About
In the studio, photo by Penny Ryan
Jane McKenzie is an Australian artist currently living on Jaara Country / Castlemaine, Victoria. Her sculptural work has evolved from a life-long preoccupation with making art and a parallel architectural career. The ceramics studio at the National Art School in Sydney was where her knowledge of architecture and the three dimensional potential of clay combined to focus the direction of her arts practice.
McKenzie’s sculptures have their own visual language anchored in geometry and architecture. Starting with flat slabs of clay, she explores the connections between structure and voids to create her sculptures. Lucy Feagins writes: “Jane’s architectural vocabulary shines through in her artworks, which play with depth, space and light. Her ceramic pieces have distinctive formal qualities, and repeat geometric patterns to create innovative forms and intriguing sites of shadow.”
McKenzie’s work has been included in group and solo exhibitions in NSW, Victoria and South Australia. She won the Muswellbrook Art Prize (Ceramics) in 2015 and was a finalist in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize in 2019. She has undertaken studio residencies at the Fremantle Arts Centre and the Bendigo Pottery. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Art School and Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre, as well as various private collections.
Education
2018 Master of Fine Arts (Ceramics),
National Art School, NSW
2016 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Ceramics),
National Art School, NSW
1997 Master of Arts (Building Conservation),
University of York, UK
1994 Bachelor of Architecture (Hons.),
Curtin University, WA
2023
“Built Worlds”, JamFactory, Adelaide, SA
2022
“The Vessel Edit”, Kolbusz Space, WA
2021
“Summer Salon”, Michael Reid Clay,
NSW
“Play of Light”, Craft Victoria, VIC
“Every Artist Ever”, Stockroom, VIC
2020
“Inside”, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
Solo exhibition at Michael Reid Clay,
Sydney, NSW
“Intersections”, CLAD Gallery at Bendigo
Pottery, VIC
2019
“Speis”, Ambush Gallery, Sydney, NSW
“Gathering”, Koskela, Sydney, NSW
“Collect: Clay”, JamFactory, Adelaide,
SA
2018
Inclusion of sculptures in Flack Studio’s
entry in the “Rigg Design Prize”,
exhibited at NGV Australia, Melbourne
“Released” (Post-Graduate Exhibition),
National Art School, Sydney, NSW
“Ceramics 2018”, Maunsell Wickes,
Sydney, NSW
“In the service of poetry” (solo exhibition),
Koskela, Sydney, NSW
2017
“Ceramics 2017”, Maunsell Wickes,
Sydney, NSW
“Landshape”, Sheffer Gallery, Sydney,
NSW
“27.04.17”, Home@735 Gallery,
Sydney, NSW
“Graduations”, ARO Gallery, Sydney,
NSW
“A Fresh Perspective”, Kerrie Lowe
Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2016
“Graduate Exhibition 2016”, National
Art School, Sydney, NSW
“Bokor, Ferguson and McKenzie”,
Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre,
NSW
Awards
2023 Finalist Omnia Art Prize
2019 Finalist Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize
2018 Mansfield Ceramics Art + Perception
Magazine Award
2016 Mansfield Gallery Exhibition Prize
2016 Kerrie Lowe Gallery Exhibition Prize
2015 Muswellbrook Art Prize (Ceramics)
Residencies
2019 Bendigo Pottery, Victoria
2016 Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
Bibliography
Emma-Kate Wilson, “Space, Place & Shape”, Design Anthology, Australia Edition, Issue 04, pp. 72-73
“Jane McKenzie - Play of Light”, Garland Magazine, Loop 5 April 2021
“Upfront - Mod”, Green, Issue 76, p. 10
Amber Creswell Bell, “Celebrating Ceramics”, Downtown, Issue 25, pp. 18-19
Sally Tabart, “A Showcase of Architectural Ceramics + Urban Inspired Artworks”, The Design Files,
22 July 2019
Lucy Feagins, “Architectural Ceramics by Jane McKenzie”, The Design Files, 1 May 2018
David Harrison, “Discovering Contemporary Australian Ceramics”, Design Daily, 21 August 2017
Collections
National Art School, NSW
Muswellbrook Shire Council, NSW
Various Private Collections in Australia, Korea, Japan and USA