Presence two visions of landscape catalogue by Ros Auld & Claire Primrose

3. Presence:
Two Visions of Landscape
Ros Auld and
Claire Primrose

4. Ros Auld & Claire Primrose. Terrain. 2016. Stoneware. 39x40x12cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape2

5. Presence: Two visions of landscape.
It is an undeniable truism that the Australian landscape has informed our artists for millennia and continues to do so across
media, styles and artistic languages. The interpretation of the land in all its varieties and contradictions is fertile soil for the
creative imagination. The variations and varieties of landscape and the layered meanings associated with these have resulted
in a concomitant diversity of expressions. This speaks not only of personal associations with place and the celebration of
individual responses to visited topographies but also of the role of the artist in filling in the spatial, temporal, cultural and
aesthetic tensions that exist between place and culture. For artists the land becomes something felt, a phenomenon that imprints
itself onto the artistic imagination. This inner landscape of the imagination has been expressed through millennia in an Australian
context. Its ongoing validity as past, present and future asserts the importance of land (nature) and landscape (culture) in the
determination of notions of identity. Claire Primrose and Ros Auld are very much part of the continuum of landscape art and its
importance in the multifaceted creative phenomenon that is contemporary art in Australia.
Claire Primrose is primarily a painter but a painter not afraid to simultaneously explore the painterly aspects of printmaking and
the graphic qualities of painting. Process is her primary thrust and the activity of making informs all aspects of her art. That said
it should be noted that thematically her making is drawn almost invariably to the landscape. The apposite elision of process and
theme is consummately achieved in all her work.
While working with the motif Primrose is not concerned with the factual rendition of the various topographies she visits.
Rather for her the continuing impact of place on her creative imagination is what is important. Her works are made in a studio in
the industrial area of Queanbeyan near Canberra, far removed from the sources that have excited her imaginative sensibilities.
They are the result of felt experiences that have stayed with her, that have become active ingredients in her (very) living memory.
Her paintings (and I will refer to all works discussed as paintings) are compilations of the visual data of place, her memory of
the physical topographies of place and her experience (physical, emotional, intellectual and aesthetic) of place. Her paintings
are poetic paeans to the complex amalgam that is the individual’s confrontation with the land. Primrose is conscious of the
space between reality and the experience of reality and her constant search for the right means to express that complex yet
seductive tension gives creative and aesthetic energy to her art.
Much of the work in Presence: Two Visions of Landscape uses as its starting-point the artist’s visits with her family to the
Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales. The mountainous topographies are redolent with 18th‑century notions of the
Sublime that saw some of the great works of English Romanticism. I am thinking particularly of J.M.W. Turner but there are many
other examples from this particularly rich period in English art. The influence of the Romantic Sublime generally on Australian
landscape in the 19th-century was significant. Arguably Sublime expression remains part of the postmodern condition and is
seen in a variety of visual modes in contemporary Western art. Primrose’s take on the Sublime is very much a temporal vision
and of its time. More to come (2016) is a powerful work. The viewer looks down onto a series of snow-capped summits,
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 3

6. Ros Auld & Claire Primrose. Tidelines. 2017. Mixed media on linen. 120x120cm (fr.)
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape4

