The labour of love

Colleen Gabriel is a lively and talented lady from Brisbane, Australia, who excels in folk art, ceramics and glass slumping.

She initially trained as a high school teacher, and undertook various art courses but when she was in Cairns in 1989, Colleen came across a dynamic group of people and learned the techniques of folk art, ceramics and glass slumping. Today, she is an expert at her art and believes that if 13 brush strokes, that is, learning the different ways of moving the brush can be mastered, then it is possible to paint anything.

Colleen spent six years in Papua, New Guinea and made a mark with her artistic leanings in those places, even winning the National Pottery Exhibition. Later, she went on to secure a diploma in studio ceramics, and then taught and worked in New Guinea in a little studio made out of a converted shipping container.

Using both gas and electric kilns, Colleen works mostly in terracotta with tin-based majolica glazes.

Colours are more vibrant when working with terracotta. When she works with stoneware the colours are duller but it has inherent strength.

Colleen paints and decorates boxes and her bowls with meticulous care. For the boxes and wooden signs and plaques, gouache on wood or papier-mache is used.

For Colleen it is a labour of love. Mostly folk art colours are used and the work is very detailed and exquisitely done. Among her work, there is a small 'Button Box', the top of which is covered with buttons so realistically painted that they look like real buttons; a pencil box with crayons and scissors painted on the lid; two larger boxes, one covered in fruit and the other with biscuits, beautifully and competently painted even on the insides.

When she is working on glass slumping, a mould of fibreboard is needed (not timber board) – clean glass and cut to shape. The glass is placed over the mould and put it into the kiln. As the heat rises the glass starts to 'move' and drops into the shape of the mould. It then needs to be fired rapidly until it 'slumps' completely into the mould. It has to be cooled very quickly, down to the first temperature at which it ' moved' – after this it will have to be soaked at that temperature to anneal it so that all stress is removed and it does not shatter. It must then be left to cool until it reaches room temperature.

Colleen is interested in starting an art co-operative, a venue where like-minded people can gather together to practise their skills. She can be contacted at jgabriel@emirates.net.ae