Roswitha Wulff
Canberra grasslands - before and after the fires 2004
H: 113 cm
W: 98 cm
$6400
Diptych
Maker's statement: The Australian countryside is very much at the heart of my work, and I see my pots as abstract landscapes, and less as vessels, although of course they are still that.
I wished to take this a step further, closer to a 'classic landscape' and have the work hanging on the wall as pictures or entire murals, i.e. essentially flat. I wanted to keep the soft rounded rim, however, as that had become almost a signature of my pots.
During a residency at the Canberra School of Art in 2002, I developed tiles that look a bit like 'pillows', flattening out of vessels, if you like. The tiles for the greenish piece were the result of woodfiring by two Masters students, Daven Hee and Byong Chan Seo. The dark black/brown piece was done last year in my studio with charcoal in a saggar fired to 1300 C.
I feel that the diptych reflected the aftermath of the terrible fires in Canberra in 2003, the greens of the grasses surrounding the city and then the burnt out effect. As well, it can be viewed as a reflection of the history of that city, or even the whole of this beautiful country.
