A Little Off Centre
City of Townsville Art Collection Award – $10,000 Acquisitive
Sally Walk
A Little Off Centre 2022
Midfire clay with black slip and clear glaze
65 x 23 x 30 cm
About the Artwork
Repeated Melbourne lockdowns have taken me on a journey from a focus on perfection in ceramic technique to a new perspective on my understanding of what is perfection, one where it is acceptable to be a little ‘off centre’. There is a deliberate relinquish of control, finding the beauty in the hidden spaces of morphed organic forms.
I am directly influenced by my surroundings – especially the beauty in patterns that are apparent in both natural and human made objects and environments. These patterns and my perception of them is also influenced by my reflections on the human condition. I am forever trying to understand my place in the world and so my work is very much a symbolic discovery of self. A love of line and strong contrast is ever present in my work, with the use of black utilised as a metaphor for strength and determination.
About the Artist
Sally Walk is a Melbourne based ceramicist who has been working in clay for 30 years. She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Most recently at Taoxichuan in Jingdezhen China, and Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan. In 2015 she was awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award – Ceramics at the Florence Biennale. Her work is held in private and public institutions internationally. Walk is also a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.
In her ceramic work she uses form and texture to explore the idea of façades and the way the outer self is used to facilitate belonging. These aspects of human nature manifest in her work as spikes, spots, carving, heavy texture, and present as organic adornments to the surface of her work. Walks ceramics are totems of human nature and its foibles – and the power to sculpt our raw, foundational materials into new and varied forms.
Judge’s Comments
The major acquisitive piece was selected by Dianne Peach for the City of Townsville Art Collection. Dianne wanted the work to speak about ceramics in a particular way, explaining that she wanted it to be something that people would notice and create conversation and to challenge them to explore what ceramics is all about.
Dianne chose a work by Melbourne-based artist Sally Walk, favouring her striking black and white piece A Little Off Centre. The work’s coil-built shape gave an asymmetrical almost humanoid appearance which Dianne favoured. The simple technique of black and white decoration was striking, and it was a work that Dianne kept coming back to.