Fleur Schell

Artist Statement

Using porcelain I love to make sentimental objects that are rich in detail, playful and familiar.

The common thread throughout my work is a connection to my own personal history. Having grown up with my mother who is a piano teacher, our home was filled with wonderful music. In 1997, with a fascination of musical instruments of all kinds I felt compelled to make a series of sound instruments. Using combinations of porcelain, metal, wood and found components these instruments explored the possibilities of sound through ceramic media in a way that encourages audience interaction on an audio, tactile and visual level. The principal aim was to create cast ceramic forms that were capable of generating sound, and which, through their aesthetic and textural quality, invited an intimate tactile response.

The exploration of sound continued several years later through a series of doorbells, which began as antique glass bottles found partially buried in a paddock on my families farm. Amongst my family, this pile of detritus is more commonly known as the Bottle Tip. Each doorbell is a combination of porcelain and mixed media and features altered slip cast porcelain bottles that have been cast from the found bottles in order to make sound.

While in Canada in 2001as Artist in Resident at Alberta College of Art and Design I began exploring the internal spaces of form and the way sound describes internal chambers that are unable to be seen. This lead to a series of organically derived sound funnels in porcelain and soft fabrics.

It was while I was living abroad that I learnt to appreciate hand crafted utaliterian ceramics. I began to understand how the daily ritual of pouring from a handmade teapot and drinking from a thrown and altered cup enriched the dining experience. Nearly a decade on I love the quiet place in my head that making usable objects sweeps me away to. I love objects that provide us with individual recognisability, especially those essential objects that are instrumental to our daily rituals. Quite simply I love the discipline required and the challenges presented in making an object functional.

I began exploring Narrative in clay in 2005 after my daughter Heidi was born. The teapots I make have become a canvas to tell Heidi’s story, and at the same time convey a tacit message of an imaginary world in which we can all recognize ourselves. Like a page from a children’s book the gesture between a little girl and her dog atop a teapot encourages us to reflect apon innocent childlike experiences. I love to reflect on those precious beginnings when my days were consumed with play.

The following year I received an Australia Council grant allowing my work to take a major shift into the construction of Tableux of ceramics and mixed media. So began ‘The Excellent Adventures of Heidi and Kilbey’. Heidi reacquainted me with the magical world of children’s books and this was all the inspiration I needed for the work I am currently making for a children’s book.