Altered Swans Series

“For seven days I spent my time in Eketāhuna, a small town three hours drive upwards from Wellington. The purpose being day in, day out, to create a series or works that challenged both myself as an artist, and the preconceived notion of what crownlynn was, now moving forward into what crownlynn is. There was not a moment to spare nor a kiln left off during the process.” – Max Brown.

These pieces will be on sale from 10am, Saturday 22nd February 2025.

Artist – Max Brown

An artist of all features spreading across Paint, Pring, Sonic and Digital, Max enjoys creating to the definition of requirement.

Known for his visceral abstract paintings, Max completed his bachelors in Design Innovation in 2017 and set out to be an Artist of all fields. After developing a name for himself in his hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand, Max opened Xgaleri, a contemporary art studio and Exhibition space in Otautahi. Here, he grew his style to what it is to be known to be today, a careful and considered yet spontaneous approach to the creation of expression.

“I am in love with nature and my ability to express myself, I leave it all out there”.

The Swan is a New Zealand Icon. Like a silver fern on a black jersey, the Swan sits on a living room shelf. For forty years Crown Lynn made the large and small in New Lynn, Auckland. In 1975 Bruce Yallop designed the medium as part of the Model and Moulding department in Crown Lynn.

Standing in our shop in Eketahuna, everyday another person arrives with memories of growing up with these. At Crownlynn.kiwi we are proud to continue making these forms, the third Makers – Crown Lynn 1948-1989, Studio Ceramics 2005-2017, and ourselves since . Our are the Next Generation, having left an imprint in the lives of so many lives, we now introduce The Altered Swan Range.

The Original Swan is an imprint on our youth, part of the landscape, now it becomes the fabric of artistic expression. Crownlynn.kiwi’s Altered Swan is a Postmodern response to the average white swan, allowing three or four artists, each year, the opportunity to reach into their past and enjoy becoming part of this New Zealand journey. Numbered and signed, the Altered Swan Range gives excitement with design that is relevant to the changing moods of our Nation on an unchanging icon.

Max Brown was invited to be the inaugural series due to his family connection to Eketahuna, his knowledge of ceramics gained working alongside his Mother, Sheila Brown, in Christchurch. Max is an artist of natural expression, expanding his thoughts into movements of paint. Brown’s work is largely colourfield, with vast swatches of emotional energy dotted in between visceral textures.

What we see here in the rework of the Altered Swan series, is the challenging idea of breaking the preconceived notion of an old New Zealand form. Brown’s work is to break the mold, quite literally, and free the swan’s from what it was, into everything it is not. This can be seen in Brown’s wild sgraffito mark-making, and the many different glazes used to create an abstract field of depth. It is very free, chaotic and bold, but also possesses a particular softness credited to the akin of the artist. Max hides a lot behind his gestural movement, perhaps seen as a metaphor for his current state of mind. It is in this space that you get a certain sense of somber beauty, and one that resonates with many, a connection to a natural state of reality made clear by freedom of expression.

Mathew Nisbet, Crownlynn.kiwi Owner, Artist, and expert Ceramicist was along for the seven day ride the whole way through.

“Making this series was always challenging, pushed for time, we wished for months to develop the ideas that rapidly became explosions of colour, changing several times as successive firings layered and shifted glaze effects. Exciting and exhausting as each kiln opening had moments of joy and disbelief, the series evolved with the Ugly Ducklings forming into an offshoot, a series of 16 forms supporting the 55 main pieces of Max’s Swan Song Series. I realised during this time, this is vision in action, that began 30 years ago”

Crownlynn.kiwi will be looking forward to Max spending time in our studio on his next visit and will be announcing the second series in March.