Stitched III by Serena Owen

Ceramic

8cm x 6cm

This work is the continuation of a series of wheel formed, porcelain vases inlaid with stitching patterns learnt from my grandmother and great-aunt. The work is an expression of my love of the crafts, like crochet and knitting, that they taught me. It is also a tangible connection to the past, to the women I inherited my love for making from, and a celebration of the value of the hand-made.

Serena is a ceramicist who makes domestic scale work on the wheel. She shows her love of traditional crafts on the surfaces of her pieces. Inspired by the work of her grandmother and great-auntie - two women obsessed with crafting - she makes glazes to suggest the softness of crochet, or inlays and scratches fine patterns into her surfaces to explore stitching styles. By referencing fragile old fraying pieces of heirloom craft, Serena creates tangible connections to the women who taught her to value the hand-made and enjoy slow living. Serena completed a Fine Arts degree, followed by a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary Visual Arts) at the University of Newcastle in 2004/5. She completed her Diploma of Ceramics at Hornsby TAFE in 2020 and her Advanced Diploma of Ceramics in 2022. Serena also teaches ceramics and is co-director at MakingTime Gallery, an occasional ceramics gallery in Clovelly.