Relationship lies at the heart of Jan Alexander’s practice. Through attention, relationships become visible — between movement and stillness, material and maker, people and place, and in the subtle exchanges that shape both the natural world and ourselves.
Born in Melbourne and raised on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Alexander developed an enduring attentiveness to the natural world — its expansive horizons, shifting skies and the rhythms of the sea. Through sustained observation, she absorbed its patterns of movement and change, which continue to inform her practice.
Clay entered Alexander’s life at an early age and became her primary artistic language in 2015, following years of painting and drawing. Her earlier artistic explorations also included bronze sculpture. Studying sumi-e with André Sollier deepened her understanding of gesture, restraint and emptiness. Travels through Asia and an enduring engagement with East Asian ceramic traditions shaped her appreciation of ceramics as a meeting point of material, ritual, people and place, carrying meanings across generations.
Alexander completed a Graduate Diploma of Ceramics at Federation University in 2022. Based in Ballarat, she works across her home studio and the ceramics studio at Federation University, where she is an Honorary Alumni Artist in Association. Working primarily in stoneware, she creates functional and sculptural forms through hand-building and wheel-throwing, responding intuitively to the resistance and possibilities of clay. Asymmetry, shifting contours and reflective glazes create changing visual relationships, revealing distinct aspects of each form from different angles.
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which I live, work, and create. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge their enduring connection to Country, culture, and community.
”Organic, sand, dunes, playful. Ancient landscapes. Strong, bold and elegant forms. Sophisticated design.” - Angela Robinson (1969-2021) artist, educator, friend.
