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My Ceramics

In the studio I like to do	Handbuilding
Pottery Wheel	I don't use a wheel. I make work by pinching and rolling very thin slabs.
Clay body	Earthenware, Stoneware, Porcelain
Clay Brand	Various
Kiln Type	Electric Kiln, Wood Fired Kiln
Kiln Atmosphere	Reduction Atmosphere, Oxidation Atmosphere
Temperature	Usually mid-fire, 1220ºC
Glaze	Commercial clear mid-fire and a few other commercial glazes as required.
You can buy my work from	GOST: Gallery of Small Things 27 Wade Street, Watson ACT 2602 T: + 61 (0)422 263 533 galleryofsmallthings.com Thurs to Sun, 11am – 4pm Sturt Gallery & Studios Cnr Range Rd & Waverley Pde, Mittagong NSW 2575 T: +61 (0)2 4860 2083 sturt.nsw.edu.au Mon to Sun, 10am – 5pm (except weekday public holidays)

About Me

Your pronoun	her
Introduction	My name is Vicki Grima. I live close to the beautiful coastline and beaches of Sydney, Australia. I have been an artist all my life working across many media – clay, paint, collage, photography, textiles – to explore form, colour, pattern and texture. Teaching others and sharing my love of making processes has also been a 45-years-long focus. For the last 17 years (2006-2023) I have been EO of The Australian Ceramics Association and Editor of The Journal of Australian Ceramics, building and connecting the national ceramics community.
What I Love about Ceramics	I love making small pinch pots. Just one ball of clay. No wedging. No joining. Eyes closed. No stress. Feel the clay. With a small ball of clay I move my hands in a spiral movement, a meditative practice done often with my eyes closed to feel the thickness of the walls as they form. I explore the feel of clay, its strength and its fragility.
How I started with ceramics	I am 4-year trained in the Visual Arts, having taught secondary school for 15 years (’78 – ’93) and also workshops and seminars for adults and teachers (’80 – current) in a broad range of visual arts. During the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s I also undertook many arts courses, summer and winter schools etc. I have continued this building skills and experience all of my life and won’t stop. I see ongoing learning as a crucial part of life. I have learned my ceramics skills all through my life – when I was at school myself, then on through teacher training and on again through the myriad of workshops I have attended (mentioned above) over the last 40 years. I have my own home studio, and an electric kiln which I purchased 43 years ago and is still happily in use.
What inspires me	My work is inspired by the coastal landscapes I visit regularly and which I record by taking endless photos. The rock platforms and eroded cliffs, along with collected shells, sea-worn sticks and broken coral provide endless possibilities, both visually and as tools to impress into my pinched forms. My process starts with a single ball of clay which is slowly pinched in a spiral movement, from bottom to top, several times. This meditative practice allows me to sense the thickness of the walls, exploring both its strength and its fragility. Made with either translucent porcelain or stoneware (to be woodfired), my work spans functional, sculptural and decorative realms.
What I'm working on at the moment	May 2023: I am currently working on a project called “Wild Women Wild Clay”. I first learned of these beautiful natural Tamborine Mountain clay bodies in research submitted to me by Larissa Warren in my position as Editor of The Journal of Australian Ceramics. This interesting story of the local Tamborine Mountain women potters in the 1940s outlined their tenacity and inventiveness to live a creative life using local materials. Also inspiring to me in my position as a community builder (in my position as EO of The Australian Ceramics Association) was their work to build the local arts community through establishing spaces and support from local and government bodies. Larissa invited me into the group to experiment and make work with these local clays. I found the variety of coloured clay bodies very beautiful with the diverse colour becoming even more prominent after the firing. The work for this project has been inspired by my local coastal landscapes where I gather inspiration by taking photos or by collecting small specimens like shells and worn sticks. My smooth boulder forms are textured and patterned using a variety of techniques. The surfaces of my work are built up as I make the forms, then again as I prepare them for the second glaze firing. The small, lidded boulder form/vessels I have made are accompanied by small brooches which are inspired by the rock pools and cliff faces which often echo the rich earthy tones colours of the Tamborine Mountain clay bodies.
My Artist Statement	For the last 17 years, my ceramics practice has been squeezed into the gaps left after my busy job was done. Time in the studio gave me a quiet space for my mind and my eyes. It was an escape, a meditation, away from words on a page and emails on a screen, the phone ringing and the social media merry-go-round. Some time ago, after committing to an exhibition, I found myself stressed about the work I would make and how I would fit it in to my schedule. How did I want to spend my time in the studio? My decision became clear. Say no. Instead I decided to do what I loved – make small pinch pots. Just one ball of clay. No wedging. No joining. Eyes closed. No stress. Feel the clay. With a small ball of clay I move my hands in a spiral movement, a meditative practice done often with my eyes closed to feel the thickness of the walls as they form. I explore the feel of clay, its strength and its fragility. When I use a mid-fire porcelain body, I impress the walls with intricate textures using sticks, coral, shells, echidna spikes and various tools collected over the years. I push the textures in as I support the bowl from the inside, pushing until I almost go through. The result, after firing, is translucent patterns and textures, which I sometimes later sometimes decorate with delicate gold lustre dots. My other recent love has been woodfiring, using a variety of clay bodies. My forms are made to nestle in the hand. I seek the beauty in handmade details – finger prints, delicate edges and decoration which unravels as the viewer gets closer and then holds the pot. My work spans functional, sculptural and decorative realms.
My CV	CURRENT Studio Artist: 1988 – current Foundation (Governor), Art Gallery of NSW, Vicki Grima Ceramics Fund, 2019 – current AWARDS Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), 11 June 2018 Australian Design Honours, Australian Design Centre, 9 October 2017 IMMEDIATE PAST Executive Officer, The Australian Ceramics Association, 2006 – 10 February 2023 Editor, The Journal of Australian Ceramics, 2006 – 2022 (Vol 61 No 3, November 2022) Director, Australian Ceramics Triennale: 2016 – 7 February 2023 Chair, The Australian Ceramics Triennale Tasmania 2019: October 2018 – August 2019 In my position as Executive Officer of The Australian Ceramics Association (TACA) and Editor of The Journal of Australian Ceramics (JAC) I was in daily contact with the ceramics community nationally and internationally. My focus was to represent the diversity of ceramics practice in Australia through the Journal and offer support to the sector via TACA’s membership services. In this rapidly changing digital world the challenge is to maintain relevance to the new ways of working, whilst also honouring the rich history of ceramics practice in Australia; http://www.australianceramics.com. OTHER 2023 Industry Reviewer VACS Funding, Australia Council for the Arts 2022 Judge: Gosford Art Prize 2022, 2021 Judge: National Emerging Art Prize 2014 Curator, Back to the Table, September 2014, Sturt Gallery, NSW 2013 Event Director/Manager, Clay Push Gulgong 2013 2011 Curator: Time & Place: Australian Studio Ceramics, 2010/2011, Cudgegong Gallery NSW