A Fine Mess

These ceramic pots emerged from a year of navigating a wildly volatile emotional landscape-heartbreak, grief, falling out of love, loneliness, curiosity, excitement, fear, and the exhilaration of new beginnings. Each pot bears the energy of this emotional turbulence, covered in coils resembling overgrown vines or tangled roots that suggest a sense of dynamic movement and vitality, despite their visual chaos. Though the coils may seem to overwhelm the forms, they imbue the work with a sense of resilience and playfulness, translating the complex emotions poured into their creation into objects of optimism and renewal.

Nicolette Johnson is a ceramic artist interested in the vessel. Her work explores our connection to the natural world and the way we assign powerful meaning to objects. Johnson was born in London, England in 1990, grew up in Texas, USA, and has been based in Meanjin (Brisbane), Australia since 2005. Working in stoneware and employing wheel-throwing, coiling, and sculpting techniques, Johnson applies a modern sensibility to classical forms. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The National Gallery of Victoria, The Powerhouse Museum, Museum of Brisbane, and the Griffith University Art Museum.

Johnson began working in ceramics in 2015 and continues her practice-led exploration into functional and sculptural ceramic vessels, hand-making and firing each of her works in her Brisbane home studio.