BIO
“If art making is world making, my work reminds me that as we transform matter, we transform ourselves...”
Narelle White embraces ceramic labour as a field of enquiry and engages her materials as wilful co-conspirators.
Her works are a playful and alluring blend of geologic and biomorphic references, and speak to the co-constitutive nature of people, mythos and place.
Inspired by a lineage of women artists with distinctive material signatures, Narelle is alive to the feminist and ecological implications of rethinking our relationships with matter.
Narelle holds a BA, MA and BFA (Hons) - having studied in Australia, The Netherlands and the United States. Prior to creative practice, she worked as an educator and facilitator in various community settings, including roles in East Timor, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Australia.
“My aim, through experimentation and material poetics, is to consider the ways we relate to matter and to those ecologies that sustain us.
My works propose an ethic of empathy and recognition, through the organic and animistic qualities of granular, porous and lively things.”
education
Victorian College of the Arts, Honours in Fine Art
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, BA in Fine Art
Rhode Island School of Design, Study Period - Ceramics
Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Master of Arts
University of Melbourne, Bachelor of Arts
highlights
Moon-grubs | Solo exhibition, Vitrine Gallery, Craft Victoria 2025
Speculative Materialisms | Craft & Design Festival, Canberra 2024
Soft Speech | McClelland Design Store x Craft Contemporary 2023
A kind of liveliness | Solo exhibition, G3 Artspace, 2023
Tiny Wonders | Solo exhibition, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, 2022
UNPREDICT: Imagining Future Ecologies | Ian Potter Museum of Art 2022
Alternative Provisions | Craft Victoria x Melbourne Design Week 2022
Gentle Kin | Sculptural edition, McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery 2021
Fiona Myer Award | Recipient 2021
Victorian Craft Awards | Finalist, Craft Victoria 2021
McClelland Awards Exhibition, Senini Ceramic Award | Finalist 2021
SOIL, SURFACE, AIR | Curated Exhibition & Art Book, CLUSTER London, 2020-2021
McClelland National Small Sculpture Awards | Finalist 2020
North Queensland Ceramic Art Award | Finalist 2021
Klytie Patie Ceramic Awards | Finalist 2021
Wyndham Contemporary Art Prize | Finalist 2020
European Ceramic Workcentre | Artist Residency + Exhibition 2019 - 2020
Fertile Ground | Kingston Arts Centre, 2019
Ian Potter Cultural Trust | Grantee 2019
Manningham Ceramic Art Award | Finalist 2019
Porous Vessels | Installation, Campbell Arcade x Craft Victoria, 2019
DEAR MUD, WITH LOVE | Australian Ceramics Triennial 2019
Clayworks’ Award for Excellence in Ceramics | Recipient 2018
de·gust | Solo exhibition, First Site Gallery 2018
Rhode Island School of Design, USA | International study 2017
“Through support for talented emerging artists, the Trust’s grants reward commitment and passion, and support promising Australian artists to develop their skills and achieve their potential.”
