Studio Visit with Amy Hick

I visit Amy a few weeks before her exhibition is due to open.  She has just moved into a new house and the only room that seems well and truly lived in is her new studio space at the back.  The long ex-veranda type room overlooks the back yard and consists of one large desk covered in porcelain, buckets of water, tools, a computer and takeaway coffee cups.  I did also notice a few Corona bottles on the coffee table with notable wet clay hand prints on them, she's a multi-tasker......

Amy's sketch book lays open next to a few semi-complete porcelain flowers on the desk.  It's lovely to see the way her ideas have changed and evolved through this process.  Amy completed her honours in a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Australian National University and has traditionally created magical, white, illuminated installations made from small elements of clay and porcelain.  This time around the illumination will be provided by natural light and the alluring glow of bronze glaze.

It's fascinating to watch Amy as she works, I could sit there all day, it seems quite therapeutic and I'm sure it is when there isn't a dead-line looming, she doesn't stop working the whole time I'm there.  The porcelain is rolled out thin on the desk and then shapes are cut around templates of flowers and petals.  The petals are then carefully joined and smoothed with wet paint brushes, but she is careful to make sure her finger prints are present in the work, adding a lovingly hand-made touch.  The flowers are Magnolia inspired, she tells me of her obsession with Magnolia trees and we both get a little worked up about the whole thing as I am also obsessed with them.  Amy used to count the Magnolia trees in town as she was growing up, she would know how many there were on each street she regularly drove down, which is a little weird but very cute.

While You Were Dreaming is our special Easter weekend and F.O.O.D week exhibition.  This will be Amy's first solo exhibition, and in her home town.  It's so wonderful to see young people returning to where they grew up and sharing their incredible talent with us.