The works of master ceramicist Sandra Black, whose pieces are held in major collections across Australia and overseas, are often noted for their exquisite use of light and shadow, which conjures rare moments of peace in an otherwise chaotic world.

She is also an artist whose esteemed reputation as a master craftsperson has been achieved over her dedicated work across the past five decades to refine innovative processes of carving and piercing slip cast and thrown clay vessels, which have come to shape her signature style.

Now, and for the first time in Black’s career, her 50-year arts practice will be shared with audiences in a major solo show at the Art Gallery of WA (AGWA). It will celebrate the enormous contribution she has made to the local arts scene, as well as on the international stage.

Featuring 123 works, Sandra Black: Holding light includes pieces from the WA State Art Collection and key loans from the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Gippsland Art Gallery, Edith Cowan University Art Collection, Curtin University Art Collection, City of Fremantle Art Collection and private collectors.

Foregrounding the delicacy and understated confidence of her signature-style work, the exhibition highlights the artist’s concern for design, craftsmanship and the natural world.

In the words of AGWA’s Associate Curator Isobel Wise, the artist’s work “challenges the limitations of clay to create forms that encourage the interplay of light and the surrounding environment within and around her ceramic forms”.

Born in Victoria in 1950, Black moved to WA with her family in 1965, where she has been based (in Fremantle) ever since. After training as an art teacher in the late 1960s, she went on to study art and ceramics at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT, now Curtin University).

As a practising artist, she has undertaken numerous national and international artist residencies, and shown her china and porcelain work in exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas.

Read: Exhibition review: Tarryn Gill: Soft, Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert

Her work has been acquired by institutional collections in Japan, Canada, the US, New Zealand, China and New Guinea. She is also referenced in over 20 publications and has been the recipient of multiple national and international commissions and awards. In 2023, she was honoured by the World Crafts Council Asia Pacific Region in its Craft Master Awards for the Asia Pacific region.

Sandra Black: Holding light at the Art Gallery of Western Australia runs 5 October 2024 to 16 February 2025.