Susan St Lawrence Ceramics
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Artist Statement

PictureStudio pals Micky and DJ
​My ceramic practise takes four avenues:
  • narrative sculpture
  • collaborative art projects with Small Stories and other art groups
  • exhibition curation
  • teaching.

Each path is important to me for different reasons.

My sculpture is expressive narrative and explores the universe of inner stories, dreams, memories and alter-egos we carry around inside of us.  The work is gestural, and always shows evidence of its making and firing.  It often incorporates contributions from ceramic friends; a significant emotional element for me.  Sculpture allows me to express my artistic visions.

Helen Perrett and I form a collaborative duo called Small Stories.  We've been working together creating narrative ceramic exhibitions for five years and each project we undertake together drives us to expand our concepts, skills and artist expression (not to mention the large amount of fun we have whilst doing it). 

It is important for my work to have a destination.  If there are no projects on the horizon, I usually create one by curating a group show that challenges the participants into exploring their artistic life in a new way.

My teaching allows me to contribute back to the community.  People are drawn to work with clay for a variety of reasons - creative, emotional, physical. Clay allows creative expression other mediums don't, engenders a sense of play sometimes forgotten in our busy lives, and heals in ways not often recognised in medical journals.  




 










C.V.

PictureThe Making of Adam, Auckland 2011







CURRENT
  • Sculptor 
  • Tutor in clay sculpture, group performance firing, backyard kiln building
  • Sculpture tutor at Waikato Society of Potters, Hamilton, and Auckland Studio Potters, Auckland
  • Founder of Community Hearth Firing Events
EDUCATION 
  • Bachelor of Visual Arts (Contemporary Craft), Unitec, Auckland, NZ, 2011
  • Diploma of Ceramic Arts, Otago Polytech, Auckland, NZ, 2008 – 2010
  • Painting Portraiture, Morley College, London, UK, 2002 – 2005
  • Sculpting from Life, Morley College, London, UK, 2001 – 2005
  • Bronze and Glass Casting, CAE, Melbourne, Australia 1998-2000
  • Life Drawing, Hawthorn School of Art, Melbourne, Australia, 1995 – 2000
  • Certificate Cultural and Environmental ​Interpretation, Deakin University, Melbourne Australia, 1996
PUBLICATIONS AND CATALOGUES
  • Portage Ceramic Awards Catalogue, 2016, 2018
  • Auckland Studio Potters.  Fire & Clay Annual Exhibition, 2009-2013, 2015-2016
  • NZ Society of Potters.  52nd National Ceramics Exhibition, 2011, 2015
  • AGS Art Expo, Auckland, 2014
  • Dunser, S. Where to from Here. Journal of Australian Ceramics, April 2013
  • Waikato Times. Project takes Potters on Journey of Self-Discovery, 2012
  • St Lawrence, Susan.  The Making of Adam, Madcap Publications, Auckland, 2011​
OTHER
  • Artist-in-Residence, Creative Waikato, Hamilton, NZ, July 2013, 2014, 2016
  • Judge, Waikato Society of Potters Annual Exhibition, 2013; Franklin Arts Festival 2014, 2016
  • Curator, A River Runs Through Us, 2018; There's More To Me Than Me, 2017; LUSH 2016; Random Moments of Joy 2013;  Waikato Society of Potters Annual Exhibition, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017; 9 Degrees of Happiness, 2012; Lasting Impressions 2011. 
  • Artist-in-Residence, Waikato Society of Potters, Hamilton, NZ, 2012, 2016, 2019
  • Kiln Building Education Exchange led by Peter Lange, Dehua, China, 2009
  • ​www.yuejiyao.com/cn/default.shtml

