Stirling's Art

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-10-20T17:58:00.003+10:30

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

Acrylics on CANVAS

2010-05-03T15:52:00.003+09:30

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ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-05-03T12:53:00.004+09:30

This Art Platter is a Retirement Gift

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T20:24:00.008+10:30

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2010-03-05T19:36:00.007+10:30

"My greatest joy is painting what I love and Jen features regularly as my model and muse."

To see more of my HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED Art Platers,
please drop by our shop - Art Platters Plus -
Enquiries welcomed, contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T19:03:00.005+10:30

This gallery showcases works that I have made specifically for customers ordering COMMISSIONED -custom made-
PORTRAIT Art Platters.
Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc

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ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T18:54:00.007+10:30

" ... hand painted the plate obviously from the photograph ... congratulations ... the art work is outstanding. "
Richard Carter, Secretary
ATUJARA, MOTOR CYCLE CLUB INCORPORATED

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T18:53:00.004+10:30

"I am writing to say how impressed I am with your professionalism, friendly service and products. I was looking for unique gifts for a 70th and an 80th birthday, also Mothers Day. The commemorative plates designed and made by you were truly unique. They were of excellent quality and well presented. The recipients were absolutely delighted with their gifts. Many of their friends have commented on how good they look.
They are well designed with attention to detail. You were able to create a plate from a brief description provided that exceeded my expectations. I would not hesitate recommending you to any of my friends, who might be looking for a truly beautiful and unique gift."
Edmund K, Athelstone. SA

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T18:52:00.002+10:30

"Many thanks for the great job you did for me. The plate looks fantastic and everything from the constant communication to the turn around time to process the order to the delivery to my office was far beyond my expectations. Well done!
Patrick P"

HOUSE NUMBER TILES made to order

2010-03-05T18:50:00.005+10:30

15cm Square Ceramic House Number Tiles
"I have had the pleasure of purchasing 2 house number tiles in the past few weeks. One was my design which myself and the recipient was very happy with, the other was their design this also looked great, once again myself and recipient very happy with the result. I wish you both every success in the business and hopefully further shopping at 206 The Parade Norwood."
Noreen D, Magill. SA

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-03-05T18:48:00.003+10:30

"Thank you so much for the beautiful platter. I'm quite taken back by it, as it has so much more detail in it than I ever imagined. It's stunning. Our friends whom it is for are much loved, so we really wanted to give something that represented us all, something personal and definitely unique. You surely have provided that, and I thank you."
Kind regards
Lesley P, Eden Hills. SA

ART PLATTER made to order

2010-02-28T02:54:00.011+10:30

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Ceramic Art PlatterThis Art Platter was COMMISSIONED for a WEDDING GIFT.
The customer's brief:- stylized and with birds.

I decided on swallows as they mate for life.

Cate M was very pleased!
I would be honoured to Make Your Gift UNIQUE

Enquiries welcomed, contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-02-27T21:38:00.011+10:30

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Art Platter This Art Platter was COMMISSIONED for a WEDDING GIFT.

The customer's brief:- to incorporate a map similar to the couple's wedding invite.
I decided on a border depicting both their adventures.
Lloyd P, was wrapped!

I would be honoured to Make Your Gift UNIQUE
Enquiries welcomed, contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-02-12T05:57:00.010+10:30

This gallery showcases my HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED COMMISSIONED 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters for various customers ordering BOYS TOYS.

If you have a favourite BOYS TOY - car, bike, plane, truck etc, I would be honoured to Make Your Gift UNIQUE
Enquiries welcomed, contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2010-02-12T05:29:00.014+10:30

HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED 38cmD Ceramic Art Platter These Art Platters were COMMISSIONED at various times for a customer who wanted PORTRAITS of his family members.

Eddie G was very pleased!

I would be honoured to Make Your Gift UNIQUE
Enquiries welcomed, contact me

Book ILLUSTRATIONS

2009-12-31T09:49:00.005+10:30

Water Colours Hand Painted on Paper

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ART PLATTERS made to order

2009-12-31T07:32:00.020+10:30

This gallery showcases works that I have made specifically for customers ordering COMMISSIONED -custom made-
AUSTRALIANA Art Platters.
Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2009-12-30T11:12:00.024+10:30

CANVAS PAINTINGS Made to Order

2009-12-30T10:28:00.009+10:30

This gallery showcases COMMISSIONED WORKS that I painted, using Acrylic Paints, specifically for customers.

Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc

contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2009-12-30T10:18:00.016+10:30

This gallery showcases works that I have made specifically for customers ordering COMMISSIONED -custom made-
BOYS TOYS Art Platters.

Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc

If you have a favourite BOYS TOY - car, bike, plane, truck etc, I would love to immortalize it on a platter just for you.

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Oils on Canvas

2009-09-17T08:21:00.004+09:30

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FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-09-17T07:57:00.012+09:30

To see more of my HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED Art Platers,

please drop by our shop - Art Platters Plus -

Enquiries welcomed, contact me

contact me

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-09-17T07:51:00.012+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

To see more of my HANDMADE and HAND PAINTED Art Platers,
please drop by our shop - Art Platters Plus -
Enquiries welcomed, contact me

ART PLATTERS made to order

2009-09-17T07:46:00.010+09:30

This gallery showcases COMMISSIONED WORKS that I painted specifically for customers wanting TEXT on an Art Platters.

Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc

contact me

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-09-17T07:40:00.007+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

contact me

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-09-17T07:36:00.006+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters contact me

ART PLATTERS Made to Order

2009-09-17T07:33:00.010+09:30

This gallery showcases works that I have made specifically for customers ordering COMMISSIONED -custom made-

BUSINESS LOGO Art Platters.

Looks great on the wall or board room table etc

contact me

ART PLATTERS Made to Order

2009-09-17T07:32:00.018+09:30

This gallery showcases works that I have made specifically for customers ordering COMMISSIONED -custom made-

BUILDING Art Platters.
Makes a UNIQUE and PERSONAL gift idea for:- Wedding, Birthday, Mother' Day, Father's Day, Anniversary, Christmas etc

contact me

BOYS TOYS

2009-09-17T06:59:00.009+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

contact me

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-09-17T05:51:00.014+09:30

To see more Handmade and Hand Painted

38cmD Ceramic Art Platters,

please call in to our shop - Art Platters Plus -

contact me

ANIMALS Art Platters

2009-09-17T05:14:00.012+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

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ANIMALS

2009-09-17T04:58:00.009+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted
38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

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Contact Me - Stirling

2009-07-17T22:32:00.017+09:30

Enquiries & Orders Welcomed
Phone:- 8390 3763
Email:- stirlingsart@hotmail.com

See something you like?
We're happy to post anywhere in the world.
Normal postage rages apply

Book ILLUSTRATIONS

2009-07-16T10:44:00.015+09:30

Water Colours Hand Painted on Paper contact me

FIGURATIVE Art Platters

2009-07-16T10:26:00.015+09:30

Handmade and Hand Painted 38cmD Ceramic Art Platters

contact me

Art Cards

2009-07-14T06:38:00.009+09:30

Acylics on Canvas

2009-07-12T12:24:00.014+09:30

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Stirling Greeneklee

2009-07-11T20:38:00.006+09:30

Date of Birth 14/07/1958
Visual Artist.
Current Mediums – Acrylic on Canvas, Hand cast fired ceramics.

Background.

Influenced by 12 months spent traveling as a child with my parents, when they took the seminal sixties road trip and drove by combi van from London to Bombay, I have always been interested in art, mythology and creative expression.

My artistic career evolved through early adulthood and then formalized in the commercial sphere where I was employed as a free lance set designer/constructor, graphic and scenic artist from 1984 until the early nineties. Working in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide I traveled extensively throughout Australia. The clients I worked for were as diverse as Hickory and Laura Ashley, Target, the Australian Wool Board, the Bicentennial Committee, smaller fashion labels and a variety of advertising agencies.

