Local potter Christine Ball and woodturner Lindsay Dunn are holding their annual Clay + Wood art exhibition and sale in the Armidale Mall.
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This is the eleventh year the two artists have held their Christmas shop, selling high-class art and craft, from November 24 to Christmas Eve.
“We just like to put our stuff out there, and the locals have always been very supportive,” Lindsay said.
“We wouldn’t keep coming back every year if they didn’t look after us, and buy some of our bits and pieces. Armidale’s always been very kind to us; it’s a great place.”
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“Clay”
Christine Ball, of Barking Dog Gallery, Uralla, has her studio in an old 1890s bakery.
“I just bake a little higher, that’s all!”
Stoneware at 1290 to 1300 degrees – high firing, indeed!
All her pots are hand-thrown, apart from a few slab plates.
The quickest and easiest part, Christine said, is throwing the pot. A small bowl, for instance, might happen in seconds – but then she has to dry it, turn it upside down, trim the bottom, turn a foot in it, bisque fire it, wax it, glaze it, then fire it again.
“The loveliest thing is unpacking the kiln, because you never really know what you’re going to get," she said.
“You take it up to 1300 degrees Celsius, and two days later, you get to unpack it. It can be lots of surprises, good and bad. It’s a fantastic thing!”
Christine’s works this year include a full range of pottery in copper red, blue, blue-green, and oatmeal glazes; translucent Australian porcelain; mugs, from bucket-sized ("for people who love a lot of coffee") to more dainty ones; and bowls for the dog and cat (or the husband – if he's in the doghouse).
Some of her works are inspired by the natural environment, using minerals from the ground, and ash from the trees. She’s made iron red glazed pots, sprayed with ash from the heater, forming tree root and forest patterns.
Out walking with her dog, Christine picks up leaves whose shape she likes, and uses them to make stencilled platters.
Attic figures and amphorae show Christine’s early love of Classical mythology.
Others are influenced by Asian ceramics. She uses Japanese tissue stencils to create a tattoo-like effect.
She also has a range made from a traditional Japanese shino glaze, mixed with ash.
"I swish it onto the bowl, and it turns into really interesting little creatures," Christine said.
There are sea creatures (very like a whale!), djinn, meerkats, kookaburras, lizards, and, she said, a deadspit of a yeti.
"What," she wonders, "does a yeti look like? I decided it was a yeti" – and until a future Hillary and Tenzing capture the abominable snowman, it’s as good an answer as any.
“Wood”
Lindsay Dunn, of Hillgrove, describes himself as a “jack of all trades”.
He’s been turning wood for a living since 1985. He came to woodworking from engineering, and still uses his technical know-how.
“That keeps the brain active, and keeps new products rolling along – rather than getting stuck in the same old bash-it-out syndrome!" he said.
Lindsay machines aluminium and brass; welds; and designs and makes a lot of the machinery he uses – such as a rose-engine lathe for ornamental turnery.
They’ve been used in watchmaking since the 18th century; his are copies of lathes used by Fabergé.
“I don't think there's anyone else in Australia that makes them," Lindsay said.
This year, many of his works are made from wood he’s had since the 1980s.
“They’re special pieces of wood that I put aside, or just hadn’t made into anything,” Lindsay said. “I decided this year I needed to get rid of a little bit out of my shed.”
A table is made from spalted coachwood (with dark stains and splotches caused by fungus); the stump it came from was some of the last softwood ever logged in this area.
There are pepper-mills made from Western Australian banksia nuts, or pistachio trees.
"You may never see another pair like that, and I may never be able to make another pair like that, so they end up as individual items," Lindsay said.
Other works are made from rare timbers: coolibah, claret ash, tallowwood, blue gum, and rosewood.
"You don't often see these timbers any more," Lindsay said; "they're locked up in national parks."
He collects from tree surgeons pruning trees, auctions, or farms – “wherever I can get my hands on it!”
Lindsay sells his works through Christine's Barking Dog Gallery, but also supplies Maitland Regional Art Gallery and the Bungendore Wood Works Gallery.
Clay + Wood Art, 159 Beardy St, The Mall, Armidale. Open Mondays to Fridays 10am to 5pm, Saturdays and market Sundays 9am to 1pm.