Feyona van Stom
- Hong Kong-born of Dutch and Scottish heritage, married an Australian in 1971,
- now Australian, Lived in New York 1972–1978,
- Sydney 1978–1981,
- Los Angeles 1981,
- and Connecticut 1982–1989
- Moved back to Sydney,
- 1989 to present - Studied fabric art, quilting, watercolour, design
- and interior design Associate diploma,
- Seaforth College of Fine Arts – Won Sculpture Award –
- Studied life drawing, theory, photography, print-making, welding, computer art, sculpture, painting, design, drawing
- Ewart Gallery – Studied painting, ceramics and life drawing
- Royal Art Society – Studied life drawing
- + Finn’s Glassworks – Studied glass slumping
- Ku-ring-gai Art Centre – Studied watercolour, oil painting, acrylic painting, life drawing, glass casting & slumping,
- and ceramics
Collections
Works are in private collections in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, and Argentina; in Europe and in England & Scotland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and France; in America in New York, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon (Portland and Corvallis), Martha’s Vineyard, and Los Angeles;
and in Australia in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Noosa, Berrima, Newcastle, and the Hunter Valley.
Artist statement
My overwhelming interest is the human body, particularly female, the form, the endless variations of movement and muscle and the sensual voluptuousness of its infinite shapes. Ceramics give me the freedom to develop and vary the shapes without losing the basic line … gradually the shapes become dominant and each body’s individuality acquires its own personal definition.
Acquired identities.
My work has changed me as it has changed the people who are close to me. I don’t just see people any more; I try to imagine how they will look when I make them. I love large, dramatic bodies – shape and size becomes ever more beautiful.
When I have a crayon, clay or even glass it seems almost to take on its own life. There is something inside it that is trying to get out. Because the clay is organic and has a life of its own, it pulls me in certain directions.
The ideas keep coming and then they rearrange themselves.
In my drawings and paintings, the form is most important so it isn’t surprising to me that the form becomes all-important in my sculptures.
The clay allows me to put voluptuousness into the body by stretching it. My bodies need to be viewed all around. I know that the differences are there, only waiting to emerge.
I also love experimenting with clay – the primitive firings, the glazes as well as different types of clay.
My sculptures acquire their own identities and personalities, some of them quiet, peaceful and elegant and others sensual, bold, daring, full and luscious. I try to develop movement so that they aren’t static.
I’m also interested in the clay as pottery and how it has lasted through the ages – from the earliest found pots and the venus of Willendorf sculpture, through Chinese and Japanese early primitive firings to the very sophisticated fine porcelaine from Europe and also China.
Because the figure is evidence of who we are, the ways the forms evolve are interesting to me, they take on a life of their own. The finishes on the surface or in the surface make a second statement. Does the piece work?? - it has to work for me. Should I say it only has to work for me?
In a way my work creates itself.
Art, It is a wonderful obsession