“When I look at my works collectively, I see and feel home.”
Maricelle Olivier encapsulates memories and nostalgia through her ceramic works, infusing a unique cross-cultural language from her birthplace of South Africa with the Australian landscape. Vessels adorning vivid, colourful patterns captures the feeling of “home” and enable Maricelle to explore her personal history and maintain a strong connection to her heritage.
Maricelle draws particular inspiration from the safari lands of South Africa’s Kruger National Park. The Kruger is a significant location personally, associated with an abundance of precious childhood memories of yearly visits. These holidays in “die Bosveld” (The Bushland) extend back intergenerationally as a family tradition, upheld until their move to Sydney NSW in 2007.
Maricelle meticulously draws and etches each line individually on her work, effectively creating a visually dynamic surface of interpretations and abstractions of the safari landscape. Combined with the use of various colours, the works are transformed into embodiments that unpack layered emotions.
Maricelle currently lives in Canberra, ACT. Practicing as a full-time artist, she works from her beautiful, sun-lit studio at the Canberra Watson Arts Centre. Maricelle graduated with a BFA and MFA in Ceramics at the National Art School, completing her studies in 2018. Maricelle is represented by Sabbia Gallery in Sydney and Beaver Galleries in Canberra.
Maricelle has participated in many group exhibitions around Australia, most recently in the Australasian Art Fair Sydney Contemporary and the major exhibition Clay Dynasty at the Powerhouse Museum. Her work has also been selected in the finalist exhibitions Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize (2024) and the North Queensland Ceramic Awards. A selection of works has been acquired into the National Art School Collection and City of Sydney Collection.
Maricelle is a teacher at the Canberra Potters Society, previously working as the Ceramic Studio Manager from 2019 until 2021 at Ernabella Arts Centre, an Indigenous art centre located in far north-west remote South Australia.
Curriculum Vitae
Maricelle Olivier
b. 1995, Johannesburg, South Africa
Lives and works in Canberra, Australia
Education
2017 - 2018 Master of Fine Art (ceramics), National Art School, Sydney
2014 - 2016 Bachelor of Fine Art (ceramics), National Art School, Sydney
Professional Experience
2022 - present Ceramic Teacher, Canberra Potters Society, Canberra
2019 - 2021 Ceramic Studio Manager, Ernabella Arts, South Australia
Solo Exhibitions
2023 A Delicate Endurance, Beaver Galleries, Canberra
2022 Chiaroscuro, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney
Quiet Company, Jennings Kerr, Robertson
2021 Technicolour Desert, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney
2020 Love Bird, gaffa gallery, Sydney
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Sydney
Evoke, Sturt Gallery and Studios, Mittagong
2023 Patterns and Textures and Lines, Oh My!, JamFactory Seppeltsfield, South Australia
essence, Sabbia Gallery – Sydney Contemporary, Sydney
Present, Canberra Potters, Canberra
2022 Small Works, Beaver Galleries, Canberra
North Queensland Ceramic Awards, Townsville, Queensland
Australiana, JamFactory Seppeltsfield, South Australia
2021 Clay Dynasty, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
2020 The Lake Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Museum of Art and Culture, Lake Macquarie
The Space Within, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney
2019 It's a Wrap, White Rhino Art Space, Sydney
2018 Released: Post Graduate Exhibition, Rayner Hoff Space, National Art School
Sydney Make your Mark!, White Rhino Artspace, Sydney
Awards
2018 The Australian Ceramics Association Prize
2016 Mansfield Third Year Ceramics Student Award
Collections
National Art School, Sydney
City of Sydney, Sydney
Private Collections in Australia, Manila, South Africa and Europe