Dungog ceramic artist Natalie Duncan is riding a wave of success with her impressive ceramic creations.
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The winner of an Newcastle Emerging Artist award, an exhibitor at Maitland Regional Gallery, winner of the Local Artist Award at the inaugural Sculpture on the Farm during the recent Dungog Festival has put Natalie at the forefront of ceramic arts in the region.
The artist creates unique ceramic vessels that explore the connections between feminine and clay.
Inspired by the first Venus sculptures through to the domestic alignment of women to cups and saucers today, Natalie believes ceramics have been wonderful keepers of the feminine memory.
“We share the physical connections with ancient ceramics that resonant today,” she said.
“Through text narratives, colourful imagery and voluptuous form I try to embody the long history of the feminine attachment to ceramics in my work.”
The contemporary relevance of Natalie’s work has found no better example than the invitation to exhibit at the Napier Waller Art Prize held recently at the National War Memorial, Canberra.
In 2009 Natalie was a serving with the Australian Defence Forces in Afghanistan and had a rare opportunity to observe the expression of cultural identity of ordinary Afghan people in the face of conflict and social turmoil.
Natalie was moved by the so called ‘war rugs ‘ created by local Afghanies that visually documented their experience of successive military conflicts and the impact on their everyday lives.
“The war rugs inspired me to create my own ceramic ‘memory jugs’ which aim to represent and transmit deeply felt sentiments which cross cultures and genders,” she said.
The creation of the memory jugs represents a major artistic challenge.
Standing up to two metres high each work is constructed in parts with haunting glazed colours and textures. Decorated externally and internally with a mix of striking symbols, images and text the works command attention.
Each component of the work may need to be kiln fired up to three times for many hours to achieve the desired effect.
“For me the final appearance needs to strike a chord in my memory about some event, experience or belief,” said Natalie.
The experience of exhibiting at the National Memorial was particularly poignant for Natalie.
“People who have served in Afghanistan or other theatres of conflict all deal with the aftermath in different ways,” she said.
“The creation of the memory jugs helped me to consolidate my memories and manage the emotional consequences through the practice of the ceramic art that I love.”
Natalie’s work is currently on display at the Dungog by Design Gallery, Dowling Street, Dungog