Darryl Frost: From the Innocent Glaze
28 November, 2012 - 24 February, 2013
Little Gallery
Darryl Frost, The Innocent Glaze (2009), The Suter Art Gallery
From the Innocent Glaze, (a work from the Suter Art Gallery's 2011 exhibition The Innocent Glaze), was created to explore the freedom of applying clay slip to hand built forms in a spontaneous way. The instantaneous actions of the artists' hands convey a looseness and freedom that is expressed without the interference of conscious thought. The many pieces are then fired in different places in the same kiln to create multiple surface effects. Frost describes this process as 'playing with clay, then playing with fire'.
'In 2009, Darryl was invited to develop a solo exhibition at the Suter Art Gallery. He proposed to fire his anagama kiln four times in the period before the show. Each firing would contain large scale sculptural ceramics along with smaller works in thematic series. The prizes from these firings would collectively form the basis of an installation-style exhibition.
'Due to the unpredictable nature of the wood fired anagama kiln technique, this was a risky exhibition proposition. Anagama is an ancient Japanese kiln design with a single firing chamber set on an incline. It is fired with wood and stoked for a period of days. Wood ash and salt byproducts react with the clay at terrific heat to produce a distinctive ash glaze. The position of the ceramic forms in the kiln is critical; not only for successful firing but also because of the way that the heat and ash fall affects the quality of the glaze. While Darryl is a master of this technique, he has learned to expect a 40% failure rate as a result of the firing process.
'The title of this exhibition, The Innocent Glaze, reflects the chance factors of this creative process; the sketchy journey that the glaze undertakes in its molten state, around the form of the vessel and guided by a ferocious flame. As a significant body of work, this exhibition establishes themes and motifs that are characteristic of Frost’s practice – the gnarly and elemental quality of his forms, his incorporation of organic materials such as scallop shells imprinted and embedded into the ceramic surfaces and the influence of landscape, especially the estuary adjacent to Frost’s studio.'
- Anna-Marie White, Curator of The Innocent Glaze at the Suter Art Gallery.