Catherine Allen ‘Connection’

“My current body of work explores my love of nature, embedded in me from childhood memories of family bushwalks where Dad taught me how to navigate with maps. I recently went camping in Tjorita – West MacDonnell Ranges, where I felt a deep sense of peace and connection to the spiritually and culturally significant landscape. Each piece in this series is an observation of my time in the beautiful desert landscape & my aim is to take the viewer on a similar journey. My work displays a unique spontaneity when you handle my pieces you can feel the energy and plasticity of the clay. I embrace the imperfections and my mark making is intuitive and gestural. There are three layers to making my pieces, the initial stage of shaping the clay and carving into the slip, then I begin the mark making with water colour underglazes and the last stage is the pencil work.” – Catherine Allen