Fantastic Forms
Nabilah Nordin | Pavilion, 2023
Timber, white rags, beeswax, pigment, acrylic paint, spray paint, mouldable plastic, epoxy modelling compound, cotton rope & ecrylimer. MIIA Foundation Collection. Photo: Simon Strong.
14 Jun 2025 — 7 Sep 2025
Nabilah Nordin | Pavilion, 2023
Timber, white rags, beeswax, pigment, acrylic paint, spray paint, mouldable plastic, epoxy modelling compound, cotton rope & ecrylimer. MIIA Foundation Collection. Photo: Simon Strong.
| Dates | Saturday 14 June to Sunday 07 September |
|---|---|
| Times | open daily, 10am - 5pm |
| Cost | FREE |
| Booking | Bookings are not required to visit the exhibition |
| Age | all ages welcome |
Coming soon - A Bundanon touring exhibition
Fantastic Forms celebrates the creative practice of Merric Boyd (1888-1959), an artist who is often referred to as Australia’s father of studio pottery.
Featuring over 150 drawings and ceramics from the Bundanon Collection, this vibrant selection is presented in conversation with work by three contemporary artists – Nabilah Nordin’s sculptural forms, Stephen Benwell’s delicate human figures and energetic stop-motion videos by emerging Bundjalung artist Rubyrose Bancroft.
Beginning with Boyd’s idiosyncratic approach to artmaking, Fantastic Forms expands from his well-known pottery to the playful, colourful and dynamic drawing practice that he used to portray the world around him. Depicting Australian animals, plants, people and landscapes alongside handwritten notes and free-form poetry, these works on paper reveal a singular approach to spirituality, art and life.
The first impulse of the maker of hand pottery is to obtain pleasure in making and decorating an article, and making that pleasure intelligible to others …"
Merric Boyd, 1930
Merric Boyd. Fantastic Forms (installation view), Bundanon, 2023. Bundanon Collection. Photo: Zan Wimberley.
Merric Boyd at Open Country pottery, Murrumbeena, c1914, Bundanon Archives
Merric Boyd
Considered Australia’s first studio potter, Merric Boyd began working with clay in 1910 when the medium was not widely used. Alongside pottery, drawing formed the backbone of his practice from an early age. Boyd’s creative philosophy shaped the lives of his five children, Lucy, Arthur, Guy, David and Mary, all of whom became artists in their own rights.
Rubyrose Bancroft working in Bronwyn Bancroft’s studio, Northern Rivers Region, 2024. Photo, Bronwyn Bancroft
Rubyrose Bancroft
Rubyrose Bancroft is an emerging Bundjalung artist based in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Bancroft is a trained ceramist who began experimenting with plasticine claymation at home during lockdown. Her work in Fantastic Forms uses humour and escapism whilst exploring biblical and cosmic themes.
Stephen Benwell in his studio at Somerset Street, St Kilda, 2008
Stephen Benwell
In his paintings, ceramics and bronzes, Benwell both references and challenges classical forms, presenting fragments of full statues, suggestive of archaeological finds, alongside busts and statues of the male nude. Benwell’s distinct style continues his contemporary perspective on traditions of beauty, and other art-historical influences.
Nabilah Nordin in her Los Angeles studio, courtesy the artist
Nabilah Nordin
Nabilah Nordin is a Singaporean/Australian sculptor whose practice ‘unlearns’ correct methods and techniques to maintain a state of conscious naïveté. Interested in material invention, her installations embrace wonky craftwork, playfully celebrating the visceral and anthropomorphic qualities of materials in concert with community engaged performative practices.
Fantastic Forms is a Bundanon touring exhibition
The exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians.
