Sabbia Gallery is delighted to present this beautiful exhibition by Australian ceramic artist Cathy Franzi.
Franzi is a full-time studio artist and was awarded a Doctorate of Visual Arts (Ceramics) from the Australian National University School of Art in 2015. Through her ceramic practice she explores ways to represent Australian flora and the environments they inhabit.
Franzi’s work is held in public collections, including the Parliament House Collection, Canberra Museum and Gallery, the ACT Legislative Assembly Art Collection and Manly Art Gallery and Museum. In 2013, a work from her solo exhibition ‘Painting the Hills of Canberra’ was included in the Canberra Centenary Time Capsule. She has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Australian Postgraduate Award, the Nelson Nichols Scholarship in Ceramics, the Scott Brickworks Award at the 2016 biennial North Queensland Ceramic Awards, and most recently the 2018 Ignition Ceramics Award. Franzi was Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Biology, ANU as part of the 2016 Vice-Chancellor’s College Artist Fellows Scheme and is currently undertaking research for the project Art of Threatened Species with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Orana Arts.
My inspiration for this body of work is the extraordinary diversity of Banksias found in south-west Western Australia. In February this year I spent a month as artist-in-residence with the Fremantle Arts Centre and during trips into the field I had the joy of seeing Banksias in the wild, including rare ones in Stirling Range National Park. Banksias are such interesting plants to draw on the clay surface with a variety of shapes and textures in leaf and inflorescence.
Dr Cathy Franzi, September 2018
