Pip Byrne
Ceramicist and landscape architect Pip Byrne’s ceramics capture moments of simplicity, light and play.
Words: Holly Terry | Photography: Annika Kafcaloudis
‘At the moment I’ve been exploring the idea of the contrasts within ceramic as a medium, it’s both strong and delicate, heavy or light, and the one most interesting to me is its fluidity and rigidity,’ says Pip Byrne. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
‘I’ve learnt to listen to how I’m feeling and if it’s not a clay day then it might be one tomorrow and today might be for reading or listening to something inspiring,’ says Pip Byrne. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
Melbourne-based ceramicist and landscape architect Pip Byrne’s organic works explore light, shadow and depth utilising the natural textures of unglazed ceramic. Expertly hand built, Pips work are organically abstract and juxtapose notions of rigidity and fluidity.
According to Pip, it was her mum who has a great imagination who gave her and her sister space to explore and play with ‘wild abandon’.
‘We would always be creating something - drawing entire cities, whether on 20 sheets of spare paper all stuck together, or in the gravel of the driveway,’ she recalls, and then loosely jokes that this paved the way for their later career choices as an architect/illustrator (her sister) who would mostly draw, and a landscape architect (Pip) who would be responsible for colouring in.
Turning to ceramics after a year spent travelling, Pip was craving something more creative than her 9-5 office job and enrolled at SOCA (School of Clay and Art) in Brunswick, ‘It really opened my eyes to an entire world of possibilities.’
Encapsulating both rigidity and fluidity, Pip’s ceramics are characteristic of their organic structures and intentionally finished raw, unglazed textures. It is simplistic light and shadow that excites Pip, who doesn’t often work with glaze.
‘At first I thought this was out of laziness, but I’ve realised I like the raw texture of unglazed ceramics, and find it challenges me to use form, texture and the way light impacts the piece instead,’ she says.
Snapshots from Pip Byrne’s Melbourne studio. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
Pip Byrne in her Melbourne studio. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
“I’m interested in trying to create movement within the fired pieces, whether they evoke a sense of movement or can actually move and adapt fluidly.”
Pip Byrne incorporates multiple hand-building techniques and avoids becoming constrained by forms and ideas that sit within the traditional realms.Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
‘I like the raw texture of unglazed ceramics, and find it challenges me to use form, texture and the way light impacts the piece instead,’ says Pip Byrne. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
Snapshots from Pip Byrne’s Melbourne studio. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
Delicately constructed chains and raw textures can be found in Pip Byrne’s pieces. Photo: Annika Kafcaloudis
For her strikingly abstract works, Pip incorporates multiple hand-building techniques and avoids becoming constrained by forms and ideas that sit within the traditional realms. Whether adopting techniques such as coiling, slab-building or carving, she freely creates notions of movement within the rigidity of fired pieces, evoking a sense of organic fluidity. Her latest works feature delicately constructed chains, which further this idea and are hard to believe they’re made by hand.
Often-times utilising the kitchen table in her Melbourne-based flat as her work zone, Pip is forever surrounded by her work, ‘I can constantly process and think about the direction, assess and make changes as needed.’
‘I make my pieces on what would normally be the kitchen table in any other scenario, luckily, I also love to cook, so there’s a strange sense of continuation as I seamlessly slip from ceramics to cooking something. I guess sometimes that is how I get myself into a mood to create something with clay, I might start by making a big batch of soup!’
Having recently exhibited her largest body of work as part of group exhibition Buy Pot Here at Oigåll Projects, the maker is certainly garnering the attention of the design world. To come, Byrne will be holding her first solo show at Kyneton Stockroom as part of Craft Contemporary. The show opens October 22nd and will run for six weeks.
