Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which I live, work, and create. I honour their enduring connection to Country, community, and culture, and pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, extending that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

UNFEIGNED

Two-person exhibition with Tonya Blizzard

Tonya Blizzard and Jan Alexander’s work engages an unfeigned spontaneity - embracing an intuitive mode of making - defined by personal reflection, expressive authenticity, and the absence of pretence.

Harlow Gallery
355 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Melbourne VIC
1 – 12 April 2026

Launched on 3rd April by Kiri Smart - Artist, Curator and Heritage Collections Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

Works available via gallery website until Saturday 16th May.

A heartfelt thank you to all who contributed to bringing this exhibition into being. Your support, care, and communication have been deeply appreciated. We have valued the opportunity to share our work and hope it has sparked interest, conversation, and quiet moments of connection.

Tonya Blizzard, "‘Human Behaviour’, 2025, acrylic charcoal and pastel on canvas, 152 × 102cm

Jan Alexander, ‘Spirit’, 2024, hand-built stoneware, cobalt and white glaze, 19 X 10 x 10cm

Jan Alexander hand sculpted, tall, textured vessel, oxide, multiple glazes, yellows

Alexander, Jan, 3 hand sculpted stoneware vessels, multiple glazes in blues and yellows

Alexander, Jan_hand sculpted stoneware vessel, rich, sweeping texture, gloss glazes black to cobalt

Jan Alexander’s ceramics hold a subtle state of activation between movement and stillness, where form emerges through gesture, material, and natural forces.

Her practice is shaped by lived experience of shifting water, wind across surface, and repeating patterns just beneath perception. These observations inform an internal sensing, where thought, memory, and choice follow similar subtle rhythms. Form becomes a way of staying close to these unfolding states, where making and becoming remain intricately linked.

The work arrives at resolution through receptiveness rather than control, carrying a sense of something arriving and settling at once. Stillness is active; movement is held within it. Close looking is invited, allowing perception to slow and opening space for awareness of presence and connection.

Based in Ballarat on Wadawurrung Country, Jan works between her home studio and Federation University as an Honorary Alumni Artist in Association. She completed a Graduate Diploma of Ceramics under the mentorship of Peter Pilven and Koji Hoashi.

Image “Striking” Bowl, hand-built stoneware, white and cobalt glazes, 11 x 28cm (sold)

Three sculpted conical stoneware vessels, Shino glazed, heavy reduction fired; two in dark mirrored tones with copper hues, and one in warm orange clay tones (middle vessel available from Brunswick Street Gallery Stockroom).

Alexander, Jan "As It Was Meant” vessels, hand-sculpted, Shino and oxide, heavy reduction stoneware

Jan Alexander, large round, elevated stoneware bowl, hand formed, white glaze with blue markings Diam28 x H11 cm

Jan Alexander, large round, elevated stoneware bowl, hand formed, white glaze with blue design

Jan Alexander, "Sapphire" SOLD sculpted stoneware bowl with four feet, ultramarine gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, three conical vessels/vases, one large, two small, Shino glazes, high fired stoneware. Two small are Sold.

Jan Alexander, hand built and painted bowl, white and pale blue, gloss glaze, mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, wheel and hand built, sculpted rounded vessel with four feet. Blue gloss glaze mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, hand formed vessel, Shino glazes

Alexander, Jan Two carved, squared vessels Shino glazes, one has carved arched feet and is Sold.

Jan Alexander, sm dish with three feet, stoneware, blue + white glaze

Jan Alexander, stoneware vase, sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes, mid fired stoneware

Jan Alexander, vase/sculpture, hand manipulated stoneware, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, two rippled vases, ultramarine gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, hand formed stoneware vase, sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes, mid fired stoneware. Sold

Alexander, Jan, stoneware, hand sculpted vessels, cobalt glaze, L “Waves of silence” H26 x W11 x D11 cm Sold. R “Silent tides” H23 x W10 x D10 cm Sold

Jan Alexander, "homeless" stoneware vase, hand formed & patterned, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, stoneware vases , sculpted and patterned, blue gloss glazes

Jan Alexander, small, thrown bowl, blue with white glaze, stoneware

Jan Alexander, small bowls, matching small cup: black/white; blue/white

Jan Alexander, two decorated, dark clay conical vessels, one with lid, stoneware

Jan Alexander, high fired cups, multiple Shino glazes.