This commercial work curtailed in 1989 when I returned to the University of South Australia to complete my Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts). During this period I became fascinated in blurring the boundaries between the academic fine arts and the more traditional craft disciplines and the symbiotic relationship between culture, myth, notions of beauty and psychology, particularly Jungian notions of Archetype. This led to the creation of avante guard furniture as sculpture. To realize this fusion I broadened my skill base to include metal fabrication, casting in bronze, glass and alloys as well as sculpting in terra cotta clay and timber.

In 1991 I completed the final year of my Bachelor of Arts at Underdale and had sculptural work accepted in the Melbourne Fringe Festival Exhibition “Hybrids”. This sculptured table subsequently won the Melchair award for Charismatic Furniture. Also exhibited in the Graduate ‘A Twist in the Tightrope’ Exhibition and had work reviewed in the Age, the Advertiser, and the Arts Review program, ABC.

1992 saw a move to Melbourne where I exhibited and sold work. Exhibitions included Arts and Industry, little Collins St, Bluestone Gallery and Design Australia Gallery. Reviews included Design Inc, Melbourne Age and interviewed on Good Morning Australia. Taught oil painting at the Warburton Health Center as part of a Creative Stress Reduction program. Traveled to the United Kingdom.

In 1994 I started Graduate Diploma Course and exhibited in the Masters Exhibition at the end of that year. Work was entirely painting in oils. Masters thesis work explored the relationship between art practice and the Jungian psychological process of individuation.

Moved to London at the beginning of 95, successfully completing my Masters thesis. Traveled extensively throughout the UK with short excursions to Europe. Received Masters Degree.

1996 to 2009 Returned to Adelaide and split time between art practice, involvement with the family automotive business, and renovating an old cottage at Cherryville. Became interested in ceramic glaze painting and set up a ceramic studio in conjunction with my wife who is also a practicing artist. Exhibited in the Adelaide Hills in a number of group exhibitions at Stirling, Balhannah, Verdun, and Hahndorf. Working when time allows on writing and illustrating a number of children’s picture books, as yet unpublished.

Current Practice and Methods

2009-07-11T20:36:00.004+09:30

Artist’s Statement

My work currently can be divided into two main categories. The first and largest activity is the painting of ceramic plates. The second is paintings on canvas.

Though involved, the process of designing and then painting a plate can be achieved in far less time than it takes to complete a painting on canvas. Thus when painting a platter the possibility exists to experiment more rapidly with a wide range of visual ideas, assess their merit, experiment and finish with a completed piece of art. Often then, ideas or elements of paintings will first surface on my ceramic work before they manifest themselves on a larger and more complex scale as paintings.

The relative speed of producing a 38 cm platter,(usually on average one to two working days excluding the firing process) compared to the average painting whose creation can be measured in weeks or even months is the primary attraction of working in this medium.
Another reason for creating large decorative platters is both simultainiously ideological and pragmatic. It is rewarding to believe as an artist that the object you’ve made will become more than mere decoration when it becomes part of the purchasers life. Painting platters offers this possibility.

And because they can be used, appreciated at multiple levels, this highlights one of the intellectual considerations that influences why I paint platters.

I have always been interested in the tension that exists between the definition of a object as a work of art and a work of craft. There is no clear delineation and the subsequent blurring of boundaries offers me, the artist, another arena in which the subtle paradoxes of objects and their meanings can be experimented with. Is it just a large plate or a work of art? Is its primary power utilitarian or aesthetic?

Finally from a purely commercial perspective platters offer the potential for affordable commissions, works of art which can be both objects of beauty and powerful reminders of what we value and love in our lives.

Why do I paint what I do?

2009-07-11T20:23:00.008+09:30

Summary

My work focuses primarily on the sensuous expressions of the human form and the visual symbolism of the mystical and mysterious experiences of live. I celebrate the mystery and beauty of existence because the creative impulse has always given me a reason to exist even when other defenses from existential agony and loneliness have eroded or collapsed. Beauty has the ability to draw me into a complete communion with the moment and thus beauty heals.

I use the creative process of painting or drawing as a active meditation and with these creations I explore both the outer world and my inner vision of it. This meditation is woven into my work and it is the hidden element within the images of my platters and paintings. It is often the reason why, stylistically, my application of materials remains realistic and restrained, for proficiency and particularly surface detail demands patient extended periods working on the canvases surface. The work during this time becomes a meditative act. To simplify and highlight this dimension for others I sometimes include verse or text I have written.

