Carried in Shape
Marlize Myburgh
Carried in Shape (detail) 2026
Stoneware and porcelain
Glaze, matt texture underglaze, naked porcelain
35 x 34 x 21 cm
About the Artwork
This form holds a quiet tension—armoured, yet not closed. Layered surfaces gather like sediment or memory, each mark a trace of movement and becoming. The outer skin protects, but also conceals. Within, a fragile porcelain growth emerges—soft, searching, insistent. It gestures toward an unseen interior: intimate, vulnerable, alive. The work lingers between containment and release, where protection becomes both shelter and barrier, and transformation unfolds slowly, from the inside out.
About the Artist
Marlize Myburgh is a ceramic and mixed-media artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Originally from South Africa, her practice explores the capacity of clay for retention and transformation through sculptural forms, material processes and organic structures. Marlize holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (Jewellery Design and Metal Technique) from Stellenbosch University, and an Advanced Diploma of Engineering (Jewellery Design) and Diploma of Arts (Ceramics) from Box Hill Institute, Melbourne.
Marlize has undertaken artist residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart, and Faenza Art Ceramic Centre in Italy. Her work has been exhibited nationally at venues including Montsalvat, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, and Gallery Lowe and Lee. Recent accolades include Winner of the Korowa Ceramic Art Prize (Sculpture Category) (2026); the Ruth Petersen Award (2025), Highly Commended at the Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (2025); and the Sydney Teapot Show Natural World Award (2024).