Feature... JamFactory X First Nations Ceramics

Rex Pareroultja from Hermannsburg Potters at JamFactory. Photographer: Connor Patterson.

For more than two decades JamFactory has worked to support and promote ceramics practice by first nations artists and we are committed to growing and developing this work over the coming years. Providing opportunities for artists to share and engage in cultural expression in new and innovative ways has always been at the heart of this work.

Words by Brian Parkes
Brian is CEO of JamFactory.

JamFactory has worked collaboratively with numerous Aboriginal Art Centres — the most long-standing relationship is with Ernabella Arts in Pukatja. In 1997 Robin Best invited six artists from Ernabella Arts to JamFactory in Adelaide to decorate terracotta plates in a workshop. Following this initial workshop, over the next few years, JamFactory regularly sent bisque- fired platters to artists at Ernabella, providing them with a surface on which to extend and develop their designs. The success of this program led to further collaborations and in 2003, with assistance from former JamFactory Ceramics Studio technician Peter Ward, and a kiln sold at a generous price by Angela Valamanesh, the Pukatja Pottery was established in a space once dedicated to printmaking. (In 2023 JamFactory will be presenting an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the pottery.)

Back in the summer of 2008/09 JamFactory presented From the Earth, a significant survey exhibition of contemporary Indigenous ceramics, conceived of by former JamFactory head Stephen Bowers. It featured work by artists from Alice Springs, Ernabella, Hermannsburg and the Tiwi Islands who were at the forefront of innovation and experimentation in the medium. Since then, JamFactory has continued to showcase such work through its exhibition program, including the JamFactory ICON exhibition of work by Kunmanara Carroll presently touring Australia.

Professional development workshops, residencies, mentorship and two-way exchanges have been a consistent feature of JamFactory’s engagement with Aboriginal Art Centres, and the JamFactory Ceramics Studio has hosted artists from Hermannsburg Potters, Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Erub Arts, Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre, Durrma Arts and Tjala Arts among others, and has sent staff and Associates to some of these centres to conduct workshops or assist in various capacities. This work, and the many exhibition outcomes that have resulted from it, has contributed to the thriving field of First Nations ceramics we are witnessing today.

JamFactory’s recent exhibition Continuum (13 May to 3 July 2022) featured ceramics by Uncle Kevin ‘Sooty’ Welsh, Alfred Lowe, Carlene Thompson and Anne Thompson;
and was curated by Carly Tarkari Dodd (JamFactory's First Nations Engagement Coordinator / Assistant Curator). What Dodd says of this show I think applies more generally to the growing body of compelling ceramic works by First Nations artists:

“By presenting the artworks of Indigenous artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and at different stages of their careers, Continuum gives an insight into personal stories and journeys across several different generations. The exhibition gathers together stories ... themes of Country and reconnection to culture through ceramics, while also highlighting and acknowledging the hardship Indigenous peoples have endured and the strength and resilience they have sustained since colonisation.”

This text was originally published as part of an article in The Journal of Australian Ceramics (Vol 61 No 2, July 2022) titled In the Centre: Indigenous Ceramics Centres, Some History alongside additional texts by Judith Inkamala, Alison Milyika Carroll and Janet DeBoos.