7. their jagged forms pushing into the pictorial space. The horizontal layering from the front of the picture plane concurrently
creates deep spatial recession criss-crossed by bands of lateral movement. Movement is central to this work’s pictorial success.
The insertion of ribbons of colour (variously green, yellow, grey) continuously move the eye through the work, simultaneously
delineating the forms of the mountains and pushing the space further back into the picture plane. Contrasting tonal areas
combined with the vivid ribbons of colour and the white of the snow provide a solid visual foil to the atmospheric lightness of
the barely delineated sky. The contiguous use of various spatial movements imparts a marvellous aesthetic tension that expresses
the monumentality of the motif and the power of the confrontation of place within the artist’s memory.
The perfect thaw (2016) is another majestic mountain view. Primrose again exploits a wonderfully composed counter-balanced
contrast of solids and voids to create an evocative poetic image. It speaks at once of its source in the natural world and its
creation in the artist’s imagination. The powerful solidity of the mountains is beautifully described through a dexterous use of
wash and graphic lines. These are vigorously applied over the pictorial surface in a manner suggestive of Primrose’s working
methods. Vigour here though does not imply lack of control and the artist’s succinct structural means allied with her impressive
expressive power results in a strongly resolved aesthetic statement.
Primrose’s graphic skills are eloquently demonstrated in a number of works in the present exhibition. In Later or sooner series: 2
(2016) the panoramic format adopted by the artist is particularly appropriate for her subject-matter. An (unnamed) landscape
section delineated in graphite is underscored by the addition of coloured areas of sprayed enamel paint. The surface is active
and announces itself as being part of a wider world. It is a microcosm populated with a range of floral and topographical
denizens whose identities remain imprinted on the artist’s memory. This work is one from a series, a model favoured by the artist
particularly when working on a small scale. In this work as in others the exploitation of the astute combination of solids and
voids is clever and attractive. The scale of these works belies their size and is a further indication of the artist’s sophisticated
control of her means. Assembled landscape. Monaro Plains (2016) is a seemingly simple composition using the diptych
format. Its title points to its means of creation. It is an inner landscape, a vision of the artist’s memory of place(s) visited and
remembered; a pictorial realisation of past experiences whose impact gives form to the imaginative mind of the artist.
A series of screen-printed and mixed media paintings from 2017 reveal Primrose’s ability to elide technical skill with expressive
and aesthetic power. These images are replete with energy, structural finesse and compositional force. Waiting for snow 5
(2017) exemplifies this. In a beautiful articulation of an essentially earth palette (browns, ochres, terracottas) highlighted by
dramatic surges of white, the artist captures the immanent arrival of snow. The spatial configuration is dramatic and sweeps the
composition to a sort of visual crescendo configured in the carefully applied areas of white. The drama conveys the exhilarating
excitement Primrose has felt when confronted with the mysterious and inexplicable wonder that accompanies her encounters
with the beauty of the natural world. That these encounters are filtered through veils of memory before they are visualised imbues
them with the intimacy of the personal and the private while simultaneously evoking grandeur and majesty.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 5

8. Ros Auld & Claire Primrose. Back Roads. 2016. Stoneware. 30x44x18cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape6

9. Ros Auld is a ceramist working from Borenore near Orange in the central west of New South Wales. Like Primrose she is
concerned with the landscape but unlike the latter she lives in a rural environment where landscape is a familiar aspect of
quotidian life. Its familiarity however does not diminish its importance. Making is for her as it is for Primrose, a vital and essential
ingredient of her self and the exploration of the land both immediate and elsewhere is the thematic basis for her creative
investigations. Clay is arguably the most immediate medium to express the essence of landscapes. It holds traces of human
occupation yet retains unlimited possibilities for individual imaginative expression. Auld’s art holds within it a powerful eloquence
that echoes her complete understanding of her chosen medium.
In Presence: Two Visions of Landscape Auld’s preferred format is that of the vessel. As well as holding an intrinsic place in the
history of ceramics, the vessel form holds possibilities for multiple interpretations. The enclosed space of the vessel speaks of
its role as container but it also allows implies a range of meanings and affinities that the individual artist will educe in her own
idiosyncratic formal and visual vocabularies. Auld’s vessels are highly individualised. There are familial consanguinities but each
is invested with a unique morphological and pictorial identity that avers its individuality. The vessel offers the artist a perfect
metaphor. It is a plastic equivalent of a place or places known to her, remembered and imaginatively re-created by her.
The following discussions adopt no particular order but serve to exemplify Auld’s approach to her art. Leaf litter (2017) is a
beautiful piece. Its arc-like form imbues it with a lyrical movement, gentle and restrained but nevertheless insistently present. Like
most of her work, it sits on four feet, slightly elevating it from its ground. This device imparts a seductive spatial configuration
around the work that is played off against the dark presence of the interior of the vessel. The spatial movement is also
constrained by the slight curvature of the left- and right-hand edges. Their inward curve imparts an internalised thrust into the
vessel’s contained, internal space and thus provides spatial and aesthetic tension. Auld’s palette is subdued – greys, greens
predominate. Decoration is subtle but still sufficiently varied to provide visual and morphological contrasts.
Water formed (2017) is a work that demonstrates Auld’s ability to portray the coexistence of the intimate with the grand. The
decoration is beautifully contrived. It not only describes the form but also reinforces that element’s individual strength. The jagged
and free-form edges evoke natural topographies without specifying particularities of place. The organic irregularities of these
activate the already strong sense of movement that the artist invests in all her pieces.
Auld understands the sculptural possibilities innate in the vessel form. All her work is vehemently sculptural but some more
directly so than others. Earth lines (2016) is one of these. The quirkiness of its form speaks of geological change and dramatic
movement. It holds within it a strong lateral thrust pushing into the surrounding space while simultaneously asserting its presence
and control of that spatial configuration. The demarcation of the decoration into two horizontal bands broken only by the
insertion of single graphic lines reinforces the powerful identity of the form. This is a work about primeval forces and its simplicity
eloquently expresses this.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 7

