Discover ceramic works by Annette Bull alongside Kirsten Lovelock’s Pocket Exhibition 'The Quiet Familiar'
Featured alongside Kirsten Lovelock’s Pocket Exhibition 'The Quiet Familiar' at Frame Gallery, which opened on Thursday 23 July 2026, is the work of New Zealand ceramic artist Annette Bull. Annette’s sculptural vessels were carefully selected to complement Kirsten’s captivating paintings, creating a considered dialogue between the two artists’ work.
We're delighted to introduce Annette's work to our Auckland collectors for the very first time. Her contemporary ceramics create a thoughtful dialogue with Kirsten's dreamlike worlds, inviting visitors to experience two artists whose practices share a quiet sensitivity to form, balance and observation.
Based in Te Matau-a-Māui, Hawke's Bay, Annette has spent more than 20 years exploring the expressive possibilities of clay. Her work centres on the vessel, one of the oldest forms in ceramic art. Historically used to carry food and water, vessels have also carried stories, rituals and memories. Annette honours this history while reimagining these familiar forms as sculptural objects with a distinctly contemporary voice.
Inspired by Cubism, her vessels feature flattened planes, bold angles and elegant linear forms. Handles and spouts extend beyond their traditional function, becoming expressive elements that reshape each silhouette. Annette describes her process as "drawing with clay", with every piece thrown on the wheel before being altered and rebuilt by hand, allowing each form to evolve organically.
The result is a collection of contemporary ceramic vessels that feel both architectural and deeply tactile. Whether viewed individually or as a group, they encourage the eye to move around them, revealing changing relationships between line, light and shadow.
Annette has established herself as one of New Zealand's leading ceramic artists, having been selected as a finalist in the Portage Ceramic Awards, Waiclay Ceramic Awards, Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards, the Arts House Trust Awards and numerous other prestigious exhibitions. In 2024, her work was acquired into the permanent collection of MTG Hawke's Bay, recognising her significant contribution to contemporary New Zealand ceramics.
Although working in different mediums, Annette and Kirsten share a fascination with transforming familiar forms into something quietly unexpected. Kirsten's symbolic paintings explore memory, instinct and our connection with the natural world, while Annette's vessels reinterpret everyday objects through line, geometry and form. Together, they create a rich and considered exhibition experience.
As you explore Kirsten's beautiful new collection, we invite you to spend time with Annette's ceramics. It's a wonderful opportunity to discover an exciting artist making her Frame Gallery debut and experience how thoughtfully chosen ceramics can deepen the conversation between artwork, object and space.
