Susan O’Byrne is a contemporary ceramicist whose work uses animal form to explore themes of human emotion that extend from childhood fancies. With brand new work, this solo exhibition introduces us to her ‘Five Sisters’ and ‘Family Tree’, where her ceramic animals symbolize a member of her family.
Each one of O’Byrne’s ceramic beasts is a detailed sculpture that understands the subtlety of animal form. However she doesn’t try to portray her animals as realistic representations, but instead describes them in a complex layering of pattern, showing an understanding of contemporary taste and the need for that little bit of something different that helps make work a success. It is her highly original use of surface that distinguishes her as a leading name in contemporary animal ceramics.
O’Byrne’s surfaces are highly decorative, using quiet colours and pastels to create an impression of a story quilt, with little bits of text sewn in amongst stitched pattern. There is something distinctively innocent about her work; it is calming and sedate without being overly sentimental or too obvious. With so many contemporary exhibitions seeking to challenge the viewer it is refreshing to be instead comforted by the work on display and for the artist’s own distinctive whimsy to raise a smile.
The artist’s portrayal of her family tree consists of three taxidermy-styled displays of animal heads. This collection depicts her late German family members as an array of exotic animals that include Luttgard Hirscher the anteater, Dietrich Hirscher the koala and Gunter Drossetman the tarsier. Whether German born Dietrich would have approved of being portrayed as a koala is unclear, however as Susan’s family migrated from Germany in the mid 1800’s perhaps portraying them all as foreign animals aptly describes their feelings at arriving in a strange new land. To portray an adult situation with such gentle simplicity takes warmth of spirit and it’s this generosity that makes her work relate to the home as well as the gallery.
O’Byrne’s work is domestic and that is a good thing. There is still a wonder for the natural world present in her work, but it is a wonder understood through the illustrations of folk stories rather than the living presence of the animal. While not raw in tooth and claw, her portrayals of her grandmother’s Five Sisters make a theatrical use of space with each of her sisters standing as a line of half sized deer. The artist’s sisters’ show her technique of stencilling pattern in coloured slip at its best. You don’t need a background in ceramics to appreciate the complexity of her process or to enjoy its tactile results. This isn’t an exhibition to provoke or overwhelm but one to raise the spirits as it reminds you of the simple pleasures of childhood and the importance of valuing the times shared with family.
Rebecca Barwell is an artist and writer based in Lancashire.
Image courtesy Ruthin Craft Centre.
Susan O’Byrne: Five Sisters and a Family Tree, Ruthin Craft Centre, North Wales.
26 September – 22 November 2015
Published 29.10.2015 by James Schofield in Reviews
518 words