Wanted magazine, December 2014 edition. Anoeschka von Meck.

Expect the wicked and sublime in one! ‘The White Tiger and Other Stories’ is an exhibition unlike any other and is a delightful look at how privileged South African society thinks, focussing on themes of fear, wealth and beauty. Encouraged by Knysna Fine Art owner, Trent Read, Mudge only recently began her adventure into vase-making and hasn’t looked back since. Growing up in a freethinking environment with creative parents in a home where art was all around them, it was a natural choice to conclude her education at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.

“I have a strong foundation in the theory of art, and have always painted, but have no real ceramic training and making a 60cm high coiled vase is technically very challenging. To get vases of that size through three firings without cracking is no easy task and through a process of trial and error I have taught myself how to do it – but have also had to learn to come to terms with loss. A single vase can take up to two weeks to build and there is also a lot of planning and emotional energy that goes into each piece. To lose that after a total of five week’s work is heartbreaking.”

Her vases are hand-coiled using a traditional technique, which after three firings result in a visually and texturally rich surface. Interested by the ‘language of vases’ as traditional objects of domestic beauty and decor, Mudge began a journey to learn how to utilise that language to get her own – sometimes confrontational message across. This exhibition shows 22 vases, each with its own story and message. An example of a vase is ‘Everyone Has a Plan Until they Get Punched in The Mouth.’ Using a quote by boxer Mike Tyson as comment on our uniquely South African fear of getting attacked. These are offset by vases which comment on love: ‘Stop Playing Games With My Heart.’ and ‘The Beat of My Heart’ are both inspired by the patterned fabric from her three-year-old daughter’s dresses.

“I spent four years living in the UK and when I returned to live in Keurboomstrand with my family the financial inequalities of the haves and have-nots really struck me. We live in a complicated society, which is at times so overwhelming that we have to turn away from it. My vases are treated as canvasses, the difference being that they have a round form, which quite literally we can turn around to face the wall so that we can only view the decorative beauty on the other side. We are all quite well practiced in ‘looking the other way’ and this is a theme that I plan to build on in my next body of work.”

She is having another solo exhibition of vases in March 2014 at The Gallery at Grande Provence in Franschhoek. The exhibition opens at Knysna Fine Art on Friday at 6pm, November 8 and runs until Saturday, November 30.