Alexandra Standen

About the work

Test Tile, 2023
multiple clays, glaze, lustre
NFS

This collection of tiles comes from a desire to understand the medium that I have been working with for the last 15 years. This shelf contains a very small quantity of colour and glaze tests I have made for the entirety of my career as a ceramic artist.

When the theme of TILES was discussed for a kil.n.it exhibition I knew that I wanted to exhibit these ‘tiles’, I am stretching the exhibition title of TILES to include my ‘test tiles’. These little forms are one of the very first things I learnt to make and always take pride of place in my studio. They are little gems in their own right and always remind me that test tiles are beautiful objects not just flat tiles of clay that test glaze and surface.

About Alexandra Standen

Alexandra Standen’s work explores our relationships to both physical and emotional spaces. Her work focuses on the subjective, cultural and ideological meanings of material objects, examining the way objects and their relationships act as metaphors for human behaviour.

Her practice also speaks to the process of making work in porcelain and a sense of unease that comes with engaging with a medium that holds a functional quality yet has a connotation of being fragile or precarious in nature.

In 2019 Alexandra was the recipient of the prestigious Cité Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris and also undertook a residency in Istanbul. Winner of the Sidney Myer Award for Ceramics, Shepparton Art Museum 2012, Alexandra was also a finalist in awards including the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Gold Coast Ceramic Award and the Wynne Prize.

Top image: Alexandra Standen, Test Tile (detail), 2023. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist.