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<strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong><br />
Lea Durie
Craft + Design Canberra is partially supported by the ACT<br />
Government, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy - an<br />
initiative of the Australia State and Territory Governments,<br />
and the Australia Council for the Arts - the Australian<br />
Government's arts funding and advisory body.<br />
Craft + Design Canberra acknowledges the Ngunnawal<br />
people as the traditional custodians of the ACT and<br />
surrounding areas. We honour and respect their ongoing<br />
cultural and spiritual connections to this country and the<br />
contribution they make to the life of this city and this<br />
region. We aim to respect cultural heritage, customs, and<br />
beliefs of all indigenous people.<br />
Craft + Design Canberra<br />
Wednesday - Saturday | 12pm - 4pm<br />
Or by appointment.<br />
Level 1, North Building | 180 London Circuit<br />
Canberra ACT Australia<br />
02 6262 9333<br />
www.craftanddesigncanberra.org<br />
Publisher: Craft + Design Canberra<br />
Coordination: Waratah Lahy<br />
Graphic Design: Belinda Neame<br />
ABN 33 314 092 587<br />
© Craft + Design Canberra<br />
Cover Image: Lea Durie | <strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong> (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
<strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong><br />
Lea Durie<br />
16 February - 16 March 2024<br />
Craft + Design Canberra
Image: Lea Durie | <strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong> (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
Image: Lea Durie | <strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong> (Installation detail). 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
Image: Lea Durie | <strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong>. 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
<strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong><br />
ARTIST STATEMENT<br />
<strong>Whitlam</strong> is an exploration of a new<br />
place through the deep time<br />
materiality of clay. This work<br />
started with a curiosity of what I<br />
might find when a planned urban<br />
place is encountered through<br />
unplanned wanderings and messy<br />
bodily entanglements. I approach<br />
the new, clean and ordered suburb<br />
of <strong>Whitlam</strong>, on Ngunnawal and<br />
Ngambri country, through its<br />
human architecture and the nonhuman<br />
world of 350 million year<br />
old clay, dug from within the<br />
suburb. The repetitive and<br />
intensive process of working with<br />
wild clay forces me to slow down<br />
and take notice. An exchange<br />
between place, labour and material<br />
develops its own rhythm. A<br />
sensory engagement with the<br />
weight, colour, texture, smell and<br />
sound of the wild clay shows a<br />
vibrancy of matter.<br />
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY<br />
Lea is a Braidwood based artist<br />
working primarily in ceramics.<br />
Working with clay for over 20 year<br />
Lea uses this malleable material to<br />
create forms that investigate human<br />
impact on the landscape. Lea works<br />
with both wild and commercial clays<br />
and manipulates surfaces with slips,<br />
sgrafitto, glaze and printing.<br />
Lea is currently completing a Masters<br />
of Contemporary Art Practices at the<br />
ANU School of Art and Design. She<br />
has been the recipient of a highly<br />
commended award in the national<br />
Klytie Pate Ceramics Award 2023, the<br />
3D award at the QPRC Art Prize, the<br />
Doug Alexander Award 2021 from the<br />
Canberra Potters’ Society the Craft<br />
ACT Emerging Contemporaries<br />
Award with Craft ACT. In 2023 Lea<br />
was also awarded the Belconnen Art<br />
Centre <strong>Exhibition</strong> Award, Craft +<br />
Design Canberra Award and the<br />
Materials Award in the ANU School<br />
of Art and Design Graduating<br />
<strong>Exhibition</strong> EASS awards. Her work<br />
has been included in a number of<br />
group shows in the ACT, Victoria and<br />
NSW.<br />
Lea is also a creative business owner,<br />
with her functional ceramics practice<br />
Mud Dept. producing carefully<br />
designed and crafted reduction fired<br />
tableware.
Image: Lea Durie | <strong>Wilding</strong> <strong>Whitlam</strong>. (detail) 2023 | Photo: Courtesy of the Artist