Terra Profunda: Avital Sheffer

Avital Sheffer is an internationally-renowned, Australian-based ceramic artist. She creates beautiful sculptural vessels inspired by her deep knowledge of the ancient cultural traditions of the Mediterranean world.

In Terra Profunda Sheffer brings together works created as a result of a year-long residency in Barcelona. An award from the Australia Council allowed her to travel extensively across the Iberian Peninsula, and discover the region’s varied Roman, Catalan, Muslim, Jewish and Hispanic inheritance. It proved a richly inspiring creative journey, re-connecting Sheffer with the aesthetic wealth of her own Jewish heritage.

Sheffer’s meticulously constructed, hand-coiled vessels, employ a combination of age-old techniques together with her own innovative processes. Surfaces are decorated with delicate layers of stylised imagery and arcane text through a unique printing technique of Sheffer’s own devising. The austere texture of the earthenware is, on occasion, enriched by beads of golden lustre.

Sheffer has achieved an international reputation over the last fifteen years. Born in Israel but now living and working in New South Wales, she has had thirty solo shows and participated in numerous group exhibitions around the world. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and other significant public, private, and corporate collections in Australia, Europe, USA and the Middle East.