GAFF GALLERY - Port Adelaide

When you jump on board the old police launch the "Archie Badenoch" and cruise through the Port River, you cruise back in time to when Port Adelaide was a bustling centre of commerce and trade, trade which spawned many of this precinct's wonderful old buildings. It's the sort of setting which provides endless inspiration for any water colourist as Keith found when he motored around the port with local identity Stuart Gifford two years ago.

But the red brick, stone and wrought iron are just part of the aesthetic mix of the Port. Who can overlook the grimy grandeur of the magnificent Hart's Mill. For many, this is not the stuff of art, but try telling that to Peter Johnson. From the back door of his Gaff Studio he sketches the galvo sheds and warehouses, the grungy side of his neighbourhood.

"I guess people don't see the beauty in it. But I kind of like the shapes of roof types and the architecture and all the old rusty bits of metal attached to the warehouses".

From the sketchpad to the bowl, Peter works away on his latest creation.

"Quite often they've been frowned upon as dirty and ugly. I kinda see a sense of beauty and colour in those materials that are used, and probably the general shape and form of industrial sites".

The sawtoothed factory roof, the big wharf crane and the smoking chimneystacks are not the usual motifs for fruit bowls and vases. Nor for the morning cuppa. But on Peter's ceramics these are the striking images which have made his work popular whether it be at the Jam Factory or the galleries of Sydney and Melbourne and maybe that's because everyone can relate to a trip to the local docks.

"A lot of people have associations with the Port. I remember when I was a child driving to the Port, checking out the ships that would come to Port Adelaide and offload cargoes and immigrants in the '60s"

Peter's been here for about five years, having previously worked with that other well-known ceramist, Jerry Wedd who's themes are also coastal but a little more recreational. After branching out from the Clay Jamboree Workshop, Peter bought this century-old warehouse near the Port's factories and galvo sheds. For this softly spoken artist, they bring back memories of old. Memories captured on clay of the days when he was a toolmaker. But the pots, cups and wall tiles are just one part of this man's ceramic repertoire.

"It takes a little while because what I do is to build up so far to about this height, and then let this lower part dry".

Peter's other passion is his figurines who keep watch over the warehouse studio as he breathes life into yet another clay character. This is his tribute to the much-maligned umpire.

"Everyone focusses on the popular figure, the player, the icon, whereas I was making a parody of the umpire, the cricket umpire who silently stands there and makes the odd movement every now and then, but not too often, kind of a bit of humour and irony".

"No doubt he's a little bit chubby"

"Yer, they don't do anything, they just stand there and raise a hand every now and then, they just keep their hands in their pockets, and there's kind of a similarity. I kind of try and draw some similarities to production work and the kind of figures who might inhabit industrial buildings, factories - so I think about the past and memories of the past and characters I might have worked with".

And soon they're captured in clay, the toolmaker at his machine and all the rest. Peter Johnson's Gaff Studio is at 25 Divett Street, Port Adelaide. The studio will also hold a major exhibition during SALA Week from August 5-12. Phone: 8447-4933. or email info@postcards-sa.com.au for more information.