CERAMIC BLOOMS

After initially learning the traditional rules of photography through a local camera club, she became increasingly interested in breaking them, exploring intentional camera movement, multiple exposures and the creative possibilities of layering images. Her work has been featured in international photography magazines, including this magazine, and has received recognition in photographic competitions and exhibitions.

Now approaching her eightieth birthday, Cheryl spends less time outdoors with her camera, but her enthusiasm for creating images remains undiminished. Working from home has opened up new possibilities for exploring her photographic archive and developing imaginative compositions.

Beyond photography, Cheryl draws inspiration from painting and the performing arts, regularly attending theatre productions at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and visiting Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art. This engagement with different artistic disciplines is reflected in her photographic practice, which frequently blurs the boundaries between photography, painting and other visual art forms.

Her latest project, a collection of 57 images entitled Fusion of Ceramic & Floral, has provided months of creative experimentation and satisfaction. In August 2026, four of these works were exhibited at a local gallery alongside a digital presentation of the complete collection.

What draws you to the arts?

I’ve always been drawn to performance arts and as a long subscriber of Queensland Performing Arts, I enjoy the seasons list of plays. Visiting Brisbane Modern Art Gallery is always an inspiration for my photography.

What do you like best about this project?

The flowers appear to emerge from, dissolve into or inhabit the ceramic forms, creating images that exist somewhere between reality and imagination. the cermic form is elevated beyond their functional purpose and is treated as part of the flower, rather than its container.

The series offers a striking reinterpretation of one of art’s most familiar subjects: the floral still life. Flowers arranged in ceramic vessels have appeared in paintings for centuries, celebrated for their beauty, symbolism and decorative qualities. Yet in Cheryl’s compositions, the traditional relationship between flower and vase is fundamentally altered. The ceramic object is no longer simply a container, and the flowers are no longer merely its contents. Instead, they merge into a new visual entity in which the boundaries between organic and manufactured forms become fluid.

The images are constructed in Photoshop, combining photographs of ceramic objects with floral images through layers, selections and different blending modes. Some of the flowers originate from scanography, a technique in which objects are captured directly on a flatbed scanner. By moving the flowers during the scanning process, Cheryl creates unusual distortions and textures that introduce a sense of movement into otherwise static compositions.

The creative process is deliberately intuitive. Different combinations of images, colours and transparencies are explored until a particular arrangement feels visually convincing. Additional background layers often complete the compositions, contributing to their distinctive atmosphere. Rather than following a predetermined design, each image emerges through experimentation, with unexpected results becoming part of the creative possibilities.

The resulting works inhabit a fascinating space between photography, painting and digital collage. Flowers appear to emerge from ceramic surfaces, dissolve into them or pass through them entirely. Transparent petals overlap with solid vessels, while familiar objects lose their conventional proportions and physical boundaries. The compositions are recognisable as still lifes, yet they seem to exist in a world governed by imagination rather than the laws of material reality. The visual language is both decorative and experimental. Colour and form play a particularly important role.

The ceramic forms acquire the apparent softness of petals, while flowers seem to develop the solidity and structure of the vessels surrounding them. Cheryl describes the images as something closer to constructed photographic sculptures than conventional floral photographs, and the comparison is particularly apt. Through the accumulation of layers and the transformation of familiar objects, the images suggest forms that could never exist in physical space.

The series also reflects a broader dialogue between traditional artistic genres and contemporary digital techniques. Floral still life has a rich history, from the elaborate arrangements of Dutch Golden Age painting to the expressive colour experiments of modern artists. Fusion of Ceramic & Floral draws on this tradition while extending it into a distinctly contemporary visual language, demonstrating how digital photography can reinterpret even the most established artistic subjects.

There is another dimension to the project that seems especially relevant today. At a time when artificial intelligence is increasingly capable of generating elaborate visual compositions, these images represent a different kind of digital creativity. Their elements originate in photographs made by the artist, while their transformations result from individual choices, experimentation and aesthetic judgement. Technology becomes a means of expression rather than a replacement for the creative process.

Fusion of Ceramic & Floral is a celebration of the possibilities that emerge when familiar forms are freed from their conventional roles. The collection invites us to look beyond the distinction between flower and vessel, photography and painting, reality and imagination. What remains is an exuberant exploration of colour, texture and form, demonstrating that even the most traditional subjects can offer endless opportunities for reinvention.