Owen Rye
Wood-Fire Potter
Artist Statement
High rise buildings with computer generated contents;
gleaming plastic in strong colours; stainless steel; glossy
powder coated facades; multi-LED numeric choice displays
through the house; screens and surround sounds. This is
our world. All our purchases have been designed using lines
of unvarying thickness, usually with the intermediary of
computer logic.
My woodfired fired pots are imagined as a possibility, not designed. With that imagined possibility, there is the knowledge that the eventual reality will be different: perhaps better, perhaps worse but always different. The woodfired pot, unalterably unique, with its distortions and flaws, is not of a different world (it is also the consequence of a human act). But it reminds us of a different attitude, a different approach where logic is balanced by deviations in the plan, by accidents along the way, by a sensory response rather than an intellectual one. In our house the woodfired pot provides a balance that reminds us of our human frailties and our sensory selves. With some flowers in it – it will remind us of a world out there that we may in our cleverness otherwise forget.
Owen Rye, September 2007
Past Exhibition
Owen Rye
Woodfired Ceramics: exploring the aesthetics of imperfection
Exhibition 4 October to 4 November 2007
Following is a selection of Owen Rye's exhibition items.
To see the full exhibition click here
 ORYE0002 Owen RYE Large Jar with Stringy Ash Glaze |  ORYE0010 Owen RYE Large Bottle with Orange Flashing |  ORYE0024 Owen RYE Rough Jar with Flashing |  ORYE0028 Owen RYE Bottle with Ash Runs |  ORYE0033 Owen RYE Bottle with Red Flashing |  ORYE0034 Owen RYE Bottle with Cypress Ash |  ORYE0035 Owen RYE Vase with Blackwood Ash & Feldspar Glaze |  ORYE0042 Owen RYE Three Lobe Bottle with Cypress Ash |  ORYE0046 Owen RYE Vase with Orange Flashes No 2 |  ORYE0051 Owen RYE Small Three Lobe Bottle |
International Representation
Art Center Collection, Astoria Oregon USA
Arrowmont Permanent Collection, Tennessee, USA
Handwerkskammer Koblenz, Germany
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah, USA
Tajimi City Collection, Mino, Japan
World Ceramic Foundation Exposition, Icheon, R. of Korea
National Representation
Powerhouse Museum (NSW)
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Queensland Art Gallery
Museum & Art Gallery of the N.T.
Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
Additional Links