JESS LYONS
ARTIST STATEMENT
Jess’s ceramic-based practice is predominantly focused on clay-bodies, glaze materials and firing techniques – ultimately uncovering a ‘brinkmanship of materials’. Pushing clay and glaze materials to the brink of melt, collapse and fusion has largely underwritten Jess’s Honours research and ongoing practice. Outcomes inform colour palettes, textures, forms and has lead to a greater understanding of not only making and materials – but a contextualisation of where her practice sits synonymously within the realm of contemporary art and crafts. The value of Jess’s work lies within the contemporary expansion of techniques and material investigations that is as much about ‘newness’ as it is with tradition.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Fine Art Honours RMIT 2019.
Bachelor of Fine Art (Ceramics) RMIT 2018.
Internship – Cone11 Ceramic Studio 2018.
Advanced Diploma Engineering Technology (Jewellery Making) Box Hill TAFE & NMIT 2003-2004.
AWARDS
Winner of the RMIT Honours International Travelling Scholarship 2019. -$4000 scholarship awarded to carry out an international research project in 2020.
The Australian Ceramics Student Scholarships Trienalle 2019. Awarded by the Australian Ceramics Association – $1500 Bursary to attend and participate in the Triennale of Australian Ceramics Association held in Hobart, Tasmania May 2019. An honorary two year membership to the Association of Ceramics was also awarded.
Craft Victoria ‘Fresh’ awards 2019. Exhibiting finalist.
Clyde & Co. Australian Fine Art prize finalist. 2018. Winners announced December 2019.
EXHIBITIONS
Graduation Exhibition – Bachelor Fine Arts (Honours) RMIT. December 2019.
‘Revenant Excavations’, Craft Victoria – Members Vitrine Gallery. July-August 2019 (Included in the Craft Cubed festival, window walk tour).
Clyde & Co. Australian Fine Art prize finalist. 2018. Victorian Office Exhibition December 2018 – December 2019.
Craft Victoria ‘Fresh’ awards 2019. Exhibiting finalist. March – June 2019.
Graduation Exhibition – Bachelor Fine Arts – RMIT. November 2018.
‘Build – Rebuild’, The Artists Guild, Docklands Melbourne. October 2018.
‘Wander Through My Truthful Threads’ Gallery 1 – First Site Gallery RMIT. October 2018. Collaborative exhibition with Bronwyn Geddes (Masters Landscape Architecture). Awarded the ‘collaborative bursary’ fund of $1000.
‘Hard Yards’, Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood. May 2018.
‘Around the Table’ Assembly Point, Southbank Melbourne. 28 July-20 September 2017. Part of the ‘Craft Cubed Walk’ in collaboration with Craft Victoria and Radiant Pavilion.
‘Mobjects’, RMIT Melbourne. November 2016.
‘Amalgamation’ Graduate Exhibition- Advanced Diploma Jewellery Making, Horti Hall, Melbourne. October 2004.