10. Ros Auld & Claire Primrose. Geomorphic. 2016. Mixed media on linen. 120x120cm (fr.)
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape8

11. Another work from 2017 is Oribe. It is named after the 16th-century Japanese ceramic ware but clearly references the Australian
landscape. It is Auld’s way of celebrating the history of her medium within a contemporary Australian context. The form is
compact and sturdy. Sitting on raised feet it carries that wonderfully dynamic use of space that so excites the artist’s forms.
Decoration is lively and while there may be topographical significance its efficacy lies more in its intimatory qualities than in its
definitive ones.
Landfall (2016) utilises torn edges and mottled surfaces to create a beautiful encapsulation of geology and imagination. It is
again compact and that state concentrates the visual energies that give such a forceful and characterful presence. Aside from
the mottled areas the decoration is simple and elegant. Horizontal bands of green and grey-green are played off against a
striking vertical column of blue. The sinuous serpentine formation of the horizontals invests an almost musical rhythm into this work
that is as always quietly held back by the containing presence of the darkly mysterious interior.
A work whose pictorial qualities play an assertive even dominant role is Turbulence (2016). Auld has made the form defiantly
simple; almost a surface for the exhilarating vitality of the decoration. As the title suggests the surface is energised by a
wonderfully contained conglomeration of decorative elements. Swirling gestural marks are accompanied by overlaid sets of
vertical lines that overshadow other elements in dynamic swathes. The exemplar of (some) prints of the Japanese Ukiyo-e should
not be ignored here. While the form may appear secondary it is of course not. The artist commands a finely tuned aesthetic in
which no element overtakes but rather each plays a role in delivering the final unified elision of form, decoration and content.
Auld’s work in this exhibition demonstrates a profound understanding of her medium, of sculptural scale and presence, of
the way that marks and gestures allude to both personal and universal experience. Hers is a unique language where the
coexistence of the grandeur of the landscape and the intimacy of personal engagement with landscape are captured in vessels
that resonate with all of us.
This exhibition includes works that are the results of a number of periods of extended artistic collaboration between Auld
and Primrose. The individual strengths and differences of each of their mature and highly-developed artistic identities offered
challenges and possibilities. This allied to their clear understanding and respect for each other’s practice has resulted in works
that speak of both yet proclaim the aesthetic excitement of the elided creations. As exemplified here the paintings – Geomorphic
(2016) and Tidelines (2016) – see Auld’s marks two-dimensionalised to reinforce Primrose’s essentially graphic vision. The
ceramics – Terrain (2016) and Back Roads (2016) – speak of two voices singing aesthetically in unison.
Peter Haynes
Canberra
March 2017
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 9

12. Claire Primrose
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape10

13. Claire Primrose. Recreated Landscape. 2016. Graphite and spray enamel on board. 15x40cm (image).
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 11

14. Claire Primrose. More To Come. 2016. Mixed media on linen. 120x120cm (fr.)
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape12

15. Claire Primrose. The perfect thaw. 2016. Mixed media on linen. 120x120cm (fr.)
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 13

16. Claire Primrose. Later or Sooner series: 1. 2016. Graphite and spray enamel on board. 12x40cm (image)
Claire Primrose. Later or Sooner series: 2. 2016. Graphite and spray enamel on board. 12x40cm (image)
Claire Primrose. Later or Sooner series: 7. 2016. Graphite and spray enamel on board. 12x40cm (image)
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape14

17. Claire Primrose. Assembled landscape, Monaro Plains (diptych). 2016. Graphite and ink on board. 15x30cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 15

18. Presence: Two Visions of Landscape16

19. Claire Primrose. Just passing through (diptych). 2016. Graphite and ink on board. 20x40cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 17

