Greek-Cypriot Australian ceramicist Danielle Thiris creates dynamic pieces about connection and culture and offers her own interpretation of her heritage.
Danielle spoke with The Greek Herald about her creative practice, the deep connection she feels to her Greek and Cypriot background, and the themes that continue to inspire her work.
With a background in the music industry, Danielle became a practising ceramicist after completing a short course at Carlton Arts in 2012. She undertook further study at Slow Clay in Collingwood and has since been refining her craft.
Ceramics began as a hobby for Danielle before evolving into a career in 2020 when a curator discovered one of her pieces in a Fitzroy guest house and invited her into a group exhibition.
Now a full-time ceramicist, Danielle says, “It’s my primary passion, it’s what I get out of bed for. I absolutely love it.”
Danielle’s father is from Rhodes and her mother from Larnaca in Cyprus. She distinctly remembers spending a year at school in Rhodes when she was six years old and riding a donkey to her primary school. She told The Greek Herald that watching her grandmother use different objects growing up sparked her love of vessels and ceramics.
“I grew up observing my yiayia doing a lot of religious ceremonies and rituals and she would always have special vessels or receptacles, whether it was the incense or the holy basil, everything had its special little pot,” she said.
“Special things for the candles and olive oils. I think I was quite enamoured by her rituals and ceremonies. That’s what got me interested in vessels and special sacred objects.”
Danielle is the first in her family to explore her artistic side through ceramics and her nieces are following closely behind.
“All of my nieces are all really, really good at ceramics. My niece Clara… is a natural at it. My other two nieces who live in Melbourne are also quite incredible,” she said.
Having previously worked with Craft Victoria, Danielle also featured in the National Gallery of Victoria’s Melbourne Now exhibition, what she described as a “career highlight.” Her contribution to Melbourne Now was Souvlaki Whispers, inspired by Ancient Greek pottery.
“I have a very strong resonance to Ancient Greek vessels,” she said.
“I think it’s just from seeing yiayia handle little containers and pots and I also have a strong reverence for history and that similarity that all humans across time and place use vessels. I also like the fact that pots are quite accessible, it’s an accessible way for people to enjoy art. I think the great thing about pots is that everyone knows what they are and they’re instantly recognisable. People understand them and they’re not intimidating.”
All of Danielle’s pieces are handmade using individual coils without a wheel.
“I’m quite slow. I’m not a prolific maker,” she said. “I quite enjoy working slowly and letting [the pieces] evolve… That slow process is a big part of my practice and the meaning behind what I’m doing.”
When asked about recurring themes in her work, Danielle quickly answered, “Connection.”
“I connect pots together so I might connect two Greek pots, an amphora and a kylix, and then I might put a German tall vessel in the middle. [My pieces] are about connection and shared human impulse to make things with our hands and I think they’re about the similarities across all cultures. I quite like focusing on that shared humanity,” she said.
“I think there’s a lot of separation and racism unfortunately, and I quite like the idea of bringing all the cultures together. It’s about cultural appreciation and the oneness of humans as opposed to us all being from different places.”
Danielle is continuing to develop new bodies of work inspired by Greek and Cypriot vessels. Her future projects will again explore the theme of connection, particularly through the movability of her pieces.
Danielle uses South Australian terracotta, a material she feels aligns with her values and heritage.
“It felt like a truer expression of my cultural identity,” she said.
When developing new pieces, she often finds herself returning to a verb list from sculptor Richard Serra which helps guide her practice.
“It’s a list of verbs – to roll, to pinch, to fold, to move, to twist… The idea behind it is that you’re present in the moment with what you’re making and observing and therefore learning more about the material and responding in different ways and it can inform the making process by watching these little surprises happen,” she said.
See more of Danielle’s work at her website.
