GARRET, IAN

IAN GARRET

My work explores a cultural fusion and hybrid identity. I have a passion for archeological ceramics and blend archetypal elements from ancient Europe and India, which reflect my ancestral background, with the African traditions that form such a strong cultural heritage in my surroundings. This fusion is presented within the context of contemporary studio ceramics. I acquired and absorbed many of my working techniques while researching and recording African ceramics during my academic training. Each vessel is hand-built using the coil and pinch technique, then finely burnished with agate pebbles. A combination of pit-firing and saggar-firing with woodbark, cow dung or dried aloe leaves imparts a lustrous black shine or softly varied terracotta colours to the work. I am fascinated with the artistic process of pattern making. With the formal elements of impressed line, textural contrast, positive and negative interplay, and various complex constructions of symmetry, I strive to create a vocabulary of motifs in a style that can be identified as uniquely my own. - From Southern Art Exchange, 2008.

AVAILABLE WORKS

Set

Vessel 1

Vessel 2

Vessel 3