In this Art at Home feature, we appreciate how eight artists form organic sculptures by exploring the unique qualities of clay and stone.
In this edit, we explore sculptures that embody an artist’s organic approach to tactility and form. Leaving imprints of human touch, they offer visual reminders of ecologies and time while also bringing glimmers of wonder to shelves and surfaces of the interiors they find themselves in.
My Space | Alexander House | Styling by Claire Delmar, photography by Anson Smart
denHolm
denHolm’s sculptures are carved by hand, following the form of the stone. Created by owner Steven John Clark in his Melbourne studio, the sculptures transcend physicality – flowers set in stone or tables featuring organic curves. Though the materiality is the antithesis of delicate, denHolm’s creations appear light and weightless – a credit to their artist.
Doug Johnston
New York-based artist Doug Johnston uses a process of coiling and stitching rope to create organic sculptures based on ancient vessel-building techniques. Employing handmade and vintage industrial sewing machine-based practices, Doug contemplates Modernist design and new technologies. His sculptures reflect Anthropocene, taking influence from both the built environment and natural rock formations and canyons.
Kirsten Perry
Melbourne-based ceramicist Kirsten Perry uses slip cast to create functional and non-functional vessels that pay homage to traditional and bio-morphic forms. Each one is hand-sculpted, with the artist exaggerating the imperfections to celebrate the uniqueness of each piece. Their ornate and mesmerising qualities connect to form unique sculptures imprinted with the artist’s touch.
Stephanie Phillips
Sydney-based sculptor Stephanie Phillips’ oeuvre, features curved vessels in memory of the Australian bush, influenced by driftwood and bromeliads in varying clays, glazes, and oxides. Her grandmothers played a huge role in her inspiration — one an artist and craftswoman from Russia, the other a founder of The Crommelin Native Arboretum, a small sanctuary of native plants and trees in Pearl Beach, NSW.
Bettina Willner
Like creatures emerging from the depths of the ocean, Melbourne-based Bettina Willner’s artworks follow organic form, handbuilt through raw clay and golden glazes. Working intuitively, she allows the medium to direct the structure, the glistening surface adding intrigue. The natural world and architecture inspire Bettina as she explores her medium of contemporary ceramics.
Greg Penn
Inspired by the twisting and turning of Australian gum trees, Melbourne-based Greg Penn influences the audience to consider the natural world and contemplate our experiences in the landscape. The environment seeps through Greg’s materiality, the artist drawing on clay mud and plant extract for his organic sculptures. The forms themselves follow a natural curve that captures the unpredictability of life.
Tessy King
Based on Clarence River in NSW, Tessy King ceramic vessels are full of handmade touches revealing the organic materiality of clay. Her works are playful and evocative of the freedom of making while employing the qualities of metal and enamel from her background in gold and silversmithing. Tessy’s organic sculptures offer contemplation on the environment, humanness, and the vessels of ancient cultures.
Mel Lumb
Working in Australia’s picturesque Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Australian artist Mel Lumb uses clay as a vessel for her organic custom glazes that reflect light and the essence of nature in varying hues of blues, greens, and umber tones. She takes inspiration from Danish mid-century, Japanese design, and the Australian landscape for her handcrafted sculptures made from wheel-thrown raku and porcelain clays, all handcrafted and fired in a solar-powered kiln in her Queensland home studio.
Pacific Bondi Apartment by Amber Road featuring a Kirsty Budge artwork and Den Holm sculpture.
