Milly Dent | Wishful Thinking
Sydney-based ceramic artist Milly Dent draws influence from her time in China, exploring the deep history of handcrafted porcelain.
Words: Hande Renshaw | Photography: Jess Thomas
Melting Elixer I - Recycled Australian porcelain, clear gloss glaze and gold lustre by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
On her recent working trip to China to complete an artist residency with the support of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Sydney-based ceramist Milly Dent was fortunate enough to work alongside local craftsmen in Jingdezhen. At the birthplace of porcelain, (traced back to some 2000 years ago), Milly took part in workshops to learn a brand new set of skills she could apply to her work. The result can be found in her current exhibition, Wishful Thinking, which opens tomorrow night at Saint Cloche Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.
When in Jingdezhen, Milly made a number of visits to the abandoned Jingtao Factories in the area, where she came across a landscape of floors lined with porcelain fragments, degrading moulds and models, unfinished works. Over the 20 years in which the factory had been abandoned, nature had started reclaiming the building; plant-life had grown through floors and walls, creating an intersection between nature and man-made, temporality and permanency.
Ressurect - Australian Porcelain by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
Legacy - Australian Porcelain, clear gloss glaze and gold lustre by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
Chartreuse Elixer - Jingdezhen porcelain, green celadon and PVD lustre by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
“I’ve used porcelain to highlight temporality and beauty in the linear progression of things changing. My intention – to pay homage to the power of tactility and texture, and complex matrixes found in nature.”
Fascinated by what she had discovered, Milly developed a series made from degrading plaster forms found in the factory, of which the natural elements had shaped the once round bottles into a 3 sided, crumbling plaster blocks. “For this latest body of work, I’ve used porcelain to highlight temporality and beauty in the linear progression of things changing, my intention – to pay homage to the power of tactility and texture, and complex matrixes found in nature,” says Milly.
“The journey of the natural world is a cyclical process, however, clay in the essence of its materiality defies this process. Fired ceramics outlive us, so much so that some of the world’s oldest artefacts found in human civilization are ceramic. ”
Melting Elixer I - Recycled Australian porcelain, clear gloss glaze and gold lustre by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
“I developed a series made from degrading plaster forms found in the abandoned factory, of which the natural elements had shaped the once round bottle into a three sided, crumbling plaster block.”
Legacy - Australian porcelain, clear gloss glaze and gold lustre by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
Psyche I - Earthenware clay and clear gloss glaze by Milly Dent from her exhibition, Wishful Thinking.
VISIT
WISHFUL THINKING BY MILLY DENT 6PM WEDNESDAY 12TH FEBRUARY SAINT CLOCHE - 37 MACDONALD, PADDINGTON, SYDNEY