20. Claire Primrose. Waiting for Snow 1. 2017. Screen print with mixed media. 76x102cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape18

21. Claire Primrose. Waiting for Snow 2. 2017. Screen print with mixed media. 76x102cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 19

22. Claire Primrose. Waiting for Snow 3. 2017. Screen print with mixed media. 76x102cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape20

23. Claire Primrose. Waiting for Snow 5. 2017. Screen print with mixed media. 76x102cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 21

24. Ros Auld. Leaf Litter. 2017. Stoneware. 25x60x16cm.
Ros Auld
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape22

26. Ros Auld. Water Formed. 2017. Stoneware. 36x60x20cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape24

27. Ros Auld. Earth Lines. 2016. Stoneware. 43x84x20cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 25

28. Ros Auld. Oribe. 2017. Stoneware. 30x42x15cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape26

29. Ros Auld. Landfall. 2016. Stoneware. 30x44x19cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 27

30. Ros Auld. Expanse. 2016. Stoneware. 42x77x30cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape28

31. Ros Auld. Turbulence. 2016. Stoneware. 28x45x18cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 29

32. Ros Auld. Botanica. 2017. Stoneware. 40x68x21cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape30

33. Ros Auld. Rock Platform. 2017. Stoneware. 30x49x16cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 31

34. Ros Auld. Landprint. 2016. Stoneware. 28x45x17cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape32

35. Ros Auld. Energy. 2017. Stoneware. 34x42x15cm.
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 33

36. Ros Auld. Script. 2017. Stoneware. 23x47x15cm.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape34

37. Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 35

38. Solo exhibitions
2015 Memory Mapping, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
2014 Memory Mapping, The Art Vault, Mildura
2013 Time Travellers, The Art Vault, Mildura
2012 Then and Now, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
2000 DIY, Australian Defence Force Academy Library Gallery, Canberra
Group exhibitions
2015 …INTRODUCING, Stanley Street Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney
Direction Now, a national touring exhibition, Caboolture Gallery
Ground Work, Stanley Street Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney
2014 Balancing Act, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
Direction Now, Lismore Regional Gallery; Glasshouse Gallery, Port Macquarie; Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn,
Melbourne
Exploration 14, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation (CAPO) exhibition, Canberra Museum and Gallery
2013 After the Fire, Blank Space Gallery, Surrey Hills, Sydney
Active Participants, with Kerry McInnis and Robyn Kinsela, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards exhibition
CAPO exhibition, Canberra Museum and Gallery
2012 Time Travellers, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
ClimARTe Change, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
CAPO exhibition, M16 Artspace, Griffith, Canberra
2011 Setting the Scene, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
The Three of Us, FORM Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan
Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards exhibition
2010 Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards exhibition
2009 From Little Things Big Things Grow, Q Gallery, Queanbeyan
Queanbeyan City Council
2008 ReGeneration, with Maxine Price, Q Gallery, Queanbeyan
2007 Queanbeyan City Council Art Prize
2006 Queanbeyan City Council Art Prize
2001 Canberra Art Prize exhibition
2000 Unhung Heroes, Made in Australia Gallery, Deakin, Canberra
Canberra Art Prize exhibition
1996 Multiple Visions, Australian National Capital Artists (ANCA) Gallery, Canberra
Joint Print Project, University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, Photospace, ITA ACT
CV
Claire
Primrose
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape36

