Ep 5 - Ceramics - Janet Fieldhouse

FROM THE CERAMICS COLLECTION

Janet Fieldhouse's distinctive combination of ancestral practice and contemporary techniques has positioned her as a singular voice in Australian ceramics.

Through her hand-built sculptures, Janet simultaneously records and reinterprets traditional stories and practices from the Torres Strait Islands drawing on her own cultural heritage, as well as academic research.

Her unique process and forms combine Western ceramic techniques with First Nations’ pottery practices from the Pacific and the Americas - places where she has engaged in extended cultural and artistic exchanges.

In this conversation, Janet discusses how she infuses her works with goodwill, her approach to interpreting cultural material, and the cyclical processes within her practice.

Did you know Janet was featured in Newcastle Art Gallery's nationally award-winning exhibition WARWAR: The Art of Torres Strait in 2021? You can find out more about the exhibition here

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If you could have dinner with any artist from Newcastle Art Gallery's collection, who would it be? Why?

Janet selected her mentor and ground-breaking ceramicist Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher AO.

To choose your own dinner guest, you can search artists from our collection here.

ABOUT THE CERAMICS COLLECTION  

Newcastle Art Gallery's collection includes ceramic works from the 17th century to today, representing both excellence in design and the medium's development as an important contemporary practice unto itself. Since the 1970s, the Gallery has played a leading role in establishing Newcastle as a centre of national significance in ceramics, focusing on works by Australian and Japanese artists.

Find out more about Newcastle Art Gallery's Ceramics collection here.

Newcastle Art Gallery holds four works of art by Janet Fieldhouse in our collection.