Kirsten Coelho works in porcelain creating refined works that fuse the formal and the abstract. Her work has been influenced by nineteenth and early twentieth century enamel wares and the surface possibilities these objects can show as they begin to age. The reference to archetypal household items also reflects on the experiences of the many migrants and settlers to Australia at that time. The extraordinary dreams, ambitions and failings of this period are contained in Coelho´s works, which consider how objects and art shape history and cultural memory.
Read MoreIn 2015 Coehlo was honoured with a solo exhibition at Drill Hall Gallery at the Australian National University, and undertook an invitation-only Residency at Tweed Regional Gallery. Coehlo holds a Master of Visual Arts and lectures in ceramics at the University of South Australia. Her work has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and is represented in numerous institutional collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia and Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. In addition to winning the City of Hobart Art Prize in 2015, Coehlo also won the coveted Sidney Myer Ceramic Award 2012, and was a recipient of the Josephine Ulrick Ceramic Award in 2005, and the Excellence in Object Award 2006. Her work is featured in The Pot Book, a Phaidon publication that profiles 300 of the world´s most exceptional ceramicists, from early historical to contemporary practitioners.
Text courtesy THIS IS NO FANTASY.