My work alludes to our Earth’s inherent temporary and permanent undulations created by the movement of wind, and or, water currents. These currents become visible within the ocean, across its surface, upon it’s floor; in cloud formations, geological structures and sand dunes - to name a few.

The patterns formed by these currents are mesmerising, quietening, and are distinguished by their own unique, rhythmic beauty of balance, uniformity of flow and the juxtaposition where ornamental repetition breaks, or simply falls away.

The forms are meant to be touched, to be held, and visually imply a subjective invitation for one’s mind to settle into rest.

About the Shino Glaze

Fired in a heavy reduction atmosphere, the carbon-trap Shino glaze records an oxygen-limited environment in which free carbon settles onto the surface. This process produces smoky greys, deep blacks, and subtle iron spotting, revealed through the clay body’s naturally high iron content.

The resulting surfaces are richly variegated, capturing the interplay of soot, heat, and atmospheric conditions in a dynamic, textured visual field.

Each vessel bears these traces uniquely, reflecting the inherent unpredictability of the firing process and the collaboration between material, form, and kiln.

Available at Brunswick Street Gallery, Stockroom

“Family I, II & III”

Vessels, Shino glaze
Dimensions: I & II - H 31 × D 11cm; III - H 24 × D 11cm

Two tall, cylindrical, textured ceramic vessels layered with Shino glazes

Abundance I & II
Stoneware vessels, Shino glazes, H32 × D10 cm each.

Shaped through a thoughtful exploration of process, these hand-built vessels reflect an evolving engagement with layered Shino surfaces. Shifts in tone and texture arise through sustained attention to form and firing, where heavy reduction introduces elements of unpredictability into the final outcome.

Detail of two textured vessels with layered Shino glaze

Brunswick Street Gallery Stockroom
Level 1 & 2, 322 Brunswick Street
Wurundjeri Country, Fitzroy VIC 3065 Australia

Opening hours:

Tue–Sat: 10am–5pm
Sun: 11am–4pm
Closed Mondays

Jan was one of six ceramic artists commissioned in 2024 and again in 2025 to create hand-crafted dining plates for The Great Takeaway: Dine and Take, curated by Creative City Ballarat - within the program for Craft Lab Ballarat.

Ceramic artworks were also contributed for display in both years.

Stoneware dining plates for The Great Takeaway events

2024 — theme: “A Patch of Blue”

2025 — theme: “Story and Yellow”

Two white ceramic plates with abstract blue paint on a plain white background.

Set of three yellow bowls with white streaks on a white surface.

Vale Peter Pilven
28th April 1956 – 18th December 2024

Peter Pilven was an inspiring artist and generous mentor whose guidance profoundly shaped my practice. I remain deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn from him. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and the creative community who carry his memory forward.

Beasts opening Gallery 10, May 2024

photo Linda Franklin

Ceramic blue bowl repaired with copper wire & found quartz + textile quilted discarded tea towel with local property guide. Collaboration with Jem Olsen speaking to societal shifts impacting sense of place, connection & self.

FINALIST – 2024 Infuse Art Prize Ross Creek Gallery

Textile artist Jem Olsen and I were honoured to be finalists for the 2024 Infuse Art Prize with Reclaimed, a collaborative work exploring identity, belonging, and societal change. My “fractured” ceramic piece embodies transformation and resilience, while Jem’s textile work critiques the commodification of home. Together, Reclaimed invites reflection on personal identity, societal values, and the ethical dimensions of home and connection.