Impressed Bird Tray

Australian artist Victoria Howlett plays with the connection between landscape, memory and an evocation of place. From the early paintings of Apollo Bay landscapes, viewed through a foreground of still life objects, to her more abstract images and enigmatic three dimensional ceramic 'tor' configurations, a visual lexicon of forms has developed that gathers the motifs and memory of Australian sites as varied as the Flinders Ranges, Lake Mungo, Mutawintji and Apollo Bay. Howlett's studio diaries describe the creation of this work: 'Made August 1979. A coarse 'open' groggy South Yarra clay. ie lots of grog (= pre-fired crushed clay, like large sugar grains). Impressed figures using my designed plaster stamps. Ferric oxide rubbed in, salt soluZon painted on and fired to 1260℃.'