Artists Statement

Since 1982, Rolf Bartz his exhibited his work throughout Australia and overseas. His fine porcelain is represented in private and public collections in Australia, North America, Europe and Japan.
Mostly self-taught, with 18 months part time study at the South Australian School of Art; he has specialized in surface decoration, especially carved decoration.

The forms are individually designed, meticulously hand-carved, using a variety of tools to incise and excise the surface, achieving a relief design of layered and overlapping shapes.
Underglazes are used for colouring and the finished pieces are fired to 1250o in an electric kiln.
Unglazed designs are polished with carborundum paper to give a smooth, tactile finish to the fired work.

The decoration is time consuming, with many hours spent on individual pieces; the result being a sensitive combination of disciplines, where the clay is treated as the ‘canvas' for the design.

Current Work

My current work is all hand-carved porcelain, for retail and exhibition purposes. The work explores the architecture and fragility of seashells.

Work generally available from:
St. Joseph Galerie - Frederik Ruyschstraat 10, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Skepsi on Swanston - 670 Swanston St Carlton, Victoria, Australia
Akrogiali -art waves- Shop 18 - 23-29 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia
The Jam Factory, Craft and Design - Morphett St Adelaide, South Australia
Bamfurlong Fine Crafts - 34 Main St Hahndorf, South Australia

Technical information

My work consists of individually thrown, hand-carved porcelain. The designs are carved into the pieces, using a variety of tools and scraped back as thin as possible to achieve maximum translucency, and to highlight the delicate nature of the form. Many of the pieces are left unglazed with just a highlight of underglaze colour.

They are fired to 1260 in an electric kiln and later polished with corundum stone and paper to achieve a smooth tactile finish

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
1999 - BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide,SA
1995 - Weswal Gallery, Tamworth,NSW
1991/88/85/83/82 - Distelfink Gallery, Melbourne
1986 - Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide
1986/85 - Greenhill Galleries, Perth
1984 - Devise Gallery, Melbourne
1984 - Bonython Meadmore Gallery, Adelaide
1983 - Balmain Gallery, Sydney

Group Exhibitions
Numerous group exhibitions since 1988, including
2007 South Australian Ceramic Award
2006 Gold Coast Ceramic Award
2005 - International Jubilee exhibition ‘100x2, 10 years St. Joseph Galerie'
2005 - artzept EXHIBITION ‘CUP' Zepter International Design Award
2004 - Coloured Porcelain, St Joseph Galerie, Leeurwarden, Netherlands
2004 - Celebrating the Master, Skepsi on Swanston, Melbourne
2003 - Keramika Siska 1700, International charitable exhibition of ceramic art,
Siska, Croatia.
2003 - ‘Fine Craft Australia Wide'Tasmanian Craft Fair, Deloraine, Tasmania
2003 - Imperial Porcelain invitational, Skepsi on Swanston, Melbourne
2002 - ‘Flower Vase 2002' year-long touring exhibition Zagreb ,Croatia
2002 - Gold Coast Ceramic Award
2002 - Presiding Officers' Centenary Craft Prize, Parliament House Canberra
1999 - World Competition of Japan Art and Craft, Kanazawa,
1999 - Creative Australia Exhibition, Osaka, Japan
1997 - 5th. World Triennial of Small Ceramics, Zagreb, Croatia
1996 - First International of Small Ceramics, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
1995/92/91 - Gold Coast Ceramic Award
1991 - Concorso Internazionale Della Ceramica D/arte, Faenza
1991 - III World Triennial of Small Ceramics, Zagreb, Croatia
1991 - Touring Exhibition of selected South Australian Ceramists, Shandong
Province,China

Public and Private Collections

The Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Box Hill City Council Collection
Rockhampton Art Gallery
R.L. Cope Collection
Artbank
Sumitomo International. Japan
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania
New Parliament House Collection
St. Peters College Art Fund Collection, Adelaide
Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Victorian College of the Arts Collection
The Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Represented:
Craft South slide library, South Australia, www.craftsouth.org.au
www.australianceramics.com.au

Awards and Prizes

Honorary Degree, III World Triennial of Small Ceramics, Zagreb, 1991
Award of Merit, Gold Coast Ceramic Award, 1991

Publications

Rolf Bartz, Seashell Studies, Journal of Australian Ceramics, 45#1 2006
Peter Lane, Contemporary Porcelain, 2nd. edition, A&C Black, London, 2003
Sally Bartz, Born To Carve, Pottery in Australia, 36/4 Summer 1997
Peter Lane, Contemporary Porcelain, Craftsman House, 1995
Jane Finlay, Rolf Bartz; Moving On, Ceramics Art and Perception, Issue 16, 1994
Gary Benson, Porcelain Sgraffito, Craft Arts Magazine, Oct-Dec 1986