About Hiroe Swen
Message from the artist/ Bio / Interview video / Photo archive
Message from the artist
Foreword by Hiroe Swen
I started making ceramics at the age of 23 in Kyoto, where I was born and raised. Eight years later, when I turned 31, I decided to pursue this as my career and it’s now been 55 years since I moved to Australia at the age of 34.
Living in a new country, working with different clay, seeing different approaches of other artists to ceramics certainly gave me ongoing challenges and kept me ask myself ‘what is my ceramics’.
Looking back, the years that have elapsed seem both long and short. I still don’t have a sense of achievement, but ceramics has become my life and my raison d’être. I was never influenced by the judgement of others about what to create. While focusing on my inner self, I have always tried to achieve my own goals. The search never ends in me.
If young potters learn something from watching my creative process video, my efforts will have been rewarded.
I hope that this archive will inspire and assist ceramic artists, ceramic art lovers and researchers in the future generations.
I would like to express my gratitude again to those who helped us create this archive: artsACT and Create NSW for their grants, and many others who have enabled this project to take shape.
Hiroe Swen
April 2023
HIROE SWEN BIO
HIROE SWEN – ARTIST’S PROFILE
1934 Born and educated in Kyoto, Japan.
1949-52 At Horikawa High School, Kyoto, studied oil painting with Junzō Iwata.
Her first encounter with art.
1953 Began the study of batik textile dyeing and became a successful batik designer.
1957-61 Began studying ceramics at the Kyoto Crafts Institute and later studied with Kyoto ceramist Heihachiro Hayashi at his studio for three years.
1957 In Kyoto, founded ‘Joryū Tōgei’ (Women’s ceramic group) with other six women ceramicists, including Asuka Tsuboi.
1962 Established own pottery studio in Kyoto and became a regular exhibitor in the National Women Artists’ Exhibition.
1966 Married Cornel Swen, an Australian artist/designer, in Kyoto.
1968 Emigrated to Sydney with Cornel.
1973 Opened the Pastoral Gallery with Cornel (and ran it until 2003).
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1968 First solo exhibition in Australia of work produced in Japan at (a) the Craft Centre Gallery, Melbourne and (b) opening exhibition at the Strawberry Hill Gallery, Sydney.
1970 The Swens moved to a rural property near Canberra, which became home for the next thirty-three years. Started building their own display venue, naming it Pastoral Gallery.
1972 Third solo exhibition, at the Japanese Embassy, Canberra, of work produced in Australia while teaching part-time at the (then) Canberra Technical College.
1973 Since the opening of the Pastoral Gallery, over the next seventeen years, ten of her major exhibitions were staged at the Pastoral Gallery.
Recent solo exhibitions:
2000 Retrospective of Hiroe Swen’s ceramics from 1965 to 2000, at the Craft ACT Gallery, Canberra.
2008 From Darkness to Light (curated by Karen O’ Clery, Director of Narek Galleries) at the Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra.
2013 Austral-Japanese Harmony, at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra.
2018 Fifty Flights of Fancy, at the Watson Arts Centre Gallery, Canberra, commemorating her 50th year in Australia.
2020 Hiroe Swen: A Lifetime in Ceramics, at the Sturt Gallery, Mittagong.
Other venues include:
1981 The David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney
1983 Gallery Anri, Nagoya, Japan
1995 Japanese Garden Centre, Cowra NSW
2007 Gallery East, Fremantle, WA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Has participated in scores of national and international events and conducted demonstration workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand and Japan, where she lectured at Kyoto Seika University.
REPRESENTATION
The National Gallery of Australia holds one of the largest collections, with nearly 50 ceramic works. In total, 20 state and regional galleries and Australian governmental institutions in Australia and overseas have acquired examples of her work.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Australia, Japan, New Zealand, USA, Canada, England, France, Germany and Mexico.
TEACHING CAREER
1971-73 Taught ceramics part-time at the Canberra Technical College.
1981-2000 Taught ceramics full-time at the Canberra School of Art.
1970s-80s Visited regional towns nationwide to conduct workshops.
1974-84 Organised and led the Bimbimbi Ceramic Study Group at her studio, consisting of female ceramists.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
1969 ABC TV Documentary film, A Japanese Woman Potter Makes Her Home in Sydney.
1972 Documentary film, The Pottery of Hiroe Swen.
Fay Bottrell’s book, The Artist Craftsman in Australia.
1974 CTC TV Documentary, A Closer Look.
1976 Catalogue by Faenza Editrice, Italy, International Ceramics Exhibition.
Documentary by South Australian Film Corporation, The Hand-building Techniques of Marea Gazzard, Hiroe Swen and Peter Travis.
1982 Peter Lane’s book, UK, Studio Potters.
1984 Faenza Editrice book, The Masters of Modern Ceramics.
Alan Moult’s book, Craft in Australia.
Peter Lane’s book, UK, Explorations in Ceramic Form.
1988 Peter Lane’s book, US, Ceramic Form Design and Decoration.
1992 Grace Cochrane’s book, The Craft Movement in Australia: a History.
2000 Sally Milner’s book, Masterworks.
COMMISSIONS
Six decorative discs for the Sister City Monument, Queanbeyan.
Wall decoration designs for the Legislative Assembly Building (joint work with her husband, Cornel Swen).
Artworks for the Australian Embassy, Tokyo, 1990.
AWARDS
2000 Canberra Artist of the Year.
Five-year Visiting Fellowship at the School of Art of the Australian National University, after eighteen years of teaching ceramics there.
2006 Awarded third prize in the aged care essay competition by Sankei Newspaper.
2016 Awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, a Japanese order, for her achievement in pioneering work as a Japanese female ceramist, an artist beyond cultural boundaries and an educator contributing to teaching ceramics in Australia.
2023 Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to ceramic art as a teacher and an artist.
Interview video
Interview video ending credits
Artist/ interviewee: Hiroe Swen
Interviewer: Mayumi Shinozaki
Filming: Michael Lawrence-Taylor
Editing: Brenton McGeachie
Subtitle: Chiaki Ajioka
Proof-reading: Edie Young
Photo archive
