Details

First Name

Suemi

Last Name

Chiba

Nickname

Chiba

My Ceramics

Glaze

I make handmade ceramics to bring beauty into your home. I want to be a part of changing our relationships to objects. Ceramics I make for functional use are food and ovensafe. They are mostly microwave safe but with some items it is best to ask.

I also make Raku ware which is a low fire process. Many of these items may not be water tight and are not foodsafe. They are intended for decorative use, not functional.

About Me

Introduction

There are so many things I love about ceramics. I love the material and how versatile clay is, there are endless possibilities and ways to create. I love the community. I love that it is a very physical process where I experience flow moments where time disapears.

What I Love about Ceramics

One of the first major projects I made of clay was helping to build a community centre in Guyana. The community made around 10, 000 bricks from local clay. We built them into a kiln and fired them for about 4 days. All the materials, except for one small item, were collected locally and it took us about 3.5 months to make that many bricks with 20-30 people making bricks and collecting clay all day. We also handcut the beams from the forest with pit saws.

I helped with some other community building projects with adobe type constructions in Canada.
I began working on the wheel about eleven years ago.

How I started with ceramics

The act of creating. It’s pretty amazing to go from a pile of clay to a usable item.
I like surface decoration and glaze making; there is nothing more inspiring than the colours, patterns and design found in nature. I love wild animals and wild places.
Challenge, adventure and challenge.
People who take action for the greater good to help others or things they love.

What inspires me

Many, many things. Lots of experiments with ways of making, exhibition work, starting a business and collaborations!

What I'm working on at the moment

Suemi is an emerging artist currently creating in Sydney Australia. She thinks a lot about form, and ways of making design and form work together. Suemi enjoys experimenting with surface design, ways to fire and mixing up glazes. She primarily works on the wheel.

Suemi hopes that her work inspires people to form relationships with the objects around them. She believes that art can draw emotions, share ideas, form experiences and build connections between people. She wants to bring light into homes and places with beautiful handmade creations. Suemi is conscious of the natural environment and tries to incorporate environmentally ethical principles into her practice.

“Clay is a natural material that feels good in your hands and allows you infinite possibilities to shape it and transform it into a vehicle of expression. I am very grateful to be able to experience the joys of ceramics. There is an amazing community and an endless supply of inspiration and experimentation.”

Suemi is the creator behind Chibasan Ceramics and more of her work can be seen at http://www.instagram.com/chibasanceramics.

Email: chibasanceramics@gmail.com
Phone: 0402428932
My website under Chibasan Ceramics will be launched soon!

My Artist Statement

Career Highlights:
Volunteering as an intern and studio tech at Claypool.
Completing a residency at Sturt Gallery & Studios.
Participating in exhibitions at Art Unlimited, Gallery Klei, Block J, Gallery Muse, Surt and Claypool.
Internship at Gaya Studios.
Selling work at many ceramic, handmade and art fairs/ markets.
Participating in events, workshops and actvities with many different schools and ceramic groups.