Through their different artistic practices, the artists in Earthly Origins: Touchstones of Fired Earth consider and utilise antiquity as a source of inspiration. Sarah Harper, Hannah Kidd, and Marian Maguire’s contemporary suites of artwork weave narratives that acknowledge ancient artefacts as touchstones of artistic inspiration, yet ultimately question societal and gender norms, and recast and reclaim stories.

At the core of their work, Harper, Kidd, and Maguire examine humans, and the machinations that have influenced, inspired, and impacted lives. When these works are examined alongside ancient Athenian vessels, on loan from the University of Canterbury Teece Museum of Classical Antiquity, we witness the evolutionary direction the ceramic art form has taken, and the offshoots the medium has inspired within Aotearoa.

Main Image | Sarah Harper, Bridget #2, 2022, pit-fired porcelain.

Left | Marian Maguire, Penelope weaves and waits, 2017, acrylic on wood. Courtesy of PG Gallery192.