Tanked
Kaz Davis
Tanked (detail) 2024
Stoneware
Stoneware glazes, ceramic pigments
Multiple pieces: 12 x 60 x 24.5 cm overall
About the Artwork
Tanked responds to the repeated forms and textures of the storage tanks at Port Botany that I see on car trips to my studio. Waiting at the red traffic light, I observe surfaces formed by the interplay of natural elements, industrial pollutants, gravity, and time. These weathered surfaces suggest both the beauty of decay and poignancy of life’s transience. Layers of pigments and glaze were applied to the clay forms to develop surfaces that reflect feelings evoked by the storage tanks.
About the Artist
Based on Bidjigal land (Sydney), Kaz Davis works with ceramics, drawing, and photography. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW (1991), and an Advanced Diploma of Fine Arts, Meadowbank TAFE (2003). Kaz has been awarded grants from Australia Council (2021), Create NSW (2023 & 2025), and Creative Australia (2024); and won the National Emerging Art Prize, Ceramics (2022). In recent years, her work has been shortlisted for the following prizes: Little Things Art Prize (2018, 2019, 2022, 2025); North Queensland Ceramics Awards (2020, 2022); Meroogal Women’s Art Prize (2020, 2022); National Emerging Art Prize (2021); Gosford Art Prize (2018); and the Woollahra Sculpture Prize (2002). Her solo exhibition at Michael Reid Clay, Sydney, was in May 2024. Curated group exhibitions include Continuum, Noosa Regional Gallery (2026); 11.09.24, Home Gallery, Sydney (2024); Held, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney (2024); and Salon des Refuses, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 2003. Her work is held in the collections of Morgans Financial and TAFE Northern Sydney Institute, and in private collections.