New works in porcelain by Kirsten Coelho would make brilliant containers for serving and presenting food. Walking in to the exhibition felt like entering a collector's pantry where selected tableware was awaiting that special dinner party.

The pots are a species of architectural porcelain for the tabletop, to be enjoyed as sculptural shapes and forms within the tableau of the domestic space, on the scale of the edible. Like so much that is compelling in contemporary Australian craft and design these porcelain pots are a fusion of oriental sensibility and occidental design influences, along with a distinctive subtext of place and location underscored by classic glaze surfaces utilising local materials.

From the early 1990's Kirsten worked for a number of years in a London studio. Her style developed under the influence of Bernard Leach and a broad notion of integrating the philosophy of Japanese ceramics with the aesthetics of Chinese (Sung Dynasty) ceramics. As well as giving her an apprenticeship in the skills and traditions of English studio pottery, time in London introduced her to the work of Edmund De Waal and Joanna Constantanidis.* There is an echo of their distinctive approach in these fluid and slightly loose resolutions, which move towards abstraction but retain evidence of their making and strong links to utility and functional form.

Decorative touches are minimal in these new works, the raw oxide materials and heat-induced diffusion speak for themselves. As an unreconstructed decoration addict, I was interested to hear Kirsten say that her pots can be seen as abstracted towers, and other kinds of buildings, with decoration loosely inspired by windows and doorways. Kirsten views repetitive image-based decoration with ambivalence, pointing to the iconoclastic dictum of Grayson Perry** who stated ... 'when I see a pot painted with columns, leaves, fish and dogs, I know that the artist has nothing to say'. Rather, in Kirsten's work, the restrained lyricism and simplicity of the free oxide markings obey Lao Tzu's dictum that 'who ever grasps, loses'.

The glaze resolutions are striking, with the dramatic juxtapositions of rich dark mahogany brown and polished toffee black tenmoku; floating golden spangles of the iron rich tea dust; copper reds and the arctic blues and pale greens of celadons - as cold as a polar bear's kiss. These glazes are not strict historical reconstructions. Raw materials from the Australian landscape are used and combinations of glazes are informed by a contemporary sensibility and an awareness of the evolved culinary demands and cultural richness of Australian cuisine. As if the conundrum of trying to decide whether to put a steaming red curry of duck or seared roo fillet with broad beans and spicy bean curd into a bowl that were not enough! There are further enticing choices to be made by alternating the combination of tonal relationships of the glazes on these pots. Appetite is given a new dimension; the addition of delicious food will contrast the inside and the outside of the pots; the form enclosing mouth watering and aromatic volumes.

Porcelain is a notoriously difficult material to master and since returning to Adelaide in 1998 to work for a time at the JamFactory and now at Jamboree Studio, Kirsten has steadily pursued her approach to this material. Like a language of Braille, you really need to touch these works to appreciate just how successful her approach has been. In addition to the weight and structural balance of the pots there are subtleties of surface and undulation of form that can be registered best by the sense of touch. Kirsten's oval and elliptical pieces are constructed by cutting, altering and then rejoining to create sprung tension, as if motion was frozen or arrested.

In addition to being a consummate craftsperson Kirsten is also a collector of pottery; she lives with the pieces, constantly reflecting on their feel and proportions, this is why her pottery rewards long term familiarity and use. As Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (Objects of Ideas catalogue, 1996) has put it, these are the kind of pots that 'become known and loved objects, my companions; and at each meal or smoko I make a choice, inviting the pot like a friend, and seeing, perhaps, something about it that I forgotten or overlooked in the rush of things'.

Notes

* Edmund De Waal is a respected author and potter working in London. He is known for his languid and optimistically thrown porcelain vessels. Joanna Constantidias was known for her white porcelain domestic objects and lustered porcelain bottle forms which are regarded for their simplicity and understanding of the potential of the medium.

** Grayson Perry, the enfant terribe of the London
ceramic scene and queen of the bourgeois pottery nick-nack, is a highly successful pottery provocateur who's distinctive and incisive public pronouncements cause as much comment and reaction as his highly decorated ceramic work.