Infinite Terrain: Celebrating Pippin Drysdale’s Ceramic Mastery at AGWA
The Art Gallery of Western Australia is currently hosting a landmark retrospective, Pippin Drysdale: Infinite Terrain, honouring the extraordinary career of internationally acclaimed ceramicist Pippin Drysdale
Spanning over 40 years of creative practice, this exhibition brings together works from the State Art Collection alongside significant loans, offering a rare opportunity to immerse oneself in Drysdale’s adventurous spirit and her unique interpretation of the world through porcelain.
Drysdale’s ceramics are renowned for their vast fields of flowing lines and mesmerising colours, evoking landscapes that are both intimate and expansive. Each piece invites viewers into a layered journey, intertwining memory, place, and imagination. As Drysdale herself reflects, “Through ceramics, I immerse myself in the art I love, fuelled by passion and commitment. Though discomfort often lingers, it nudges me into the depths of my subconscious, where true treasures are born. In this dance of commitment and uncertainty, I find the freedom to create authentically.”
Based in Fremantle, Western Australia, Pippin Drysdale began her ceramics journey in the 1980s and continues to produce new work at the age of 82. Her pieces are held in major art collections across Australia and internationally, cementing her reputation as one of the country’s most respected ceramic artists. Her practice is driven by a deep enthusiasm for discovery – of place, self, and creative breakthroughs. Blending precise craftsmanship with fearless experimentation, Drysdale’s porcelain forms explore the vastness of colour in the landscape, revealing its capacity for both subtlety and intensity.
AGWA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Isobel Wise, notes, “Drysdale’s journeys to new and unfamiliar surroundings have long shaped her practice. She seeks out visually and culturally diverse environments that stimulate her eye and mind, from Australia’s remote regions to Pakistan, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, and India. These lasting impressions inform her understanding of the world and, in turn, her work.”
Despite her global travels, the visual language of Drysdale’s ceramics remains deeply rooted in the Australian landscape. Her mastery of form, surface, and colour has evolved into a distinct dialect, capturing the nuances of the world through an Australian lens. The gently curved forms, sweeping lines, and shifting fields of colour in her work offer immediate visual impact, while hand-carved lines suggest ripples of sand or sea, guiding the eye across a terrain of memory and imagination.
Pippin Drysdale: Infinite Terrain is open at AGWA from 6 December 2025 to 6 April 2026. This exhibition is a profound and poetic journey through the infinite terrain of one of Australia’s most celebrated ceramic artists.
