Conversations with the Collection

Gwyn Hanssen Piggot & Tiarne Mitchell

Collection Statement:

South Australian contemporary ceramic artist, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott’s creative practice follows both Oriental and European traditions of utilitarian and functional ceramics. With clarity of vision and precision, Hanssen Pigott creates harmonised clusters of refined domestic ceramic objects in rhythmic procession. These three dimensional still lives express cohesion and spatial balance through the representation of decorative rather than utilitarian forms. Reminiscent of Giorgio Morandi’s painted assemblages; Hanssen Pigott’s works demonstrate immense skill and technical resolve whilst also encouraging the viewer to meditate on the importance and aesthetic value of everyday objects. Constructed in domestic scale with the use of subtle glazes and tonal harmonies, these works demonstrate control and balance coupled with an elegance of line and proportion. In addition to their immense technical precision, these works are symbolic of the nature of change. They also resonate the importance of materiality and the way that assemblage creates unity as a complete body of work, rather than the sum of their individual pieces.

Tiarne Mitchell
Gosford High School
Less is more (2011)
Painting (detail)

ARTEXPRESS Artist Statement:

My work is influenced by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott’s still-life compositions of hand-crafted porcelain vessels and, like her, by Giorgio Morandi’s subject matter and tone. Like them, my intention is to create still-lifes that examine the simple beauty in everyday objects. I use varying shades of white to demonstrate that only subtle tonal variances and textures are necessary for an audience to distinguish objects within a work. However, my overt purpose is to convey how, in a society where art has become so drenched in social commentary, less is more.

Curriculum Linkages
Frames:
Discuss the tonal qualities and simplicity of Tiarne Mitchell and Gwyn Hansen Pigott work. How do these qualities reference the everyday, the mundane and the ordinary?

Conceptual Framework:
Hanssen Piggot has used porcelain and Mitchell drawing to explore the still life tradition. How does the choice of materials between the two artists influence an audiences understanding and reading of these works?

Practice:
Analyse the challenges these artist have faced using a limited colour palette. How does this self imposed restriction relate to the expression of the artists’ concept?

Download ARTEXPRESS 2012 Conversation with the Collections.