Springmount Pottery is located in Creswick, Victoria, and produces and sells works designed by its owner, Tina Banitska, who also owns the Convent Gallery in Daylesford. Banitska came to Australia with her family from Greece in 1956. She trained at RMIT and Franklin State College, before taking over Doug Alexander's Springmount Pottery when he moved to Tharwa in 1976. Retaining the pottery name, she developed it as a workshop, employing throwers and decorators to make works to her design, and initially selling these through the Springmount Pottery Gallery on Main Street, Ballarat. The pottery now operates with its own gallery onsite. Banitska's initial interest in ash glazes is continued in the Pottery's ashware line and there has also been a wide range of other Springmount designs. Works are signed with a painted 'Springmount' often split over two lines.A hand thrown, glazed and decorated vase.ceramics, springmount pottery, tina banitska, australian studio ceramics, australian studio pottery

Josh MUIR (1991- 2022) Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara/Barkinjl Muir's art draws on hip-hop and street art culture and often depicts the history of indigenous people and European settlers. He spent a lot of time in his teens researching and enjoying public art, especially graffiti. Inspired by the commitment of graffers he was inspired by the concepts they illustrate. He started expressing his own ideas with pen and pad and once the basic concept down and it was tangible and could be converted that to canvas or walls. Muir experimented with spray and stencil work a lot in his teens and later branched out into acrylic paints, paint pens, and digital forms of Art. In 2016 Josh Muir's work 'Still Here', projected onto the front wall of the National Gallery of Victoria was critically acclaimed. At that time he stated: "‘I am a proud Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man, born and living in Ballarat, Victoria. I hold my culture strong to my heart – it gives me a voice and a great sense of my identity. When I look around, I see empires built on aboriginal land. I cannot physically change or shift this, though I can make the most of my culture in a contemporary setting and use my art projects to address current issues of reconciliation." In 2016 Josh Muir was awarded the second recipient of HMS Trust’s Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship at University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The Fellowship was created to enable Indigenous artists to undertake significant projects of their choice. Computer generated image on canvas.josh muir, aboriginal, artwork, artist, hutchinson indigenous fellowship

Inge KING (26 November 1915 – 23 April 2016) Born Berlin, Germany Arrived Australia 1951 Inge King trained as a wood carver and studied at the Berlin Academy (1937-1939), Royal Academy London (1940), and the Glascow School of Art (1941-1943) . She moved to London in 1947 and began carving organic abstract forms in wood and stone. In 1949-50 she went on a study tour to the United States of America where she was inspired to work in metal . Inge King arrived in Australia in 1951 and she completed several large scale public works. Between 1961 and 1975 Inge King lectured at the Institute of Early Childhood Development, Kew. From 1976 to 1987 she lectured in Sculpture at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She was a founding member of the Ceminal Centre Five group, and she actively lobbied architects, governments and State galleries to include modernist sculptures in their plans and displays. In 1991 Inge King joined the first National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Public Art Committee, advising on public art at risk and worthy of Trust classification. The Australian Women's Art Register describes Inge King as having been at the forefront of developing a non figurative vocabulary in Australian Sculpture. Welded bronzed steel sculpture painted black and red. This sculpture by Inge King was purchased in 1967 with funds raised by staff and students of Ballarat Teachers' College, a predecessor institution of Federation University Australia. During this era a collection was made which resulted in an annual purchase or commission of an artwork of note. The Federation University Art Collection features over 1000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007. Signed 'I. King' on the lower steel plate. art, artwork, inge king, king, sculpture, ballarat teachers' college collection, welded metal, metal sculpture