why?

The tool that I love the most is a little hook called the “Luneville” hook, used mostly for Haute Couture embroidery. Once this technique is mastered, we can apply beads and sequins to a fabric in a neat and fast way. It is a technique that requires practice which makes the result pretty rewarding.

Your inspiration – what really pumps your creative heart?

It is a very difficult question as inspiration can come from various forms. I can get close to the Stendhal syndrome, watching dedicated artisans such as the Chinese Buddhist monks who create Moxiu (hair devotional embroidery), although I have not cut my hair to have a go at it yet. At the moment, I would say that I am still inspired by my last trip to Rajasthan. My colour palette changed after that trip. The intricate Rajput miniatures and the Mughal outfits definitely inspired me.

What was the spark that made you choose this particular medium?

Working in luxury fashion, I had to develop textiles and collaborate with embroidery artisans. Seeing their incredible pieces, discovering the diversity of techniques and visual identities that can be expressed through embroidery made me want to specialise in this medium.

Your working style – how do you like to start on a project and then progress it? Do you stick to a working schedule 9-5 or flex around a bit? Do you play loud music? Are your pets welcome in your space?

On Mondays, I usually set-up a weekly and a daily plan. If I don’t stick to the daily one, I adjust the next day to reach my weekly goal. I used to work a lot in the evenings and on weekends but I am trying to reach a better work/life balance. If I work intensively during an extended period of time, I now make sure to plan a long trip afterwards to re-fuel myself. I like white noise and listening to music when I work. I recently discovered a musical app where we can select a decade and a country. My current favourite is 80s Ethiopian.

What are you working towards right now?

I am working on book instructions to develop new classes and a new project in between London and India that will be revealed next year… Watch this space!*

If you could land the dream commission/exhibition/project, what would it be?

I would love to work on projects that highlight the talent of artisans around the world, like a documentary series about the golden hands working in the shadows. Many European fashion houses commonly use crafts and techniques from other countries without acknowledging it, such as Dior producing designs similar to the traditional waistcoat from Bihor or the millions of skilled Indian embroiderers who see their work on the European catwalks every season. Credit where credit is due!

[Collected 9 September 2019.]

Listen to Justine interviewed on ABC Radio National ‘The Arts Show’ by Ed Ayres.

*Since we had this chat with Justine, she has launched “House of Penelope” – you can find her on Instagram @house_of_penelope

This is a standard set of questions that we ask of all our guest presenters and ‘makers of the week’.