Surfer and waves
Maker
Gerry Wedd
Date2000
Object number00030708
NameMug
MediumCeramic
DimensionsOverall: 90 x 100 x 84 mm, 0.22 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd
DescriptionThis glazed hand painted ceramic mug was made by Gerry Wedd in Australia in 2000. The mug has a black interior with a yellow base, and features surfer and wave motifs.HistoryBorn in 1957 at McLaren Vale in South Australia, Gerry Wedd studied ceramics at the South Australian College of Advanced Education School of Design in Adelaide, and in 1988 was an Access Tenant at the Jam Factory Workshops in Adelaide. In 1986 he was awarded the South Australian Potters' Guild Student Award and fourth place at the Walker Ceramics Award Exhibition.
In 1990 Wedd established the Jamboree Workshop in Welland, South Australia with Peter Johnson, Jo Crawford and Phillip Hart. The workshop focused on the production of good quality tableware, with time also spent on preparing work for exhibitions. During Wedd's time at the Jamboree Workshop he focused on slip decorated tableware, his work often having a narrative quality, with subject matter drawn from popular culture.
In the late 1980s Wedd began producing designs for the Mambo surfwear label, established by Dare Jennings and Andrew Rich in 1984. Wedd's ceramics, posters, t-shirts and fabric designs were charaterised by bright colours, quirky imagery and an irreverent sense of humour that drew upon Australian society and identity, with a particular focus on music and surfing culture. In 1999 he won the Shepparton Sidney Myer International Ceramics Award, and his work is now held in a number of major national collections.SignificanceThis ceramic mug by Gerry Wedd demonstrates the artist's expressive style and studio craftsmansip, with the surfer imagery representative of a theme common in many of his designs and artworks.
