New annual installation at Quartz
A selection of porcelain and stoneware vessels make up the new annual installation at Quartz, Museum of Studio Ceramics in Bates St.
The work is called Lux and Flux by Kate McIntyre.
Every year the Rick Rudd Foundation exhibits an installation at Quartz.
“I had never actually seen one of her pieces in ‘life’, but I had seen an image of one of her pieces in a Portage Award, and liked it,” says Rick Rudd, museum owner and curator.
“Each year, through the Foundation, I give $300 to the Auckland Studio Potters for a first-time exhibitor award.” It turns out Kate McIntyre won that award in 2016.
“What she does, she throws the original shape on a wheel, then she takes a mould of it. There are two types: the porcelain ones and the stoneware. She slipcasts them, and when they come out she carves them with wood carving tools.”
“The installation explores concepts of transience and impermanence . . . The carvings on the vessels are inspired by patterns left in the sand from an outgoing tide, or those created by the wind,” the information card says.
“It’s a quiet, gentle installation,” says Rick.
“And because of the quality of the porcelain … she made her own lights out of porcelain and organised a lighting strip and the display equipment she brought down with it.”
This is the fourth installation Rick has arranged for Quartz.
“Each has a different feeling and it’s here for a year, and it means there’s something different in the museum every year. They can be for sale, although they don’t have to be. In this case all the pieces are for sale. Each year I buy a piece for the museum so I have something from the installation that remains here.
“After 10 years it will be interesting to look back and see how they’ve varied and what they’ve brought to the museum.”
Kate brought her own wooden display stand and constructed the installation using her own lights to their best effect.
The porcelain glows, as if creating its own light, contrasting with the darker stoneware.
The designs on each piece, while almost similar, are different enough to register in the eye of the viewer.
Quartz, Museum of Studio Ceramics is open on Boxing Day and every day from then until the end of January.