ERTHWRX24 - JOHN DALY

ABOUT ERTHWRX24

Event and Exhibition HERE

ERTHWRX24 is an inaugural multi-day community event involving a series of panel-talks, exhibitions, presentations, performances, installations and workshops presented during National Science Week 2024 . The program focus will be on ‘environmentalism’ delivered through the nexus of science, arts, culture, social, historical, geo-political and activist discourse.

Locations

AUGUST 10th-11th - The CORRIDOR Project - 2997 Darbys Falls Road Wyangala NSW

AUGUST 17th-18th - Cowra Micro Gallery - Cowra Railway Station 

ABOUT ARTIST - JOHN DALY

Artist statement

John Daly is a ceramic artist who lives and creates on the unceded lands of the Wiradjuri people, near Cowra NSW. Quietly central to his art making practice has been the quandary of creating in a world of ever dwindling natural resources, which over time has led to personal guilt in the use of virgin materials and paralysis when faced with making ‘just more stuff’ with which to fill the world. This has resulted in the use of materials that have come solely from various waste streams.

Waste clay from his father’s ceramic practice is reprocessed and thrown into new forms. Glass from a broken window is crushed to a powder and mixed with the waste clay to form a low temperature glaze. An old copper pipe, carelessly thrown into landfill, is ground up and added to the glaze to create colour and lustre. The time and manual labour required to process and transform these materials is akin to an atonement for all the moments of thoughtless consumption.

The thrown, textured forms of Daly’s vessels suggest geological forms, stretched and altered by tectonic forces – referencing both the landscape of the Central West and his formal training in Earth and environmental sciences. The recent addition of LED lighting elements to the work transforms them from the purely decorative to objects with purpose. As Daly says, “I desire to add function to my work, so that, beyond being beautiful objects, they might light up a room and illuminate a new path forward.”

Key Themes and Materials:

Thrown ceramic vessels

Functional light sculptures

Reclamation and transformation of waste materials

Recycled glass

Metallic lustre glazes

Go HERE to view AiR residency or donate to further support arts and cultural programs at TCP HERE [NOTE - All donations are tax deductible over $2.00]