Sandra Taylor

artists/sandra-taylor

Sandra Taylor

Long Distance Swimmer
45×46cm
Multi fired, underglaze painted, fired to 1100°c

From Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

Sandra Taylor (b. 1942) trained at East Sydney Technical College in 1965-66, and in the early 1970s moved away from making functional wares in the Anglo-Oriental style, towards making painted and modelled narratives of Australian life. These have usually been humorously and critically observant of some aspect of Australian ‘norms’, and over the years she has made these observations through metaphors as diverse as pigs, savaloys, palm trees, dogs, cattle, houses, swimming pools and pencil pines.

The Museum has some modelled works from 1979. This plate is the culmination of a 1992 series ‘Yarns from the Bush’, made after Taylor had moved to Buccarumbi in northern NSW. Most of the series was exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries but this one was made later, and she considers it a most significant example of that group. Later work (included in the file) extends this painted work onto three dimensional objects like houses, in the ‘Romantic Dividends’ series of 1996.

Sandra Taylor, along with Lorraine Jenyns and Mark Thompson, was among the first of the 1970s potters to successfully shift from a prevailing functional aesthetic, and has consistently pursued particular themes. She has been influential on a large number of ceramic artists since that time. This is an excellent example of her painted work of the 1990s.

She identifies the motifs in this plate as ‘symbolic bush language’ that she has intuitively evolved over some time. eg: The dog turns into a cow, a person sometimes becomes a cow (see the figure with double heads), sometimes a creature becomes a tree or a branch. The eye symbol is a watcher (in early days this was a galah, then a dog, and is now an eye).

See ‘Yarns from the Bush’ article from Craft Arts 1992; article by Helen Stephens in Ceramics: Art and Perception (1996).

Exhibitions

2010
Sculpture 22

Biography

1942
Born in Sydney, Australia
1967
Graduated from East Sydney Technical College
1968 – 1977
Taught ceramics – High Schools, Technical Colleges, Sydney Teachers’ College, Sydney College of the Arts
1972
Established own studio in Balmain
1974
Grant received from Crafts Board
1977
Awarded Gold Medal of the Faenza Credito Romagnolo
1982
Moved to Northern New South Wales
1993
Sandra’s property became a centre for creative exploration “Blackadder Creative Retreat”
1995
Visual Arts Craft Fund Fellowship
1997
Final workshop. Property sold

Solo Exhibitions

1996
Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1992
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1988
Moree Plains Regional Gallery
1987 & 1979
Realities Melbourne
1986 & 1981
Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
1977
Art of Man Gallery, Sydney

Commissions

1989
Bligh Park Shopping Centre mural, Windsor
1987
Harbourside Festival Marketplace, Darling Harbour Sydney, mural

Selected Group Exhibitions

2010
“Sculpture 22” Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
2009
“Small is the new Big” Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
1997
“Australische Keramic” Gallery Handwerk, Munich Germany
“Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramics Award” Shepparton Gallery Victoria
“The Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award” Auckland NZ
“Ceramics” Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
“Kutani International Decorative Ceramic Exhibition” Japan
“Sculptural Objects, Functional Art” (SOFA) Chicago, USA
1995
“Out of the Void” Queensland Art Gallery
“Designex” Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre, Sydney
“Delinquent Angel” Faenza Italy (then touring Australia)
1994
“Pots and Platters” recent Australian ceramics from the Powerhouse Museum and other collections, Penrith Regional Gallery
“Craft Australia” for collectors’ circle of the American Craft Museum
1993
“Fresh Clay” Australian Craft Centre, Melbourne
“Messa Berlin” Tradefair Exhibition, Germany
“From Func to Functional” McWhirter’s Art Space Brisbane
“12th National Gold Coast Ceramic Award”
1992
“Decorated Clay” Queensland Art Gallery (touring)
“Australian Landscapes” Gold Coast City Art Gallery
“Expo 92” Australian Pavilion Seville Spain
“11th National Gold Coast Ceramic Art Award”
“Indoor Landscapes” Craft Council of Queensland
1991
“Australian Crafts in Chicago” (C I N A F E ’91)
“Australia Pacific World Craft s Exhibition” Kyoto Japan
“David Jones” Australia Day Crafts Exhibition, Sydney
“Craft Expo ’91” Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney
“Decorated Vessel” 6th National ceramic conference, McWhirter’s Art Space, Brisbane
“The Vessel” Gold Coast City Art Gallery
1990
“Three Artists from Australia”; part of Australia’s contribution to the New Zealand 1990 Commonwealth Games
1988
“20×20 Crafts in Society (1970-1990)” Crafts Council NSW touring exhibition
1986
“Clat Statements“2nd National Darling Downs Survey
1983
“Aspects of Australian Crafts” Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
“Australian Decorative Arts – the past 10 years” National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1982
“Contemporary Australian Ceramics” National Gallery of Victoria touring NZ & USA
1981
“Contemporary Australian Ceramics” Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1979
“European Dialogue” 3rd Biennale of Sydney
1978
“Australian Craft- A Survey of Recent Work” touring major Australian Sate Galleries
1976
“35th Concorso Internationale d’Arte Ceramica” Faenza, Italy
1973
“Australian Ceramics” Sydney Opera House opening festival exhibition, CLM Gallery, Sydney

Public Collections

1996
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
1994
Grafton Regional Gallery
Tweed Heads Regional Art Gallery
1993
Queensland Art Gallery
Shepparton Art Gallery
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Campbelltown City Council Regional Gallery
1992
Gold Coast City Art Gallery
Queensland University of Technology
1991
National Gallery of Victoria
Queensland Art Gallery
Gold Coast City Art Gallery
1989
New England Regional Art Museum
City Art Institute, Sydney
Ipswich City Council Regional Art Gallery
Brisbane City Council
Orange Regional Art Gallery
1988
Gold Coast City Art Gallery
1987
National Gallery of Victoria
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Darling Downs Institute, Toowoomba
1986
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
1984
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
1983
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Orange Regional Art Gallery
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
1982
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1980
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Queensland Art Gallery
1979
National Gallery of Victoria
Arts Victoria Festival Collection
Art Bank, Sydney
The Phillip Morris Collection, Sydney
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Rockhampton City Art Gallery
Geelong City Art Gallery
1978
National Gallery of Australia, Canberr1977:Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Crafts Board of Australia
Melbourne University Art Gallery
Melbourne State College
Wollongong City Art Gallery
International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy

Private Collections

  • Baker McKenzie Collection, Sydney
  • Jack Benrova collectors’ circle of American Craft Museum
  • David J Evans President MGM/United Artists, USA
  • Sir Elton John, UK
  • Tim Storrier, Sydney
  • Geoffrey Proud, Sydney
  • Brett & Wendy Whiteley, Sydney
  • Sir Michael Parkinson, UK
  • Mark & Eva Besen, Melbourne
  • Lord McAlpine, UK
  • James Erskine, Sydney
  • Margaret Tuckson, Sydney
 
 

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