Hello, Belinda! It is a pleasure to speak with you ahead of the release of our collaboration, Dancer. We're passionate about spotlighting the makers we work with as so often in our industry the making side can be quite anonymous. Your journey as a multidisciplinary artist in Naarm since 1999 has seen you shift more from painting to ceramics. What is it about ceramics that has drawn you in over the years?
Hello! It is an absolute pleasure to speak to you too!
Ever since I was a kid I have relied on painting as my kind of base level creative outlet, and over the years, throughout my career as a visual artist I’ve dipped into many art forms and media, but the first time I tried ceramics it seemed familiar and made sense to me. When I told my Mum about my first show exhibiting ceramics rather than painting, she said 'ohh good, I always thought you’d be a ceramicist'. It was like she’d known all along despite me never having made an attempt of it outside of high school.
There’s something really satisfying about clay. It doesn’t matter what stage you take it to or how accomplished you are, you can get an instant result straight from your hand. It’s like no other medium. Initially I was drawn by the idea of making my own items for home, in a traditional craft way. The idea that if you need something you can just make it, is an empowering one. I’m sure any potter would tell you the same, but once you visit ceramics a few times, its mystical ability to simultaneously thrill and beguile you will keep you there for good.
We first encountered your work at Sorse Gallery last year and were struck by its distinctive beauty and form. Particularly compelling are the bold lines of black iron oxide. Could you tell us more about these hand painted lines and what inspires your aesthetic?
That exhibition was a real game changer for me. It was the first time I had genuinely let go of what would be considered functional ceramics and allowed form and surface to take centre-stage. Part of this was me really honing in on the creative decisions I was making and where they were coming from. I remember thinking, 'come on, what do you want to see, what is your default design, if you had to decide on a decoration or pattern right this second, what would it be'? The answer for me is the humble stripe. It sounds so simple, but now I know the answer I see it in so many of my previous works and inspirations. The stripe, to me, is the perfect vessel for combining uniformity and freedom.
Aesthetically I am drawn to the principals of Bauhaus design and the idea that simplicity and basic form can sometimes be the most striking. But veering off from there I like my work to have more of a human touch as well, so I keep my mark making freehand. I guess that’s where the sense of freedom and personality comes in.
I love working with the oxide, it has a beautiful deep inky quality when I’m brushing it on, it’s the part of the process that I enjoy most. I’m just realising as I’m saying that, I probably love it because it connects me to the tactile process of painting I’m used to. I also prefer the finished surface to something like a traditional glaze, it’s much more integrated into the clay as opposed to sitting on top, and if you get right up and inspect the lines, you can trace the nuances in colour from a kind of dark burgundy to a pewter or warm black (again with the painter’s perspective).
Collaboration with local artists and makers is a cornerstone of our approach as designers. It is exciting to witness the synergy between shared ideas. Could you elaborate on your experience with this collaboration, and shed light on the processes involved in designing and crafting Dancer?
I don’t mean to make you cringe, but it has been an absolute joy to work with your team on this project. As an artist, the industry side of things can often seem like a distant and closed door, or at the very least a minefield. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have had professionals such as yourselves approach so openly and honestly.
I think you really set the tone for how we would collaborate from the get-go by asking me what it was that I genuinely enjoy making and using that as our launching point. I could tell that you really invested in getting to understand me and my design language before we got to the point of making our first test pieces, which in turn gave me a confidence to move forward with developing my studio processes in a way I would with my own designs.
In the nearly 12 months since we were first in touch, we’ve had many a studio visit, and many a wonky prototype. I think the constant back and forth between design and process we have maintained without pressure or panic, leaving plenty of space for both failure and success has led us to a range that just has that little something extra, and I think it shows.
Your ceramic pieces often come together as intricate assemblages of smaller handmade elements, and the pieces in Dancer are no exception. How does it feel to integrate the additional element of light and functionality into your work?
I have experimented with light in my work in the past, but it has always been a bit basic, and a compromise capped by my knowledge and patience with the technical side. I am so happy with the way the light has been integrated within these designs, it has brought forward a dimension that I hadn’t seen in my work before. I think this goes hand in hand with the functionality too. I’m so looking forward to people enjoying these pieces not only as sculptures but being able to interact and receive the simple benefit of light, feels undeniably wholesome to me.
We would describe the Dancer collection as playful, imbued with a sense of movement. How do play and spontaneity inform your artistic practice?
Play and spontaneity are a huge part of my practice. I think their importance came to me through focusing on who I wanted to be as an artist and what I thought it was that set me apart. It’s easy to make work and label it as serious. What I’m always striving toward is to dig out and bare the genuine nature of my creative decision making. Within my ceramic work, yes, it is sometimes considered and refined but there is always an element of character and humour. I work hard to listen to and retain who that character is.
It’s important to keep the spontaneity in my process too, partly because I think it’s a beautiful thing to see an artist’s hand in their work, but also for my sanity. I don’t really enjoy masking off my designs or using a ruler, so I don’t.
We want to also thank you for having us in your beautiful Preston studio. As designers, we are endlessly fascinated by the creative process. Could you tell us about your daily studio practice and perhaps what keeps you inspired outside the studio?
I get to the studio most days, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes for eight, so my time there can be quite varied. It’s a small but functional space and although I find it calming and inspiring to be there, there’s not a lot of room to relax and ruminate. I’ll start by putting on a playlist and get straight to work. Due to the nature of ceramics this usually means picking up where I left off with throwing or trimming or cleaning or what have you. My breaks are mainly dictated by dog walks or coffee, or both. Most of my research and design work goes on in my home office, but if I think of something while I’m in the studio I’ll usually make a note by way of a sketch on the wall in chalk.
I don’t know if it’s considered lucky or unlucky, but I’m inspired constantly from every direction. I find the hard part is weeding through it all and pulling on threads that have something in common.
Sculpture and installation artists that I am blown away by on a regular basis are Hans Coper, Barbara Hepworth, and Louise Bourgeois. They all had incredibly lengthy and varied careers and there was a bit of a timeline overlap there for a while, but I think what I am drawn to in their work is how contemporary it was at the time and how it can still come across as surprising and fresh against work being produced today.
Finally, what are your plans and aspirations for the remainder of 2024?
I have been invited to exhibit a few pieces at Craft Victoria for an exhibition curated by Simone Haag with the theme Fables and Folklore, opening late November. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed pushing my ceramic work through thematic research, it has led me to some special pieces that I wouldn’t have produced otherwise.
Outside of that I’ll be spending most of my studio time from now until February working on another solo exhibition with Sorse Gallery. Hopefully I’ll also find the time to experiment with extending the sculptural elements and scale of my work through materials like steel perhaps. I’d love to get some painting time in there too. We’ll see.
View the Dancer Collection
Learn more about Belinda Wiltshire
Images by Michael Pham
