Thursday, January 19, 2023

Artist of the Day, January 19, 2023: Janet Fieldhouse, an Aboriginal ceramist, Australia (#1756)

Janet Fieldhouse (1971) is a Meriam Mir ceramic artist based in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Fieldhouse uses a variety of clays and ceramic techniques to recover, reinterpret and represent Ailan Kastom: the cultural practices, symbols and artistic traditions of her Erub community, particularly the significant roles and contributions of women.

Fieldhouse is recovering and celebrating Ailan Kastom through an innovative approach to ceramics. Fieldhouse has been awarded several prizes for her work, including the Indigenous Ceramic Art Prize at Shepparton Art Museum in 2007 and 2012, and has work held in public collections throughout Australia and the United States.

Janet Fieldhouse was born in Cairns, Queensland, and maintains strong connections with her matrilineal connections to Badu (Mulgrave), Mua (Moa), Kirriri (Hammond) and Erub (Darnley) islands and South Sea Islander communities.

Combining varieties of earthenware, stoneware and porcelain clays with natural fibres, found materials and multimedia, Fieldhouse evokes the foremost importance of a continuing connection to Country and Culture for Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Fieldhouse's work "is an expression of her Torres Strait Islander heritage: the material culture, rituals of social and religious life, and artefacts which are created to fulfil the functional and spiritual needs of the peoples of the Torres Strait," and focusses specifically on the contributions of women to Ailan Kastom.

It is the ceremonial scarification and body adornment of Torres Strait Islander women that is most documented by Fieldhouse's practice. Using Keraflex flexible porcelain, Fieldhouse translates oral histories from Erub and Badu Elders into intricately carved translucent discs, illuminated by light-boxes set beneath the surface in her Comb and Pendant series. Her 2011 work Tattoo is a porcelain piece featuring symbols and imagery from women's scarification traditions which are no longer practiced in the Torres Strait. This work was awarded the Indigenous Ceramic Art Award in 2012. Tattoo is featured in the Shepparton Art Museum online exhibition, "Paradise Again".

In a 2011 exhibition at Vivien Anderson Gallery, "Journey", Fieldhouse combines white raku, red raku and Cool Ice porcelain with feathers, string, acrylic paint, synthetic polymer paint, demonstrating her innovative approach to ceramics. She also incorporates terracotta clay from the Mekong River in Laos, where she travelled in 2010 and worked with local potters. In the same year, Fieldhouse was a featured artist in the Vivien Anderson Gallery group exhibition, "The Women's Show," which showcased the diversity and innovation of Australian First Nations women artists.

Fieldhouse has been the recipient of several awards and prizes for her contributions to both contemporary Australian ceramics and Australian First Nations art. in 2018, Fieldhouse was a featured artist in The National in Sydney, exhibiting her Comb and Pendant series in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, New South Wales.

© 2023. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Janet Fieldhouse or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only 

Ms. Janet Fieldhouse
Baskets. 2008
 Rhythm2009
Baskets.  2014
Bride. 2014 Pendant Series
Bride. 2014 Pendant Series
Mark and Memory NÂș 12014
Breast Plate. 2017 Hybrids Series
Confluence 7, Confluence 5, Confluence 6 (left to right) 2017
Confluence 11, 2017
Confluence, 2017
Fishhooks, 2017.  Hybrids  Series
Hybrids Series.  2017
Hybrids Series.  2017
Hybrids Series.  2017
Hybrids Series.  2017
Hybrids Series.  2017
Marriage,2017 Pendant Series
 Pendant2017 Hybrids Series
Scarification2017 Hybrids Series
Confluence Scarification2018 Hybrids Series
Confluence Scarification018 Hybrids Series
Colour of Land IIII2019
Hybrid Gathering Tools2019
Hybrid Sailing,2019 Canoe Series
Skin Deep Journey2019
Never The Same Floating Rebirth2021
Never The Same Pendant2021
Never The Same Raddle2021
Never The Same Scarification,2021
Never The Same Warriors Armbands2021
Never The Same Water Pearl2021
Never The Same.  2021


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