Personal Information
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Given name: Shelley









Surname: Hannigan









Email: shelley.hannigan@deakin.edu.au









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Your contribution
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Title: Flux and Form









Format: Poster presentation (6)









Main language: English









Abstract:
Hannigan extends her material inquiry into copper through an evolving body of rogue knitted textiles, installation and small-scale sculpture which in recent years has deepened through the manipulation of fine copper thread—knitted, burned, melted and fused in dialogue with kiln-fired ceramics. The evolution of Hannigan’s artistic, material research, foregroundes copper not only as substance but as process: a medium shaped through heat, flux, tension, repetition and transformation. Returning in late 2025 to ceramic techniques explored decades before, alongside lace knitting with fine copper wire, Hannigan explores the intersection of mark-making and material behaviour these two processes offer. Here copper becomes both line and structure; ceramic clay becomes ground and counterpoint. The application of fluxes, glazes and controlled firing processes tests thresholds between stability and rupture, delicacy and endurance. Through kiln-based experimentation, Hannigan examines adhesion, oxidation, colour shifts and surface alteration, allowing chance and chemical reaction to co-author the work. While technically rigorous, this inquiry is equally reflective. Creative growth emerges through sustained engagement with material resistance and possibility. Hannigan’s exploration of copper is inseparable from her identity with place; Living in Australia (but born and raised in Aotearoa-NZ) her adopted home, is defined by mineral-rich, ochre landscapes. Here copper is materially and symbolically embedded. The metal’s presence within Australian geological and industrial histories informs her developing artistic identity; its prominence in her practice shaped by her current environment. In this way, Hannigan’s work situates material research within a broader narrative of migration, place-significance and self-formation. Copper becomes both medium and metaphor—an agent of transformation through which technical experimentation and personal geography converge.










Image: https://test.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/122/copper%20circle.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Hannigan has been a practicing artist since completing her BFA in 1989. Following two decades of painting, her practice evolved into sustainable textile and mixed media, creating relief sculpture and wearable art that merges cloth and paint. In recent years, copper seams from beneath her homeland have been rogue-knitted into dress forms; cut, bashed, drilled and burned into sculptural works; and explored through ceramic processes. As an Art Academic of 20 years, she exhibits widely, curates exhibitions, collaborates with other artist-researchers and interior designers, and publishes on her practice research in academic journals (Thinking Skills and Creativity), and books such as: Assemblage: The Art of The Room (Thames and Hudson).
  










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
In 2020, due to COVID I presented my work remotely to this conference in Galway. This presentation was titled: An Embodied Dress Art Installation: Practice Based Research into Place and Identity. 














Requirements
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Additional information:
Having nominated a poster presentation, I would like to make up my own poster presentation based on images of the works I will show, including text. As I will be travelling from Australia, I don't anticipate bringing any of the ceramic pieces with me, but could bring some small sculptural pieces and a textile work that might hang near of as part of my poster presentation. If you require the posters be digital, I can also organise this.










Spatial and technical requirements :
Going by most conference poster galleries, I am assuming that I will have at least a metre across and 2 metres in height, to display my poster. However if there is any more room I would appreciate it as an opportunity to hang one of my textile pieces that measure 1metre across and 2 metres high also. Otherwise I can encompass all images and text into a poster and print it out or show it digitally.










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
none










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