The world of Hiroe Swen’s ceramic art: digital archive launch and pop-up exhibition

This pop-up exhibition at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery coincides with the launch of The world of Hiroe Swen, a digital archive, celebrating over 50 years of Hiroe Swens ceramic practice. The public launch is on Saturday with presentations by Grace Cochrane, Meghen Jones, Paul Davis, and Jacqueline Clayton. Hiroe Swen was born in 1934 in Kyoto, and first trained as a painter, and then textile designer. She commenced ceramic study in 1957 and, after establishing herself as a ceramicist in Kyoto, relocated to Australia in 1968 with her husband Cornel Swen, a Dutch graphic designer and artist. Moving close to Canberra, they established their own studios and the Pastoral Gallery on their property, Bimbimbi, outside of Queanbeyan, where they lived, worked and exhibited until 2000. Swen taught ceramics from 1971-1973 at Canberra Technical College, after which she established the Bimbimbi Ceramic Study Group. She taught at the Canberra School of Art/ANU School of Art as a lecturer from 1981 to 2000. The world of Hiroe Swen digital archive is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and the ACT Government through ArtsACT funding. Cultural agencies who have assisted the project include the ANU Drill Hall Gallery, the NGA, CMAG, Art Gallery of South Australia, AGNSW, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and 14 other art galleries in Australia.