CELEBRATE ART: Kirsten Coelho by Wendy Walker
Discover beauty in simplicity, with our stunning new art book on Adelaide ceramicist Kirsten Coelho.
With text written by author, art critic, editor and occasional curator Wendy Walker, this beautiful book traces the evolution of Coelho's textured practice, in which an ever-expanding framework of art historical, literary and cinematic references has driven a succession of formal shifts - a shaping of changes.
Post written by Poppy Nwosu
I've been really looking forward to getting my hands on this book (just arrived into our warehouse yesterday!), and have been excited about putting together this blog post to highlight some of my personal favourite pages.
Although I am a big art enthusiast (and visit the gorgeous Art Gallery of South Australia often), I won't pretend to have much knowledge about art practice or history. I know what I find aesthetically pleasing and what interests me, and that feels fulfilling enough for me.
So imagine my surprise when I was first lucky enough to view the inside proof pages of this Wakefield Press book, to recognise the shapes and colours in some of ceramicist Kirsten Coelho's work. The simple lines and the beautiful green glaze of Kirsten's pieces reminded me of the books I had read on Korean history and photos of vases from the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. As it turns out, Kirsten's work really was influenced by those periods, which was very fun for me to discover.
Of course, the artist's influences extend much further than that, into stories and literature, paintings, other artists and other periods in history, but to discover more about that you must read the book! 🙂
For the serious or casual art enthusiast, this one is a beauty!
Here are a few of my favourite pieces.
Author Wendy Walker has also tied in other pieces of art, literature and history into the narrative behind the artist's work! Here are some gorgeous pages I really loved.
I hope you enjoyed flipping through these pages as much as I did!
Kirsten Coelho works in porcelain creating functional forms and vessels of a distilled and otherworldly perfection, which represent her preferred fusion of the formal with the abstract. Deeply grounded in North-Asian ceramic history and the powerful legacy of the British studio movement, her refined interpretations of humble domestic wares nevertheless possess a distinctly contemporary and Australian sensibility.
In a series of essays, author Wendy Walker traces the evolution of Coelho's textured practice, in which an ever-expanding framework of art historical, literary and cinematic references has driven a succession of formal shifts – a shaping of changes. Inherited vocabularies are assimilated in hybridised multiple forms that are without replication. With the adoption of an ensemble mode of presentation, Kirsten Coelho's small universes of transcultural objects transcend the familiarity of their everyday contexts to enshrine narratives of migration, transition and resettlement.
Discover more about Kirsten Coelho on our website and remember, the best way to show your support for writers, poets, publishers and booksellers is to buy books!
Support Wakefield Press by buying our beautiful books! Visit our website or contact us on 08 8352 4455 for more information, or to purchase a book (or three!). We can post your purchase to your doorstep!