Lorraine Blume & Suzy Dünser
force of nature
Medium: Midfired terracotta and paper clay (SD) / Stoneware with moss (LB)
Prices: Teapot $550 / House not for sale.
Written by Suzy Dünser
My partner for the collaboration was Lorraine Blume, in the US. We decided pretty early on that sending work back and forth was more impractical than we wanted to take on, so we decided to pick a common theme. We also acknowledged that we work quite differently - I am mostly a thrower, and she is a handbuilder. The theme we came up with was that the natural world will always win over the built one - we humans may intrude upon the landscape for awhile, but eventually our constructions will be abandoned, and then nature will take over again. Lorraine's piece illustrated this with the ruins of a stone house, which has lost its thatched roof, and inside which plants have begun to grow. Mine was a little more abstract (because of teapot obsession (-;), but shows a system of pipes that has cracked, and through which a vine has crept, slowly taking over.
Artist Info
Suzy Dünser
My work is based on vessel forms, and is usually functional. I have been drawn to creating ceramic versions of vernacular metal objects to call attention to the beauty of forms and objects that are often overlooked. I work with a variety of clays and firing methods, taking the opportunity to wood and salt/soda fire when I can. I completed the Otago Polytechnic distance Diploma in Ceramics at Auckland Studio Potters in 2011, and have worked as a maker and tutor since then. I have been involved in the New Zealand pottery community in a variety of ways over the last decade, most recently joining the committee of the Waikato Society of Potters and teaching locally in Paeroa.