Louise Kyriakou is a Melbourne based artist whose current practice concentrates on the creation of contemporary ceramic forms using traditional techniques of low relief and sgraffito decoration.
Originally an artist and illustrator accustomed to creating two-dimensional works, it wasn’t until 2012 that Louise began experimenting with ceramics while teaching visual arts at a high school in rural Victoria. While looking at surface decoration techniques she could use for lessons with her students, Louise began experimenting with creating faces on small clay plates with tribal-inspired markings. By 2014, Louise’s art practice had undergone a significant shift in focus, as her ceramic faces became more refined and varied in shape and style. She was soon one of a select group of artists selling their artworks at Modern Times (Fitzroy), and later Fenton and Fenton (Prahran).
An interview with Lucy Feagins for The Design Files in early 2016 kick-started an exciting year for Louise that included having her ceramic face wall hangings featured in several magazines including Vogue Living, Inside Out, Elle, and Architectural Digest (Spain). Her solo show, “Life and Times”, held at Outré Gallery (Melbourne) gave Louise the opportunity to exhibit her ceramics and paintings together for the first time, revealing a rich visual connection and contrast between the common design elements of her bold and colourful paintings and her mono-chromatic ceramic works.
Prior to her years as an art teacher and ceramicist, Louise was working freelance as an illustrator. Along with privately commissioned work, she has had two solo exhibitions of paintings and screen prints, and exhibited paintings in group shows around Melbourne. Louise’s figurative illustrations, both digitally created and hand-rendered, are highly stylized with bold blocks of intersecting colour and shapes, influenced by the Cubists’ style and mid-century design. Louise has won several awards for her illustrations, and her work has been seen in many different forms including in books, on cards, as textile design, and even on the side of a bus.
After three influential years living in East Gippsland, Louise moved back to the city, and now shares a studio in North Melbourne with a diverse group of ceramic artists. She is currently taking leave from teaching to concentrate on developing and growing her art practice, and works part time as an art technician at a leading Melbourne Grammar School. |
