Concordia

Emerald Lay

Year 11

School: Applecross Senior High School

Medium: Ceramic and porcelain paint

Artist statement: To reflect on my thinking and working practices for my piece Concordia, I thought about the influences of the East towards the West in terms of their different art aesthetics and styles. They may be unique in comparison to one another, but there has been a history of Eastern styles and techniques inspiring Western art movements. I decided to use a ceramic, donut-shaped vase and applied Western porcelain painting techniques to illustrate Western Medieval, Rococo, Japanese, Chinese and Burmese motifs and symbols. I also incorporated mythological dragons in my work, such as the Burmese Naga-dragon and the European dragon. Artists I was inspired by include my teacher Beryl Shropshall, with her classic and elegant porcelain painting techniques and style, as well as Tom Kemp, a porcelain artist who creates his own ceramic pieces with signature brush-stroke designs on their surfaces. By combining old styles, traditional and contemporary methods and techniques, I have contrasted old and new cultures. Concordia, which connotes to unity, is the Latin opposite of discord. These two words with their opposing meanings link to the idea that sometimes there are borderlines or separating riffs created at the start of cultures clashing with each other, but they gradually merge together to create something new.