Alice Whish

Established

This work is an exploration of the banksia understory from South Eastern Australia. Alice Whish's research has connected her to plants, people, and the Aboriginal cultural knowledge of woodlands and ecologies. Her focus is on cultural burning, and the effect of smoke and a cool fire at the right time of year on the woodland, ultimately resulting in plant regrowth. Alice's new material choice of porcelain has allowed her to explore clay, pigment, fire, and the plasticity of form. Final works echo the freshness and vitality of plant forms in a healthy banksia understory after fire, time and water.

Alice is an Australian jeweller with an interest in detail, materials and the making process. Combined with her rural background her work continues to make connections to the land, plants and the sky above. Her practice visually distils large concepts into intimate jewellery works. She has worked with Aboriginal women from North-East Arnhem Land on collaborative jewellery projects and mentored others. Alice completed her undergraduate in Sydney and holds a Masters of Fine Art from RMIT and a Masters of Higher Education, UNSW. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Australia and State collections.

Image: Alice Whish, The Banksia Understory, 2019. Photo: Greg Piper