39. Awards and prizes
2016 Finalist hunters Hill Art Exhibition
Finalist Moreton Bay Art Prize
Winner Goulburn Regional Art Award
Finalist Paul Guest Drawing Prize
Finalist Waverley Art Prize
Finalist Flanagan Art Exhibition Award
Finalist Paul Guest Drawing Prize
Finalist Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (Drawing)
Finalist Hornsby Art Prize (Drawing)
2015 Winner, Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards
Winner, Capital Chemist Canberra Art Prize
Finalist, Whyalla Art Prize, South Australia
2014 Finalist, Norvill Art Prize, New South Wales
2013 Winner, CAPO Eckersley’s Materials Award, Canberra Museum and Gallery
Finalist, Moreton Bay Art Prize
Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize (Drawing and printmaking)
Finalist, Goulburn Art Prize
2012 Highly commended, Hawkesbury Art Prize
Finalist, Scope Galleries Art Prize – Art Concerning the Environment
Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize (Contemporary)
Finalist, Paddington Art Prize
2010 Highly commended, Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards
2009 Winner, Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Awards
2000 Short-listed (top 10), Canberra Art Prize
Published reviews and publication features
Claire Primrose and Kerry Johns display two distinct approaches to the Australian landscape, review by
Peter Haynes, The Canberra Times, May 2015,
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/claire-primrose-and-kerry-johns-display-two-
distinct-approaches-to-the-australian-landscape-20150520-gh6a4h.html
Review of Balancing Act at Queanbeyan’s FORM Studio and Gallery, review by Peter Haynes, The
Canberra Times, December 2014,
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/review-of-balancing-act-at-queanbeyans-form-
studio-and-gallery-20141204-120o5d.html
Art with a focus on climate change, review by Helen Musa, City News, June 2012,
http://citynews.com.au/2012/art-with-a-focus-on-climate-change/
From Little Things Big Things Grow, review by Kerry-Anne Cousins, The Canberra Times, June 2009
Artist Portfolio Magazine 2013, issue 22, emerging artists
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 37

40. Tertiary Qualifications
1974 Ceramics Certificate, National Art School, Sydney
1969 Bachelor of Art Education, National Art School, Newcastle
Solo Exhibitions
2016 Landmarks, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
Tableau, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2014 The Dining Room, Pop Up Gallery, Orange
Common Ground, Form Gallery, Queanbeyan
2013 Layers of Landscape, Patina, Orange
Unearthed, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2012 Ros Auld Ceramics, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
2010 Connect, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2009 Space + Place, Koomaloo, Orange
2008 Essentially Landscape, Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong
2007 Landmarks, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2005 Skin, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2004 The Ceramic Art of Ros Auld, Orange Regional Gallery
2000 Ros Auld Ceramic Sculptures, Luxulyan, Orange
1996 Painterly Ceramics, Orange Regional Gallery and Pentimento, Bathurst
1995 Ros Auld, Ceramic Art Gallery, Sydney
1991 Clay and Paper, Distelfink Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Surface Evolution - a review of 15 years work by Ros Auld, Orange Regional Gallery; Dubbo Regional Gallery
1985 Ros Auld, Distelfink Gallery, Melbourne
Collaborations
2015 Overland, with Tim Winters, Form Gallery, Queanbeyan
2013 Aspect with Ben Hall, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2008 Layers Marks Tracks, Ros Auld and Gabriella Hegyes, Orange Regional Gallery
2004 Landscapes, Ros Auld and Tim Winters, Blackheath
2000 Collaborative Ceramics with John Olsen, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
1998 Collaborative Ceramics with John Olsen, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
CV
Ros
Auld
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape38

41. Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 Call+ Response, Orange Regional Gallery
2012 Quiet Connections, Orange Regional Gallery
2012 Sculpture, Wilson Gallery, Sydney
2011 Place, Artsite Gallery, Sydney
2010 Time + Place, Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong
2009 From the Region, Variations in Clay, Cowra Regional Gallery
2008 Salute, Fusions Gallery, Brisbane
2007 Out of the Blue, Orange Regional Gallery, Bondi Pavilion
Beyond Hill End, Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong
2005 Earthly Encounters, Survey of Regional Ceramics, Orange, Mosman, Bathurst, Bega
Prevision, Narek Galleries, Tanja
2001 Alchemy, Orange Regional Gallery
1998 Desert Journey, Orange, Dubbo, Moree and Wollongong Regional Galleries
1996 Sentinel, Potters Society of Australia, Manly Art Gallery
1993 Spirit, Place, Identity, Orange Regional Gallery
1990 Potters Society of Australia, Manly Art Gallery
1990 Distelfink, Melbourne
1988 Newcastle Contemporary Art Gallery
1987 Homage to Bonnard, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1986 Saltzbrand, Galerie Handswerkskammer, Koblenz, Germany
Films
2006 Ros Auld – Ceramic Artist, Mullion Creek Productions
1981 Something Creative, Producer Gillian Lahey
Ros Auld and Claire Primrose 39

42. Acknowledgements
The artists would like to thank Peter Haynes for his essay and curating our show. Many thanks also to Rob Little and
David Patterson for photography, Henry Han for the framing and the staff of the Goulburn and Orange Regional
Galleries for hosting the exhibition.
Presence: Two Visions of Landscape40