CASSY MCARTHUR
Artist Statement
My ceramic art practice involves a focused investigation into the characteristics and use of clay bodies, rock and materials collected from the natural environment for creating hand–built ceramic forms.
Through an intimate journey of fossicking, collecting, investigating, processing and intuitive creation by hand, I gain a deep appreciation and respect for my surrounds and the materials with which I am working. In gaining an understanding of the characteristics and abilities of each material, I aim to let the materials speak freely in my finished works.
Compelled by an innate desire for discovery and the sense of wonder it brings, I have forged an artistic pathway that has exploration and discovery at its core. With this in mind, my work aims to highlight inspiration, process and materiality, whilst remaining responsive to immersion, experience and discovery.
Invigorated by being out in the natural world through a deep connection to the land, it is intuitive for me to draw inspiration from it. I am fascinated by the geological formations underpinning our existence, and the passage of time marking their impermanence. There exists a binary between the magnitude of such formations and their sense of mass, monumentality, stability and strength, and the awareness that no single state is permanent. The passage of time sees an ever-changing landscape and existence. Melted, exploded, compressed and eroded, the geological landscape provides an exquisite marker of process and change.
By drawing inspiration from the geological landscape, I pay homage to the foundations upon which we exist, to process and change, and to time itself.
