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Untitiled 22 x 14 x 10 (largest)
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Still Life 26 x 20 x 10 cm
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Born 1962 Sydney Australia
Present Occupation Teaching ceramics at Gymea TAFE NSW
Selected Exhibitions
Collections
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Still Life Installation 45 x
43 x 25 cm
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Still Life 50 x 35 x 19 cm
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Artist’s Statement
My works allude to the flesh, the tactile fragility of clay & the sensuality of fresh paint. I like to work with clay in a way, which utilises its direct qualities. The technique of "Pinching" & the direct application by brush of engobes, underglazes & glazes is for me a way of exploring the nexus between tradition & innovation.
I am attempting to push the material (Clayworks' TMK) to new technical & aesthetic limits, breaking down barriers between surface & structure. It is the purity & fineness of the body & its fired strength that allows me to build vessels where the texture of the surface appears to become a part of the colour field rather than a part of the clay structure.
I am attempting to produce objects with the visual fragility of paper & wax whose chromatic surface is muted & ethereal & whose structure is permanent & specific.
Extract from Article in Pottery in Australia
Draper’s works have a very strong presence in their surface, however the porcelain, even worked with a very distinct texture, seems to serve as an almost invisible layer that holds the colour up. It is the purity & fineness of the clay & its fired strength that attracts Draper allowing her to build vessels where the texture of the surface appears to become a part of the colour, rather than a part of the clay structure.
Her current works in clay are coil built & have an amorphous quality that gives the forms of the various vessels a great spontaneity, almost as if the viewer could touch them & further alter them. The sense of ‘hand’ in the works is very powerful. As Draper said " the sense of hand never leaves the work". Beyond this, the texture of both clay & the coiling process adds another dimension to the surface colours creating intriguing nuances.
Draper uses colour in a very sophisticated way, which leads the viewer beyond the surface & into the form. On the one hand there is a solidity & grounded quality to the forms & the surfaces & on the other there is an ethereal quality. This juxtaposition of opposing qualities gives the work both substance & intrigue. The softness of the colour palette also gives the works a playful quality & with some I felt it necessary to reach out & touch to find where the surface actually ended, such was the effect of the colours & textures.
