Next month Manly Art Gallery & Museum (MAG&M) will welcome three unique exhibitions showcasing the very best in contemporary ceramics.
TABLED, HELD and PLACED will run concurrently from 19 April to 9 June 2024.
The exhibitions feature tableware developed in collaboration with some of Australia’s top chefs, restauranteurs and artisans, clay pieces exploring connections to place, and utilitarian sculptural objects shown on one continuous shelf.
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins said MAG&M continues to showcase the very best in contemporary ceramics.
“We are proud to host such an impressive line-up of ceramic artists at MAG&M and to be partnering with The Australian Ceramics Association to present exhibitions of national significance,” Mayor Heins said.
“Our Gallery remains a hub of creativity here on the Northern Beaches and continues to showcase ceramic artists from our local community and from further afield.
“Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to see these three unique ceramic exhibitions in the one visit, this April.”
TABLED presents tableware designed and made by twelve potters, developed in collaboration the Australian Ceramics Association (TACA).
The artists worked with chefs, cooks and food producers, including leading Australian chefs from hatted restaurants Firedoor and Gildas, regional restaurants and distilleries, providores and food artists. Together they have produced twelve dramatic and elaborate table installations which reveal fascinating connections between ceramics and food.
The exhibition will be officially opened on 3 May by Quay’s Executive Chef Peter Gilmore.
HELD features 90 small contemporary artworks created by members of TACA. The sculptural objects are utilitarian and functional, appearing as though they could be physically ‘held’. More experimental works in the series capture that in objects memories are also held.
PLACED explores sense of place, belonging and connection, with works from the MAG&M ceramic collection and loaned pieces from artists Rona Panangka Rubuntja, Mechelle Bounpraseuth and Ara Dolatian.
Rona Panangka Rubuntja joined the Hermannsburg Potters in 1998 and has established herself as one of the most prominent senior artists of the group, participating in over forty group exhibitions in Australia and internationally. Inspired by contemporary life in Ntaria, her figurative works are distinctive, humorous and imaginative.
The child of Laotian parents, Bounpraseuth uses art to process loss of cultural heritage, inherited trauma and childhood memories.
Dolatian explores the relationship between cultural landscapes and the natural ecosystem with models of utopian cities and sculptural experiments.
TABLED, HELD, PLACED
19 April – 9 June 2024
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
West Esplanade Reserve, Manly
Open Tue – Sun, 10am–5pm
Free entry
Members and volunteers’ preview
Friday 19 April, 10–11am
Exhibition opening
Friday 3 May, 6–8pm
For full exhibition details, artist talks and other associated events visit www.magam.com.au