nanna bayer ― museum pieces
Handmark artist Nanna Bayer is one of our island’s most renowned ceramists, and now the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is showcasing her unique designs. Using the beauty of nature as her muse, Nanna’s colorful and quirky style have attracted a loyal legion of admirers.
Her exhibition, I Know You Are There, explores the remarkable world of microscopic beings – such as bacteria, slime mould and diatoms – and is part of the Beakerstreet science event. As Nanna explains in her artist’s statement: “I know you are there you remarkable beings! Majestic. Inimitable. Invisible to our eyes. Me, an artist, lacks the lens to magnify your beauty and instead engages the imagination to find a fitting nomenclature.”
As well as drawing on her expertise with ceramics for this exhibition, Nanna tells us these works also draw on a background steeped in dressmaking, knitting and weaving. Her striking porcelain microscopic creatures are adorned with fibre, fleece and fur. They also feature pieces of copper wire, bright beads even optic fibre.
Nanna says she hopes her works will help to inspire us to further open our minds to the beauty of these often-feared invisible beings, with her artist statement finishing with, “I know you are there cradling my bare feet on the earth, blanketing my body on a morning swim, and in the cold winter air I breathe you in.”
Nanna Bayer’s exhibition runs until August 31 at the TMAG Bond Store.