The Chosen Vessel, Belinda Michael & Tiffany Titshall, 2019-2022
Overview: seventeen works in total shown from one viewpoint.
Overview: seventeen works in total shown from one viewpoint.
THE CHOSEN VESSEL by BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL exhibited at Post Office Gallery, Ballarat 14 DEC 2022 – 3 FEB 2023
The Chosen Vessel showcases the collaborative work of Belinda Michael and Tiffany Titshall.
The artists both live and work in the central Victorian goldfields on Dja Dja Wurrung country. This is a first time collaboration: the creative practice involving reinventing myths as a reference point and an opportunity for experimentation with ceramic and surface decoration processes.
Evolving over three years, the collaboration formed in part as a result of the pandemic: the artists using the time for experimentation with local clays and surface decoration via sgraffito techniques and layering different slips, oxides and glazes.
Influenced by the form, scale and surface decoration of ancient water urns, historically carried by women, the artists revisit and subvert the life of the baby left behind in the short story ‘The Chosen Vessel’ by Australian 19th century Gothic writer Barbara Baynton, and re-examine the Victorian goldrush era from a gender perspective. On the surface of twelve vessels, their story illustrates a version of the years after the young mother is murdered. The daughter survives and grows, becoming a mythic heroine avenging her mother by performing wild and powerful acts on her harem of enslaved men. Living in an arid, dystopian environment beside an engineered body of water, granite boulders and dry gnarled leafless trees, the positioning of the female protagonist within the raped landscape is brought to life within this context. As white women making work and living in rural Australia, Titshall and Michael challenge culturally appropriated and stereotypical gender issues, and explore the crisis of climate and environmental degradation.
Investigating niche elements of kink, power and retribution, the story creates a powerful female character occupying her own world.
The Chosen Vessel showcases the collaborative work of Belinda Michael and Tiffany Titshall.
The artists both live and work in the central Victorian goldfields on Dja Dja Wurrung country. This is a first time collaboration: the creative practice involving reinventing myths as a reference point and an opportunity for experimentation with ceramic and surface decoration processes.
Evolving over three years, the collaboration formed in part as a result of the pandemic: the artists using the time for experimentation with local clays and surface decoration via sgraffito techniques and layering different slips, oxides and glazes.
Influenced by the form, scale and surface decoration of ancient water urns, historically carried by women, the artists revisit and subvert the life of the baby left behind in the short story ‘The Chosen Vessel’ by Australian 19th century Gothic writer Barbara Baynton, and re-examine the Victorian goldrush era from a gender perspective. On the surface of twelve vessels, their story illustrates a version of the years after the young mother is murdered. The daughter survives and grows, becoming a mythic heroine avenging her mother by performing wild and powerful acts on her harem of enslaved men. Living in an arid, dystopian environment beside an engineered body of water, granite boulders and dry gnarled leafless trees, the positioning of the female protagonist within the raped landscape is brought to life within this context. As white women making work and living in rural Australia, Titshall and Michael challenge culturally appropriated and stereotypical gender issues, and explore the crisis of climate and environmental degradation.
Investigating niche elements of kink, power and retribution, the story creates a powerful female character occupying her own world.
left to right/top to bottom:
TIFFANY TITSHALL
concept drawing of snake wrestle, (2021)
ink on Saunders Waterford 300 GSM H67.5 x W48 cm (framed)
BELINDA MICHAEL
13 concept vessels, (2021)
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglazes & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H5 cm approx. ea.
BELINDA MICHAEL
Impetus, 2020
earthenware with slip, once fired H37.5 x W35 x D35 cm
Catalyst, 2022
earthenware with slip, underglazes & overglaze, once fired H53 x W30 x D30 cm
TIFFANY TITSHALL
concept drawing of snake wrestle, (2021)
ink on Saunders Waterford 300 GSM H67.5 x W48 cm (framed)
BELINDA MICHAEL
13 concept vessels, (2021)
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglazes & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H5 cm approx. ea.
