Catalogue Essay by Diana Warnes Head of Curatorial Projects, HOTA Home of the Arts, Gold Coast
A Bird in the Hand
One must have a sharp eye and a quick memory to be a twitcher. To catch a glimpse of movement and then recall specific details of a bird is a feat achieved only through enduring study. What was the colour of the rump? Did it have a band under its chin? A cap above its eyes? The vegetation is key too. Was the bird spotted flitting amongst the long native grasses? Or seen poking its head out of a eucalypt hollow? Australia’s birds, charming and quizzical, have captivated South African born ceramicist Jane du Rand.
Moving to Australia some seven years ago, du Rand had initial hesitancy about what the landscape offered. The flora and fauna were not familiar, and it was only through joining a bushwalking group that the dense, abstract qualities of the Australian bush and its wildlife began to reveal itself. Du Rand would take long walks through the great national parks of south eastern Queensland, all within an easy drive from her Ipswich home.
Motivated to learn more, she would visit her local library to source images and information about birds and vegetation of the regions where she went bushwalking. Du Rand also called on the natural history illustrations of Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826), James Sowerby (1757-1822), and John (1804-1881) and Elizabeth Gould (1804-1841) – to name just a few. The fine lithographs, with the taxidermy birds in slightly unnatural positions, and the minute, scientific renderings of feathers and scales started to find parallels with du Rand’s own ceramic practice.
Equally on her own walks, and even her own backyard, she was also observing the movement of birds. Increasingly du Rand found dead birds and collected these, which a taxidermist friend then preserved for her. Studying from a specimen, but also inspired by those natural history illustrations, du Rand has worked Australia’s birds into her practice. The cat bird, crested pigeon, swift parrot, red-browed finch, rainbow lorikeet, red tailed black cockatoo, fairy wren, and chestnut breasted mannikin have all in some way formed part of her most recent body of work.
For du Rand does not pursue an exact likeness of a bird, or an element of vegetation – either in colour or in form. Yet, her ceramics do mimic the behaviours and likeness of birds to convey their unique characteristics. Her large disks, with their wreath like forms, but inverted centres, are realised through layering botanical elements to create a sense of a low-relief. One large disk features stylised rainbow lorikeets poking their heads out from amongst grevillea and bottle brush. The centre of the disk is covered with green, glistening tesserae, creating a safe and protective space for the birds.
As a bushwalker, du Rand is keenly aware of the human impact on the fragile, natural world. In one of her works, a tall pillar titled There are no more hollows (2021), du Rand is devoted to representing the importance of hollows for breeding and nesting birds. Due to logging and bushfires, these vital hollows are under threat. Here, she has lined the hollows with golden tesserae to reinforce their preciousness. The birds seem playful, clambering over the pillar with wings splayed, bodies contorted and heads poking out of hollows. Yet upon closer consideration, there are far too many birds for the number of hollows available.
Walking and observing are key components of Du Rand’s ceramics practice. Every New Year’s Day, she bushwalks at Christmas Creek in Lamington National Park. Once, unable to sleep, she rose and had a chance bird encounter. Cicadas were emerging from their shells, and galahs – those boisterous and opportunistic pink and grey birds – came swooping in for a feed. Du Rand recalls this experience in Sunrise at Christmas Creek (2021), a large red and teal pot, which she has covered in ceramic cicada shells, resembling the stalactite vaulting of a dome at the Alhambra in Spain.
Du Rand is used to working on architectural features – having completed many commissions globally before moving to Australia. This sense of scale, drama, colour and materiality are realised in this new body of work, which reveals an open heart and an inquisitive mind about her adopted home. Birds and plant life are represented in stylised, sculptural forms, which du Rand embeds with a visual history, but equally a contemporary context. Our birds and their habitats are vulnerable, and du Rand reminds of us of this with compelling strength.
June 2021