I also create artwork whose inspiration and graphic design imagery is flavored by a retro mid20th century element. I try to connect with the glamour, optimism, and cool elegance of the modernist movement. And to give it a little edge, a contemporary twist, I add a dash of pulp culture - High modernism dates low brow cheesecake, Betty Page dressed by Dior, beatnik Zen, hot rods at the opera.

For me the fifties represent a period where growing affluence and conservative social culture in the industrialized west was actually seeding, artistically and intelectually, new paradigms that would continue to emerge for decades to come. In the freedom of beatnik poetry and the dance of Gene kelly are the first artistic expressions of the coming counter culture.

Of course I have no conscious lived experience of this period so my work in this genre is about the ironies and paradoxes we flirt with when we study the past,when we remember and when we romanticize – how often we choose emotional meaning above an objective truth to create our own subjective reality – our own primary truth. It is about our hidden desires that live in the gaps between our public speech. The things that only find freedom in our thoughts, if we are lucky enough to think them consciously.

Artistically this is translated into the tension between form and freedom, myth and reason, belief and knowledge, the public and the private self – that eternal abyss that separates what we experience from what is lost in translation when we try to express it. The paradox and pitfalls of being a self aware human.

Finally my artwork at its most personal and private seeks to express, however inadequately, the joy and passion I experience from having a woman in my life, a woman whom I love deeply and who is my muse and model. So to my wife Jen, I am eternally grateful to her for her gentle strength, her grace and femininity, the window she offers me to see life from a woman's perspective and the precious time she gives to be my model. I am happiest when she models for me. No other pleasure comes close. Thank you Jen, it's been worth the wait.

Conceptual Influences

2009-07-11T20:19:00.004+09:30

My work has always aspired to express both the intensity of material existence (the complexity and beauty of the visual world), the power of the sensual experience of being human (and male, and thus the attraction to and exploration of the feminine), and the almost mystical attraction to the concepts of transcendence and transformation. I know this is a vast landscape of ideas and I am merely naming these influences not attempting to discuss or explain them here.

However, two philosophies or groupings of ideas are at the centre of my personal artistic pilgrimage. The first is the ancient heremetic notion of inter-relatedness and the idea that reality is comprised of hologens. Hologens are wholes who are simultaneously unique and individual yet inseparable from greater units of ascending complexity and autonomy. As above as below.
Thus the seemingly paradoxical spheres of mind and matter, emotion and object, psyche and body and all the inner and the outer worlds reflect various levels of truth back to each other. Using these concepts, existence and the cosmos can be likened to an infinite number of Russian dolls or onion rings, each nestled within another in ever increasing levels of complexity and consciousness. This interconnectedness, from the probability field of the subatomic particle, defined by intention, as wave or the photon, continues to the particle, the atom and so on through our description of matter, to the cell, the organism, the individual, the family, the society, the culture, the race, the species, the planet, the Gaia, the solar system, the universe, the cosmos, the Kosmos- an infinite progression whose unifying principles are twofold.

Firstly every hologen is an interdependent equally important whole, and secondly, every whole seems innately driven by some evolutionary process to seek to transcend the sum of its’ components.
Making art is the means by which I search for meaning, heighten my awareness and, as a human being, connect and honor every other form of life thus allowing my consciousness to transcend the sum of my material parts. I consciously seek this evolutionary birthright, and artistic awareness is one of the human instincts I utilize to polish the lens of perception and thereby open up to the process of transformation.

The second bundle of intellectual notions I have found useful are those Taoist descriptions of the universe that perceive it not as a static collection of immutable physical laws, but rather as a ever shifting assembly of opposites, always in tension, always seeking to express the universal principles of growth, change, and balance through the infinitely varying symphony of existence.
Jungian psychological descriptions such as shadow and archetype add yet another level to this understanding as does the mapping of cultural and intellectual evolutionary patterns by the contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber.

(Thanks Bill Zytnik for introducing me to the work of Wilber, and everyone else who has enriched my life.)