RETAILERS
Bio…
As a re-emerging artist, Alexandra Linden would argue that time, and its companion, experience, have helped enable the evolution of her sculptural vessels, portraits and functional ‘artware’. Her works emanate a quiet maturity and an obsession with honing her craft, often resulting in immense and voluminous forms representative of her connection with the feminine Evident in her work is a sense of play with texture, balance, strength & fragility, and a detailed, curious nature.
Receiving an Advanced Diploma in Applied and Visual Arts with a ceramics major (North Adelaide School of Art, 1999) followed by an Honours Degree in Fine and Visual Arts majoring in drawing and painting (University of South Australia, 2002), Alexandra places a high value on technique and education, evident in the careful, fastidious nature of her practice. Weaving her artistic calling through her career as an educator (Bachelor of Secondary Education, University of South Australia, 2003) Alexandra always preferred to teach via the tangible mediums of writing, painting and creation, working later in marketing roles where she created eye-catching illustrations, designs and labels for some of McLaren Vale’s most recognised wineries.
2021 was a year that brought change, challenge and clarity to Alexandra as she found herself irrevocably drawn back to the studio, a space where she feels innately herself as she creates. While she would consider herself unattached to any particular medium, her current artistic exploration resides in the tactile medium of ceramics; a grounding material, reinforcing the sense that she is returning home to herself. In clay she finds strength and versatility, embracing the joy of using an organic, primitive tool for expression and functionality, forming a conduit between earth and gravity while bringing structure and aesthetic to an amorphous medium.
Alexandra creates a line of functional and ornamental wares which can currently be found at The Jam Factory Adelaide and Fleurieu Arthouse McLaren Vale. She is building multiple bodies of work to exhibit and is regularly commissioned to create individualised, bespoke pieces.
Artist Statement…
I started creating art around the same time I began to talk. It’s an integral part of my language and ability to communicate. I can often draw, create or gesticulate with more fluidity than verbalisation.
I am drawn to the innate strength and beauty of the feminine, organic and extraordinary elements of flora and fauna, and the primal energy of creation - the spark of genesis and awakening of anima within these living beings and worlds. My inspiration is unconstrained and largely shaped by my emotional, spiritual and physical state. It has taken years and a lot of mindful searching and contemplation to quiet my mind enough to work intuitively, and be able calmly invite in a broader range of confounding factors for consideration. This ‘quiet’ allows me to calmly invite in more of myself and to work with my medium, and clay speaks clearly to me.
A common thread that has weaved its way through my creative journey from my early paintings and drawings, and is now evident in my ceramic works, is movement, or the illusion of it. I feel compelled to capture an essence of it, just a fragment or suggestion that eludes to a greater picture. I’m intrigued by static objects that have the power to convey a story, that nudge you to consider the moments before and after, it’s story, it’s purpose.
When I begin a new project I lead with an intention; it is functional or sculptural, is it inspired by an intellectual or spiritual concept, or a deeper emotion. Working intuitively with the clay allows me to follow the lead of the medium and the delicate balance between vulnerability and strength, while considering line, texture, light, shadow and the boundaries of gravity, with my intention anchoring the process. I have an inherent desire to improve on what I’ve made and explore concepts and builds more deeply, keeping my work in a constant state of evolution.
