Forms shaped by rhythm, surface, and the quiet tension between movement and stillness.

Alexander, Jan_hand sculpted stoneware vessel, rich, sweeping texture, gloss glazes black to cobalt

Hand-built ceramic works informed by natural patterns, shifting landscapes, and contemplative observation, exploring the subtle interplay between material presence and human experience.

UNFEIGNED

Two-person exhibition with Tonya Blizzard

Tonya Blizzard and Jan Alexander’s work engages an unfeigned spontaneity - embracing an intuitive mode of making - defined by personal reflection, expressive authenticity, and the absence of pretence.

View exhibition via link UNFEIGNED Harlow Gallery

Tonya Blizzard, "‘Human Behaviour’, 2025, acrylic charcoal and pastel on canvas, 152 × 102cm

Jan Alexander, ‘Spirit’, 2024, stoneware vessel, hand sculpted, cobalt + white glazes, 19 x 10 x 10cm

Jan Alexander’s ceramics hold a subtle state of activation between movement and stillness, where form emerges through gesture, material, and natural forces.

Her practice is shaped by lived experience of shifting water, wind across surface, and repeating patterns just beneath perception. These observations inform an internal sensing, where thought, memory, and choice follow similar subtle rhythms. Form becomes a way of staying close to these unfolding states, where making and becoming remain intricately linked.

The work arrives at resolution through receptiveness rather than control, carrying a sense of something arriving and settling at once. Stillness is active; movement is held within it. Close looking is invited, allowing perception to slow and opening space for awareness of presence and connection.

Based in Ballarat on Wadawurrung Country, Jan works between her home studio and Federation University as an Honorary Alumni Artist in Association. She completed a Graduate Diploma of Ceramics under the mentorship of Peter Pilven and Koji Hoashi.

Image “Striking” Bowl, hand-built stoneware, white and cobalt glazes, 11 x 28cm (sold)

Three sculpted conical stoneware vessels, Shino glazed, heavy reduction fired; two in dark mirrored tones with copper hues, and one in warm orange clay tones (middle vessel available from Brunswick Street Gallery Stockroom).

Alexander, Jan "As It Was Meant” vessels, hand-sculpted, Shino and oxide, heavy reduction stoneware

Jan Alexander, large round, elevated stoneware bowl, hand formed, white glaze with blue markings Diam28 x H11 cm

Jan Alexander, large round, elevated stoneware bowl, hand formed, white glaze with blue design

Jan Alexander, "Sapphire" SOLD sculpted stoneware bowl with four feet, ultramarine gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, three conical vessels/vases, one large, two small, Shino glazes, high fired stoneware. Two small are Sold.

Jan Alexander, hand built and painted bowl, white and pale blue, gloss glaze, mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, wheel and hand built, sculpted rounded vessel with four feet. Blue gloss glaze mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, hand formed vessel, Shino glazes

Alexander, Jan Two carved, squared vessels Shino glazes, one has carved arched feet and is Sold.

Jan Alexander, sm dish with three feet, stoneware, blue + white glaze

Jan Alexander, stoneware vase, sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes, mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, vase/sculpture, hand manipulated stoneware, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, two rippled vases, ultramarine gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, hand formed stoneware vase, sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes, mid fired stoneware. Sold

Alexander, Jan, stoneware, hand sculpted vessels, cobalt glaze, L “Waves of silence” H26 x W11 x D11 cm Sold. R “Silent tides” H23 x W10 x D10 cm Sold

Jan Alexander, "homeless" stoneware vase, hand formed & patterned, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, stoneware vases , sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, small, thrown bowl, blue with white glaze, stoneware

Jan Alexander, small bowls, matching small cup: black/white; blue/white

Jan Alexander, two decorated, dark clay conical vessels, one with lid, stoneware

Jan Alexander, high fired cups, multiple Shino glazes.

My work alludes to our Earth’s inherent temporary and permanent undulations created by the movement of wind, and or, water currents. These currents become visible within the ocean, across its surface, upon it’s floor; in cloud formations, geological structures and sand dunes - to name a few.

The patterns formed by these currents are mesmerising, quietening, and are distinguished by their own unique, rhythmic beauty of balance, uniformity of flow and the juxtaposition where ornamental repetition breaks, or simply falls away.

The forms are meant to be touched, to be held, and visually imply a subjective invitation for one’s mind to settle into rest.

About the Shino Glaze

Fired in a heavy reduction atmosphere, the carbon-trap Shino glaze records an oxygen-limited environment in which free carbon settles onto the surface. This process produces smoky greys, deep blacks, and subtle iron spotting, revealed through the clay body’s naturally high iron content.

The resulting surfaces are richly variegated, capturing the interplay of soot, heat, and atmospheric conditions in a dynamic, textured visual field.

Each vessel bears these traces uniquely, reflecting the inherent unpredictability of the firing process and the collaboration between material, form, and kiln.

View at Brunswick Street Gallery and via link BSG Store

“Family I, II & III”

Vessels, Shino glaze
Dimensions: I & II - H 31 × D 11cm; III - H 24 × D 11cm

Two tall, cylindrical, textured ceramic vessels layered with Shino glazes

Abundance I & II
Stoneware vessels, Shino glazes, H32 × D10 cm. View at Brunswick Street Gallery and via link BSG Store

Shaped through a thoughtful exploration of process, these hand-built vessels reflect an evolving engagement with layered Shino surfaces. Shifts in tone and texture arise through sustained attention to form and firing, where heavy reduction introduces elements of unpredictability into the final outcome.