Clay: Collected Ceramics

A celebration of contemporary ceramics and their imaginative makers.

From ancient vessels to figurines revealing the daily lives of people from antiquity, ceramics have been integral to cultures worldwide for millennia. Ceramics have stored our most precious resources, have been vehicles for knowledge and traditions, and passed between generations as heirlooms.

Clay: Collected Ceramics is a celebration of ceramics combining works from Museum of Brisbane’s Collection and Kylie Johnson’s personal collection. It is accompanied by Commune, a display of single pieces contributed by more than 300 makers responding to MoB’s largest community callout to date.

With pieces spanning 60 years of creativity, including fresh works never before displayed, Clay sparks a conversation about the relationship between potters and their visions. From functional wares of the 1970s to conceptual creations by iconoclastic makers of today, this exhibition will speak of the meaningful processes of making and collecting.

The many highlights of Clay include a bold grouping selected from the MoB Collection to represent the many shades of brown, featuring works by ten renowned makers including Carl McConnell, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Milton Moon, Lyndal Moor and Kevin Grealy. In stunning contrast are newly commissioned and acquired pieces by diverse contemporary makers Bonnie Hislop, Nicolette Johnson, Jane du Rand, Kenji Uranishi and Steph Woods. Flowing throughout is an evolving performative installation by Artist in Residence Jody Rallah.

A generous array of objects gleaned from years of collecting speaks of the life of Kylie Johnson, author, poet, traveller and founder of Brisbane treasure-trove, paper boat press. A film commissioned for the exhibition insinuates the viewer into intimate spaces of ceramics themselves. Woven throughout are many makers’ ruminations on how they lost their hearts to this most elementary, seductive material.

Slip into an exhibition that turns the wheel on how we perceive Clay.

(Image: Bonnie Hislop for Clay: Collected Ceramics at Museum of Brisbane 2023. Photo: Macami.)