- Artist's medium: Ceramics
- Email the Artist: Click here
- Artist location: Tuncurry NSW
Steve Williams has recently taken up residence at Tuncurry, having moved from Wagga Wagga and is Teaching Arts and Design at the Great Lakes Campus of TAFE.
Steven Williams has taken the depiction of his surroundings one step further by physically including it in his creations. His material is what he refers to as a clay – aggregate;. It begins with a commercial clay base but soon takes on a unique personality from the red clay he adds from his surroundings, and the dirt, rocks and other natural materials that lie around his studio. His intention here is to construct a surface so textured that an active 3D surface is created:
I was introduced to clay in the first foundation semester of my undergraduate Visual Art course. I was stung by the physicalness of the material, the fact that you could use your hands and natural materials, clay, water and fire to make stuff. The fact that you could transform it into a ‘synthetic rock’ material was powerful and magical. It still is.”
It seems that Steve wants to be at one with the medium – without interference of tradition, ceramic culture or history of the art form. So powerful is this drive within him that even a glaze represents an unnecessary interruption:
To make objects that people can use and enjoy with a sense of the traditions of pottery is compelling. I do however, find myself questioning these very traditions and values at every turn.”
I am motivated by a strong urge to progress forms from the wheel to the kiln more directly. I am moving away from application of slips or glazes prior to packing in the kiln. Drafted ash and vapours fuse with the clays at high temperature to ‘kiln-glaze’ the works. Each pot tells a story of its proximity to firebox and other forms, atmosphere and temperature.”
My work has been described as having an Australian quality – a ‘tough beauty’. Wagga Wagga has provided a place of healthy isolation.”
This isolation has done nothing to dampen his ability to articulate his passion and passively persuade others to interact with the medium. His cups are a perfect example of this. They are handleless, and purposely so. Williams believes handles are superfluous and prevent the user from experiencing the artwork completely. He typically presses a stick into the base of his cups which inevitably provides a comfortable resting place for the holder’s pinky finger. This he believes, forces them to engage more completely with the beauty of the medium:
I observe people engaging with pots. They will turn them upside down. What for? To find the makers mark or signature? To confirm the level of finish? I want pot observers to engage with the base of my forms and enjoy a sense of continuum, the form existing in all directions.”
I think pots should grow and present dialogue in all directions. Many wheel-thrown pots and hand-built pots exist with a preoccupation or focus on the rim or upper section. This has much to do with the conventions and traditions of pot making. I have always found the turned and tightly symmetrical foot on wheel-thrown forms somewhat machined, industrial and often in conflict with the organic intent for softer life-giving forms.”
I enjoy and question the tradition of wheel thrown forms – in particular exploring the elements that define vessels. Forms are ‘plastic completed’ in one sitting. To come back to a form when it has firmed and rekindle a relationship is alien. Wood-firing, with its natural ash deposit is my ‘glaze treatment’ of choice.”
