By Kerry-Anne Cousins
Fifty Flights of Fancy. Ceramics by Hiroe Swen. Watson Arts Centre. Until December 9.
Hiroe Swen, 'On Golden Wings II', 2018.Credit: Yumiko Starke
Hiroe Swen is one of Canberra’s most eminent artists, recognised not only by her adopted country but also by Japan, the land of her birth.
She was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1934. In 1962, after finishing her five-year apprenticeship in ceramics with master potter Heihachiro Hayashi, she worked in Japan as a potter. In 1968, she married artist/designer Cornel Swen and moved to Australia.
After living in Sydney for two years, the couple decided to move to the Canberra region, settling at Bimbimbi near Queanbeyan where they opened the Pastoral Gallery in 1973. In their later years, the couple moved into Queanbeyan. Swen taught at the ANU School of Art Ceramic Workshop from 1980 until her retirement from teaching in 2005.
Swen’s history has some bearing on this exhibition. Its theme celebrates Swen’s 61 years as a potter and also 50 years of living in Australia.
Fifty Flights of Fancy is a perfect title for this exhibition. Flights of fancy can refer to the creative imagination that is allowed to fly free and it can also refer to the imagery of the birds that decorate each one of the 50 pots in the exhibition. The 50 ceramic pots these birds inhabit are hand-built and have either a white or black clay body. They come in a pleasing variety of forms – open, round and elongated bowls, square and rectangular vessels and free form platters.
In some pots - notably A Lofty Habitat - Swen cuts into the base of the pot, creating rhythmic surface lines that suggest the undulating hills of the Brindabellas. Swen decorates each ceramic vessel with glazes and imagery in a masterly way to create designs that appear to embrace the pot organically.
Hiroe Swen, 'The Exiles II', 2018.Credit: Yumiko Starke
Swen’s images of birds remind me of origami paper cranes that are associated with Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. They have become poignant symbols of hope, healing and peace.
In some ceramics her blue and gold birds fly in formation, making sweeping loops across the sky. In others works the birds are depicted flying across the canopy of tree tops or huddled together as if seeking shelter. The birds are not shown in detail but are easily recognised because of their generic shapes or in more abstract designs by details such as a head or beak. A flash of red plumage distinguishes others. We react to these birds visually as well as emotionally. Birds are shown in the freedom of flight but also seeking shelter and safety.
In The Flock’s Haven II, the birds hover against a pale sweep of sky.
In two works - As the Crow Flies II and The Exiles II - the imagery of the huddling birds becomes an abstract motif that adorns the surface of the pots. In The Idyllic Sanctuary, small images of birds are repeated in a rhythmic pattern that decorates the pot. The birds are not identical. They turn their heads in different directions creating a subtle sense of movement - rather like birds in a flock are seen as a group until observed closely when they become individuals.
Hiroe Swen, 'As the Crows Fly II', 2018.Credit: Yumiko Starke
There is a characteristic sensibility to the importance of space in Swen’s designs. In the work called On Golden Wings II, the design of trees is a band of repeating shapes and patterns. However, the decoration is applied by the artist so that its outline is uneven and does not cover the whole surface, leaving areas of the pot undecorated. Is it fanciful to think that a way of escape has been left for the golden birds that are part of the design to fly free?
Hiroe Swen’s last solo exhibition, which I saw in Canberra at the Belconnen Arts Centre in 2013, was a truly impressive body of work covering many facets of the artist’s ceramic practice. In Fifty Flights of Fancy the exact number of pots and their decoration have been dictated by the artist’s self-imposed theme.
By embracing such an effective concept and working within it, the artist has created a coherent body of work. Yet, while each pot contributes to this body of work, each has the aesthetic integrity to be able to exist independently.
Hiroe Swen’s creative life is inspiring. She creates imagery that is poetic in nature and visually beautiful. It relates to her personal experience and is a testament to her well-spring of creative energy. Swen's work continues to reach out to include us all in this very special conversation.