BELINDA MICHAEL
Impetus, 2020
earthenware with slip, once fired H37.5 x W35 x D35 cm
Catalyst, 2022
earthenware with slip, underglazes & overglaze, once fired H53 x W30 x D30 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
The Violation Of Mother, 2020
earthenware with slip, oxide, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H53 x W37 x D37 cm
The Violation Of Mother, 2020
earthenware with slip, oxide, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H53 x W37 x D37 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
The Serpent Leads To Salvation, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H46 x W37 x D37 cm
The Serpent Leads To Salvation, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H46 x W37 x D37 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Call Of The Siren, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H46 x W33 x D33 cm
Call Of The Siren, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H46 x W33 x D33 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Solitary Confinement, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H34 x W36 x D36 cm
Solitary Confinement, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H34 x W36 x D36 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Branded With Guilt, And Crusht With Treble Woes, 2020
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H39 x W37 x D37 cm
Branded With Guilt, And Crusht With Treble Woes, 2020
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H39 x W37 x D37 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Say Thankyou, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H48 x W35.5 x D35.5 cm
Say Thankyou, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & acrylic media H48 x W35.5 x D35.5 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Divine Love, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H33 x W35.5 x D35.5 cm
Divine Love, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H33 x W35.5 x D35.5 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
What Is Done Cannot Be Undone, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & enamel media H54.5 x W37.5 x D37.5 cm
What Is Done Cannot Be Undone, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxides, overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & enamel media H54.5 x W37.5 x D37.5 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
Baptism, 2021
earthenware with slip, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H47 x W36 x D36 cm
Baptism, 2021
earthenware with slip, underglaze & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H47 x W36 x D36 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
You Will Never Be The Same Again, 2020
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H51 x W34 x D34 cm
You Will Never Be The Same Again, 2020
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H51 x W34 x D34 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
He Wore His Last Year’s Gown, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H48.5 x W37.5 x D37.5 cm
He Wore His Last Year’s Gown, 2021
earthenware with slip, local clay, oxide & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired H48.5 x W37.5 x D37.5 cm
BELINDA MICHAEL & TIFFANY TITSHALL
She Takes Her Pleasure, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, oxides, underglazes & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & enamel media H37.5 x W37 x D37 cm
She Takes Her Pleasure, 2020/21
earthenware with slip, oxides, underglazes & overglaze, sgraffito, once fired & enamel media H37.5 x W37 x D37 cm
TIFFANY TITSHALL
The Chosen Vessel (panorama 1-4), 2021/22
ink & acrylic on Saunders Waterford 300 GSM H67.5 x W85.5 cm (framed)
The Chosen Vessel (panorama 1-4), 2021/22
ink & acrylic on Saunders Waterford 300 GSM H67.5 x W85.5 cm (framed)
Artists:
Belinda Michael
Tiffany Titshall
Curator:
Shelley Hinton
Post Office Gallery
Institute of Education, Arts and Community
Federation University
Director:
Associate Professor Richard Chew
Arts Academy Ballarat and Gippsland
Institute of Education, Arts and Community
Federation University
Art Handler and Installer:
Lars Stenberg
Authors:
Shelley Hinton
Belinda Michael
Tiffany Titshall
Catalogue link:
Belinda Michael
Tiffany Titshall
Curator:
Shelley Hinton
Post Office Gallery
Institute of Education, Arts and Community
Federation University
Director:
Associate Professor Richard Chew
Arts Academy Ballarat and Gippsland
Institute of Education, Arts and Community
Federation University
Art Handler and Installer:
Lars Stenberg
Authors:
Shelley Hinton
Belinda Michael
Tiffany Titshall
Catalogue link:
This twenty minute video tells the story of a collaboration between Australian ceramicist Belinda Michael and visual artist Tiffany Titshall. The project expanded over a period of three years starting in 2019 and working through the pandemic during lockdown in central Victoria on Dja Dja Wurrung country. The resulting exhibition was shown at The Post Office Gallery, Federation University, Ballarat from December 2022 to February 2023.