Charmaine Ball’s practice responds to structural elements encountered in the built environment. Architecture and materials – forms, angles, shadows – provide impetus for response. Spanning sculpture and painting, her work is characterised by an exploration of line, shape and colour. Formal geometric composition is paired with an organic approach that imbues a liveliness to abstract pieces.
Ball's acrylic paintings on canvas and board use methodical geometric planning to investigate pattern and intersections of colour. Referencing traditions of Constructivism and Hard Edged Painting, the flat application of sharply-defined sections of colour calls attention to the picture plane. The resulting works exist as a sensitive exploration of colour and tonal nuance.
Working with white stoneware clay, Ball’s sculptures examine the spatial configuration, weight and tactility of matter. Hand-built sculptures are bisque fired and left chalkily unglazed. Through the manipulation of material the works arrive at an interplay of weight and weightlessness; light and shadow; positive and negative space. Gesturing to the function of architectural form, the objects are also distinguished by a haunting quality.
Exhibitions
2024
PCWK13, Nyisztor Studio Essex Street, Fremantle
Perth Royal Art Prize for Landscape, Claremont
Rockingham Art Awards, Rockingham Art Centre
Minnawarra Art Awards, Armadale
Never Alone: Human, Animal, Artist. Rockingham Art Centre
2023
Raw, Kamile Gallery, State Buildings
Interconnected, PS Artspace, Fremantle
Vessel, Gallery Central, NMTafe
City of Rockingham Art Awards, Rockingham Art Centre
Minnawarra Art Awards, Armadale District Hall
Built Worlds, JamFactory Adelaide
Paper, Nyisztor Gallery
2022
City of Melville Art Awards, Wireless Hill
Perth Royal Art Prize for Landscape, Wilkinson Gallery
PCWK12, Nyisztor Studio
Street Gallery Project, Fremantle
Visual Conversations, Nyisztor Studio
Dark2Light, Editeur, Peppermint Grove
Sculpture and Sounds, NextDoor Art Venue
Sculpture at Bathers, Fremantle
2021
Solastalgia, Lost Eden Creative, Dwellingup
Modern Holiday Exhibition, Kamile Gallery, Claremont
Object Image, Earlywork, Fremantle
We Are Nature, Kamile Gallery, Cathedral Square
City of Melville Art Awards, Wireless HIll
2020
Wadjemup Museum Sculpture Exhibition, Rottnest Island
Patterning Habits, Lost Eden Creative, Dwellingup
Modern Holiday Exhibition, Kamile Gallery, Cathedral Square
Post, Gallery Central, NMTafe
City of Melville Art Awards
Between the Eye and the Heart, Lost Eden Creative, Dwellingup
Wide Open Road, Nyisztor Gallery
Sculpture at Bathers, Fremantle
2019
Now, Artsource Salon, Old Customs House
Interview, Nyisztor Gallery
Scene, Nyisztor Gallery
City of Melville Art Awards
Minnawarra Art Awards, Armadale
Between Two Points, Nyisztor Gallery
2018
Galvanise, Artsource Salon, Old Customs House
Gnullar Mia Art Auction, Nyisztor Gallery
PCWK 10, Nyisztor Gallery
City of Melville Art Awards
Double Brick, Heathcote Gallery
Bored Women, Smart Casual Gallery
2017
Scene, Nyisztor Gallery
Artitude Amplified, Telethon Speech and Hearing, Crown Hotel
Shine, Gallery Central, North Metropolitan TAFE
Clyde & Co Art Award Exhibition, Clyde & Co, Perth
2016
Danger Hot Works, Grad Exhibition North Metropolitan TAFE
Auction, Gallery Central, North Metrolpolitan TAFE
Residencies
2017
Ceramic Residency North Metropolitan TAFE
Awards
2017
Shine Award North Metropolitan TAFE
2018
Winner Clyde & Co Art Award, Perth
Winner 3D Sculpture Award, City of Melville
2022
Winner City of Melville Art Award
Collections
North Metropolitan TAFE
City of Melville
Town of East Fremantle
Private Collections