fleur schell
Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Fleur Schell in her studio in Fremantle, Australia.
Fleur Schell, Parent's Bedroom, wall diorama from Our Strangely Normal Home, 2019, Porcelain, illustration on archival paper, wood, wire, polymer cement and recycled suitcase, 60 cm x 45 cm x 29 cm
Fleur Schell, The Bathroom, wall diorama from Our Strangely Normal Home installation, 2019, Porcelain, wood, found object, 24 cm H x 49 cm W x 20 cm D
For several years my ceramics practice has focused on exhibition work and commissions. When COVID-19 hit, I was grateful to be able to continue working from my home studio while businesses, schools and state borders around us closed indefinitely. Thankfully, the conferences and workshops to which I was committed have not been cancelled but rescheduled for 2021. Now I feel I have been gifted quality time to play, experiment and observe more—instead of frenetically making. I am optimistic about the future for our clay sector post COVID-19. The majority of successful ceramic artists in Australia are small business/sole operators and are extremely resilient. They have flourished to this point because of an innate ability to diversify and reinvent.
I am incredibly fortunate to live in a city with very few COVID-19 related deaths, however there is widespread anxiety felt throughout our community, as people lose their incomes because their businesses have been forced to close. I have been distracted by my instincts to help those in desperate need, so our family have been orchestrating a suburban food bank drive to support the growing number of people in our community who have lost their only source of income. Even small food donations can help to reduce the enormous pressure on food charities who now feed a much greater percentage of homeless families. My husband and I are seizing this opportunity to share with our children the value of giving, along with the realization that we should never take our health for granted—we are all vulnerable to COVID-19.
It seems more authentic than ever to make work in response to how the world around me is making me feel. So today I made a teapot featuring a child wearing a mask. It’s not yet compulsory but, until we find a vaccine for COVID-19, I suspect that wearing masks is going to be our new normal.
During the lockdown, fleur schell has been making creatures in porcelain for an installation entitled ‘australian endangered keystone animals’ and also a girl wearing a mask (see video)
Fleur Schell, Australian Cassowary from Australian endangered keystone animals wall diorama, 2020. Porcelain, wood, found object, 35 cm H x 40 cm W x 20 cm D.
Fleur Schell, Australian flying fox from Australian endangered keystone animals installation, 2020. Porcelain, wood, found object, 35 cm H x 40 cm W x 20 cm D.
Fleur Schell, Australian sea lion from Australian endangered keystone animals installation, 2020 Wall diorama, Porcelain, wood, found object, 35 cm H x 40 cm W x 20 cm D.
Fleur Schell, ‘How do I say hello if nobody sees my smile', lid and vessel, 2020, Porcelain, 45 cm H.
Fleur Schell, Australian Potoroo from Australian endangered keystone animals installation, 2020. Porcelain, wood, found object, 35 cm H x 40 cm W x 20 cm D.
Fleur Schell, Australian platypus from Australian endangered keystone animals installation, 2020 Wall diorama, Porcelain, wood, found object, 35 cm H x 40 cm W x 20 cm D.