Natalie O’Loughlin is a Gadigal/Sydney based multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the expressive potential of the vessel for holding experiences, thoughts and emotions. In the ceramic medium, O’Loughlin finds an ideal container for her conceptual and material explorations into the relationship between process and form. She describes the practice of working with clay as one of constant learning and unlearning, of relinquishing control and surrendering to the material’s inherent tendencies.
The specific materiality of the ceramic medium is celebrated in striking conical forms: deliberately asymmetrical, curved yet angular, the surfaces dimpled with imprinted marks from the artist’s hand. The artist’s meditations permeate the porous material throughout the process of creation, transferring from one living vessel to another. In this way, O’Loughlin’s sculptures can be understood as containers that hold space for contemplation and possibility.