Elements of Place #1
Avi Amesbury
Elements of Place #1 (detail) 2026
Porcelain
Found clays
Multiple pieces: 40 x 13 x 13 cm overall
About the Artwork
Avi Amesbury creates porcelain objects inspired by the Australian landscape. She collects clays from various locations to explore her connection to ‘place’. These raw materials taken from the earth are used to form her palette. They create the colour nuances of the Australian landscape, and are incorporated into the surface of her work, capturing the unique essence and spirit of each landscape. Porcelain, incorrectly perceived as fragile, is used to highlight the duality of nature: vulnerable but also strong and resilient. Her ‘Elements of Place’ series is inspired by her walks through the ancient, spiritual lands of Queensland and the Northern Territory.
About the Artist
Currently living in Bundaberg, Avi Amesbury graduated from the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art & Design with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Ceramics) with Honours in 2002, receiving the ANU Lyle T. Cullen Memorial Prize; she also studied at Hong-Ik University in Seoul (2002). Avi has been artist-in-residence at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre, Israel (2017); Fremantle Art Centre (2022); and Central Craft, Mparntwe/Alice Springs (2023). Most recently, she collaborated with composer and sound artist MJ from Those Who Ride With Giants to create nine soundtracks that blended MJ’s compositions and instrumental soundscapes with Avi’s poems, spoken word, landscape recordings, and sounds produced from her ceramic works.
Her work has been selected for national and international exhibitions, and she has participated in symposiums, exhibitions, and festivals across Australia and overseas, including in China, Japan, Croatia, Scotland, Hungary, the USA, and Israel. Her work is held public and private collections and art galleries.