Canberra ceramicist Anne Masters aims to raise funds for drought-stricken farmers
A Canberra artist is selling a delicate porcelain sculpture of a bird to raise money for drought-stricken communities.
Anne Masters created the luminous representation of a myna bird after hearing its magical sound in a gully.
Ceramicist Anne Masters and the porcelain bird she is selling to raise money for drought relief. Picture: Steve Evans
She was so mesmerised by the bird song that she recorded it and sought out an expert to find out what type of bird it was.
He told her and she then created the porcelain representation.
The result of her labour will go on sale this weekend to raise money for "Art For Bales", a drive to help stricken communities suffering under what is one of the driest spells on record.
The sale will be featured on Instagram and if you want to buy the bird, you need to put in @annemastersceramics.
Some artists are auctioning their work but Ms Masters has put a price of $190 on hers.
The work is delicate. To make it, Ms Masters created a mold and poured the liquid ingredients - the "slip" - into it before heating it intensely in a kiln.
The resulting creation is hollow so it's lighter than it looks. If you place it in sunlight, on a sill, for example, it radiates in a luminous way. It seems to have a life and a light of its own.
"I created it in a white porcelain," she said, "because I'm trying to emphasis the fragility of our bird life in Australia."
"Some artists would paint the bird in its correct plumage but I didn't do that. I want people to think about what they are holding.
"When you put it on a wide sill, the light filters through. It's very translucent."
It was made with the idea that it could be held and felt.
"It's meant to be small and you can caress it. It feels like a bird," she said.
She has a studio and gallery in Watson. It's called - aptly enough - the Gallery of Small Things.
She did her first degree in advertising and then followed up with a degree in ceramics at the University of Canberra just under 10 years ago.
Birds are her thing.
"They are a very emotive subject," the ceramicist said.
"People relate to birds. They sing. They dance. They perform." Art for Bales was started by two artists who wanted to do their bit for the drought affected areas of northern NSW and Queensland.
They organised a sale last year and have decided to repeat it.
Profits go to Rural Aid and are then distributed in the worst affected areas.
One of the founding artists, Kate Pittas, said last year's campaign was a big success, with $77,000 going to Rural Aid.
Her co-founder, Andrea Hamann, said: "With Art for Bales, our goal is threefold: raising the funds, raising awareness of just how badly the drought is affecting people outside the cities, and - from a mental health perspective - letting affected communities know that we haven't forgotten about them."
The chief executive of Rural Aid, Charles Alder, said: "From droughts to fires, the thought of having to deal with one natural disaster after another is difficult to contemplate but that's what these farmers go through."