Exhibitions & Awards

PictureHorse I, Gateway Gallery, Waipa, 2012







ART AWARDS
  • Finalist NZ Portage Awards, 2016; Highly Commended 2018
  • 2nd Place, NZ Potters Assoc 50th Anniversary Celebration Exhibition, 2015
  • Double Merit, Auckland Studio Potters Fire and Clay, 2013
  • People’s Choice Award, Auckland Studio Potters Fire and Clay, 2012
  • Sonia & Les Andrews Ceramic Scholarship, 2010
  • Best in Class, Drawing Award, Manukau School of Visual Arts, 2007
COLLECTIONS
  • James Wallace Arts Trust, New Zealand
  • Waitakaruru Sculpture Park, New Zealand
  • Work held in private collections in Australia and New Zealand
Small Stories EXHIBITIONS
​(collaborations with Helen Perrett)
  • Art in a Garden, Flaxmere, Nth Canterbury, NZ, 2018
  • Lost & Found, ArtsPost, Hamilton, NZ, 2017
  • Library of Legends, ArtsPost, Hamilton, NZ, 2016
  • Small Stories II, Front Room Gallery, Auckland, NZ. 2015
  • StUF: from the collections of St Ursula Ferrett,  Kina Gallery, New Plymouth, NZ, 2015
  • wishUwereHere,  ArtsPost, Hamilton, NZ, 2014 
  • Small Stories I, Corelli's, Auckland, NZ 2013
  • ​Cake On A Plate, Corelli's, Auckland, NZ, 2012
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
  • A River Runs Through Us, (curator & participant), Wallace Gallery Morrinsville, NZ, 2018
  • LUSHx2: There's Me to Me than Me, (curator & participant), ArtsPost, Hamilton, NZ, 2017
  • NZ Portage Award, Te Uru, Auckland, NZ, 2016/17, 2018/19
  • LUSH: Sensational Ceramic Surfaces, (curator & participant), ArtsPost, Hamilton, NZ, 2016 
  • Vessel: Rethinking Function, Auckland, 2015
  • Uncanny: From the Wallace Art Trust Collection, Auckland, NZ, 2015
  • Claybenders, Devonport and Pukekohe, NZ, 2014 - 2017
  • Dynamic Ceramics, Cambridge, NZ, 2014
  • Auckland Grammar Art Expo, Auckland, NZ, 2014
  • Carmel College Art Fusion, Auckland, NZ, 2014, 2015
  • Playing with Print, (print), Sandz Gallery, Hamilton, NZ, 2014
  • Waikato Society of Potters Annual Exhibition, Hamilton, NZ, 2012 - 2017
  • Songs of Fire, Draw Inc, Hamilton, NZ, 2013
  • The Wild Thing, Flametree Gallery, Auckland, NZ, 2013
  • Random Moments of Joy, (curator & participant), Matakana, NZ, 2013
  • Waiprint, (print), Waikato Museum, Hamilton, NZ, 2013, 2014, 2015
  • 9 Degrees of Happiness, (curator & participant), Matakana, NZ, 2012
  • Body of Clay, Franklin, NZ, 2012
  • Graduate Show, Unitec, Auckland, NZ, 2011
  • Lasting Impressions, (curator & participant), Matakana, NZ, 2011
  • NZ Potters Annual Exhibition, Auckland, NZ, 2011, 2015
  • Great Expectations, Orewa, NZ, 2010
  • Toby Jug Show, Whitianga, NZ, 2009
  • Fire and Clay, Auckland, NZ, 2008 - 2016, 
  • Auckland Studio Potters Domesticware Exhibition, Auckland, NZ, 2008, 2012
  • Ceramic Arts Diploma Students Show, Auckland, NZ, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
  • Re:Fraction, (cast glass), Waikato, NZ, 2007
  • Exposure, (cast glass), Rodney, NZ, 2006, 2007, 2008
  • Seafoam:Images of Coming Home (cast glass), Auckland, NZ, 2006
COMMUNITY HEARTH PROJECTS
  • Mountain III, Hamilton, NZ, 2013
  • Mountain II, Pukekohe, NZ, 2013
  • Mountain I, Hamilton, NZ, 2013
  • PrometheusHamilton, Hamilton, NZ, 2012
  • Phoenix, Unitec, Auckland, NZ, 2011
  • The Making of Adam, Unitec, Auckland, NZ, 2011

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