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The artist working in a rocky gorge in the Top End of the Northern Territory.

Ancient Flows

In search of ripples…

Inviting, harsh, beautiful, and hot. And there are ripples in the rock! This is why we’re here. These finds make my heart leap. Long narrow streams of clear water gush through gaps and drop into the next pool. A multitude of tiny waterfalls and the occasional captivating drop. The reward is a deep and cool waterhole further downstream. The water has forged its path here over thousands of years – finding the route of least resistance and going for broke; in some places polishing the surface to shiny pinks and oranges. Layered rock platforms with a dizzying array of fractures and marks that I wish I knew how to read. These layers are a look into a past over 1000 million years old; clues to a history long removed; the ripples emerging just here and there.

There are pockets of shade but not where the ripples are. We’ve carried all the ingredients for casting with plaster. My head hurts, my stomach complains; this is taking longer than I thought. But it’s worth it. The short burst of jubilation when it unexpectedly works! It doesn’t break, despite the thinness of the plaster. None of these ripples lay flat anymore; they’ve been pushed up and around to become a shoreline’s memory, a forgotten sea imprinting its unimagined future. The flow has changed from salt to fresh. Later this season the flows will ease, leaving the fish to rest and a spiralled, luminous water garden to grow.

I will come back to this plaster, to see what comes. Where will it lead? How will I turn this story into something beautiful?

textured rock rock pool

rock texture small river etched canyon in northern territory

Contact Maria
Close-up of sand and broken shells with feathery shapes that are the result of being washed over by a receding tide.

Landscapes in Miniature

Living not far from a long wide beach gives much opportunity for walking and obsessing about textures. I trained in geomorphology – a study of landforms – and I’m constantly reminded while walking the beach that the forces of nature that mold our landscapes...
The artist's work table showing some experimentation in clay folding.

The Ambiguities of my own Endeavours

I had thought, in the past and in my deep naivete, that creation of an artwork was clean, tidy, spiritually fulfilling, easy, and in all ways, a kind process.
The artist working in a rocky gorge in the Top End of the Northern Territory.

Ancient Flows

Inviting, harsh, beautiful, and hot. And there are ripples in the rock! This is why we’re here. These finds make my heart leap. Long narrow streams of clear water gush through gaps and drop into the next pool. A multitude of tiny waterfalls and the occasional captivating drop.
The artist Maria Kraatz preparing to pour plaster on ripples at Casuarina Beach in Darwin.

Salt Water Ripples

We live not far from Casuarina Beach and it’s been a part of my family and work life for a long time. It’s a ‘low energy’ beach, with a long and gently sloping inter-tidal area. It’s not a white sand and surfie kind of place.

© 2024 Maria Kraatz CERAMIC ARTIST