Robyn Phelan
Research Abstract
Self is with clay as clay is with site as site is with self — compressive making with clay, site and the maker’s body within an expanded ceramic practice.
This research investigates how an art practice that is underpinned by the material of clay and the process of ceramics offers a method of paying intimate attention to life as lived. Using both the field and studio as research and making space, I have established a way to embody my experience of the world that is responsive, respectful, and sensitive to anticolonial unlearning, the feminist condition, and discourses of affect theory. An early research revelation was the term ‘compression’ as it articulates the intimate, haptic relationship between clay and me the maker. The potential of compression to modify material has led to new ways of approaching malleable materials. Compression of clay in correspondence is indexical; it records the action of my body as it makes its way across the clay surface. Compressive actions capture the direct experience of a site by tracing surfaces and the inclusion of found materials particular to each site. Asking ‘what if’ and ‘how might’ compressive acts expand not only a ceramic process it frames a creative methodology to drive this research.
Bio
Robyn Phelan makes sculptural ceramics in deep correspondence with place and self. She uses a haptic, embodied process of making in correspondence with clay, found materials, and the site from which she is making. Her sculptural ceramics strongly reference landscape, the body and question social and environmental issues from an Australian perspective. Phelan has an active exhibition practice and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Art, RMIT University, where she teaches in the ceramics studio. Her working career is in visual arts education, museums, curation, and management. She has been writing about contemporary art, craft, and ceramics for more than two decades.