The Petals of Flowers

September 2023

 

Covid shrank my life and my arts practice as the first lockdowns and restrictions came into force the day before my birthday in 2020. This exhibition is a reflection on my life since then.

 

Virginia Woolf wrote so poetically and insightfully about how choices and events, inevitable and unexpected, affect our lives, in her novel Mrs. Dalloway. And, as I began to think about how my life had changed, I was reminded of the character Peter Walsh’s thoughts that ‘one day, you find yourself noticing the petals of the flowers instead of the person holding the bouquet’. Hence the title of my exhibition.

 

During the past few years, I found myself spending more time looking at the daily changes in my surroundings and my garden. The colours that were always in my mind whenever I made work have become even more influential.

 

This is the first time I have exhibited ceramics only. I’ve been a painter for the past twenty-five years making occasional forays into textiles and installation. I began making ceramics about six years ago when I discovered the work of Betty Woodman. I shared her love of colour and interest in domestic space and initially I made work that served as a surface to paint on.

 

Over time, I have become besotted with the material characteristics of clay just as I did with paint. I have stopped thinking of clay as a surface to paint on and begun to see it as the genesis of form. As I shape it by hand, I explore its characteristics and limitations and use these to determine the form of my work.  I am also fascinated by the fact that it is both the material I work with and the medium in which the plants and flowers, that inspire my work, grow.

 

For me the opportunity to show my work serves many purposes. Firstly, it gives me a chance to look at and evaluate the works, outside of the studio, in a more objective and less loaded space. It also allows for feedback from peers, arts professionals, collectors and gallery visitors. The installation of my works is very much part of the making process for me. 

 

Along with many artists like Mary Heilmann and Betty Woodman, I want to create a welcoming space much as we do in our own home. The flowers are my way of welcoming visitors to the space as well as a refence to my interest in domestic space and, to the source of inspiration that informs my use of colour. I placed the works in the middle of the room to invite the viewer to walk around and look much as I do in my garden. I hope you enjoy visiting the space.

 

 

Susan Buret