For several years, I have gathered mundane traces of contemporary throwaway existence – paper cups and plates, logos from food packages, manufacturing serial numbers, corrugated cardboard used to cushion precious objects – and transformed them, through the material of porcelain, into works that embody the fictional in sculptural practice. During this time my work has evolved into two distinct, yet related strands i) sculptures and assemblages where I explore the language of useful things in order to address concerns beyond utility; and ii) domestic ware for the contemporary interior where I aim to create ceramic objects that provoke the desire to own, to use, and to interact with in a multiplicity of ways. My output is small as I strive for excellence in craftsmanship and beauty in design, rather than quantity.
The politics of food, consumerism, the domestic, trade, history, memory and identity are themes that underpin and unite my work and practice. The language of clay is the agent through which I process and re-present experience. My work is about making things, constructing objects. Clay, specifically porcelain – with its fragile physical structure and historically high symbolic value – provides the most suitable vehicle for my conceptual interests.

Nicole Lister March 2003

Read 'How To Make A Silk Purse Out Of A Sow’s Ear' - catalogue essay for Material Deceptions 2001

The following review originally appeared in Pottery in Australia magazine Vol 40 #4 Dec 2001

 Material Deceptions Exhibition review by Julie Bartholomew

‘Material Deceptions’ is a recent exhibition of Nicole Lister’s work at the Object galleries, Customs House, Circular Quay in Sydney. This is Lister’s second solo show and maintains a technically ambitious level of achievement and continues her interest in contemporary “throwaway culture”.
The initial experience of ‘Material Deceptions’ is distant and primarily visual, which seems to be reinforced by the modernist, grid-like arrangement of porcelain objects. On closer inspection, Lister’s refined forms begin to activate the senses, particularly taste and touch, drawing the viewer into a sensory alliance with transformed throwaways. This is the beginning of a path of deception, as the viewer gradually experiences the exhibition’s capacity to hold contradictions in tension.

The sensory effects initiated by these objects have a number of sources. Corporeal responses are triggered by reference to the vessel form. The unshakeable tradition of the crafted vessel in ceramic practice continues to evoke the everyday rituals of drinking and eating. Lister places the continuity of vessel making in the realm of contemporary habits, of bodily consumption and the fast, immediately satisfying takeaway culture of urban life, by using its throwaway containers and wrappings. This opens further possibility for sensory response, evoking memories of takeaway delights, cakes and cookies. Taste, touch and smell are activated and held in suspension, while exploring the fragmented remnants of food labels, packaging folds and corrugated twists.

‘Crushing Desire’ has an irresistible tactility. This work began its existence as an upright waste paper bag. Used like a plaster mould, Lister builds up layers of porcelain slip inside. Fired together, the castaway paper disintegrates leaving crushed traces of its former existence, taking full advantage of clay’s capacity for mimicry. As a consequence, there is a strong desire to touch the ceramic creases and folds originally created by the throwaway action of the hand.

Yet at the same time there is a collision taking place between the delights of sensory experience and the knowledge that these were once waste objects, discarded in the gutter along with the detritus of urban decay. These objects oscillate between sensory delight, reinforced by the beauty of their translucent surfaces, punctuated by the occasional rose decal, and the less appealing abject associations of disavowal as the carriers of bodily sustenance are cast aside.

Of course this ambivalence enhances the fascination of the object. The processes of quilt making were chosen as a means of assembling the porcelain wall piece titled ‘Frugal Comfort’. Lister recycles the unwanted fragments of tests and off-cuts into a collage-like arrangement. The torn, frayed edges and disparate combinations appear to be stitched and layered, reinvented within a grid structure and creating a work with uncanny material density. I am reminded of the compression techniques used for recycling aluminum cans and other castaways. The association of compressed material density plays against the delicacy and lightness of the white and coloured porcelain combinations. This is particularly evident if one’s former experience of porcelain revolves around sipping tea from a “feather weight” cup. Again Lister creates a sense of tension by conjoining disparate components.
There is a pleasurable act of defiance evident when the ordinary, everyday object intervenes in the art world. Lister continues to play with our expectations and she does this to great effect with ‘Material Deceptions’. The centrepiece of the show, ‘Wrapping Cloth’, investigates the power of texture, repetition and light within a balanced format, taking us on a smooth aesthetic ride only to be jolted by another deception. To create these delicate, corrugated receptacles, Lister has transformed the abandoned cardboard used for wrapping and protecting precious forms.

The implied fusion of apparent opposites situates Lister’s work within the contentious zone of boundaries. These tensions agitate the oppositions of modernism, such as art and the everyday, aesthetics and function, contesting both categories and questioning boundary making. The web of discordant connections formed through the assemblage of ‘Material Deceptions’ evokes new spaces of innovation for ceramic practice.

Julie Bartholemew is a Sydney based practising ceramic artist, lecturer and writer.

Nicole Lister in studio 2005

Photo by Grant Ayre

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Material Deceptions 2001

No Picnic 1999