About
Alistair Fowler (he/him) is an award winning, exhibiting artist, based across Melbourne Naarm and the Daylesford Macedon Ranges region, on Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung Country, respectively.
Inspired by his love of the natural world.
Alistair’s work often reflects the fragility and patchwork nature of the human condition.
Evoking emotive feelings of familiar with a sense of play.
With a background in building and antique conservation, Alistair’s attention to detail is reflected in his trademark fantastical creatures and unique glaze finishes.
Alistair works across a range of mediums, including ceramics, drawing, painting and woodwork, often incorporating up cycled materials and found items into his work, centring his practise around ceramic sculptures.
Alistair also raises awareness through his exhibition pieces for marginalised peoples, climate crises and endangered species.
Alistair's artwork is held in private collections across Australia, parts of Europe, Asia, Maroondah City Council, St Kevins College Toorak and The Victorian State Library.
AUTONOMY -Purchased by The Victorian State Library, March 2024.
Awards, Prizes~
Liminal Art Prize winner 2025. The voice and vision award.
Flinders Art Show Prize winner 2024, (Donated by Flinders General Store)
Highly Commended Award ~ Eltham Art Show 3D 2024.
29th Annual Mayoral Art Exhibition, Maroondah City Council acquisition prize 2024.
Special Mention Prize ~ Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2024.
Association of Sculptors of Victoria, Sculpture Prize.
Winner ~ Queerthentic Reginal Art Prize 2024
Best Non Functional Item Ceramics-Melbourne Royal 2023
Special award-Best Exhibit Ceramics-Melbourne Royal 2023
Very Highly Commended Award-Melbourne Royal 2023
Community Choice Award. Redtrospective 20 Year Art Prize-Red Gallery 2022
Prize winner ~ Sculpture Now-Yarra Sculpture Gallery members show 2022.
Best Non Functional Item Ceramics-Melbourne Royal 2022.
Special award-Best Exhibit Ceramics-Melbourne Royal 2022.
Exhibitions ~ Solo ~ Group Shows
The Brunswick Street Gallery
Hut Gallery
Apollo Bay Art Show
The Old Auction House
Toorak Village Sculptures
Post Gallery
AGRA Gallery
APC Art Show Finalist
FortyFive Downstairs Gallery
East Gippsland Art Gallery
Red Gallery
Alternating Current Art Space Gallery
The Royal Melbourne Show
Yarra Sculpture Gallery
SOL Gallery
Warrandyte Pottery Expo-Clay Connect
Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. (Gallery & Sculpture Garden.)
Solo exhibition - Sol Gallery Fitzroy
Victorian Artists Society VAS
LOT19 Spring Sculpture Prize
Mc Clelland Sculpture Park and Gallery
Finalist-No Vacancy Gallery-Midsumma and Australia Post Award 2024.
Finalist-Trails Sculpture Prize 2024.
Maroonda Federation Estate Gallery.
Quadrant Gallery.
Toorak Village Sculpture Finalist 2024
Eltham Art Show Finalist 2024
Flinders Art Show Finalist 2024
Off The Kerb, End of Year Award Finalist 2024
Linden Postcard Show Finalist 2024
Midsumma Group show Sol Gallery 2025
Midsumma Nights Dream Exhibition, Artemisia Gallery 2025
Solo Midsumma Exhibition, Forever Fabulous, Forever Queer 2025
Omnia Art Prize Finalist 2025
Solo-Another Quiet Protest tour, Old Auction House Gallery Kyneton 2025
TBH Studio Ballarat
Solo-Another Quiet Protest tour, Montsalvat Eltham 2025
ASV awards finalist, VAS Gallery East Melbourne 2025
Solo-August. Mutts-A celebration of dogs. Artemisia Gallery 2025.
Liminal Art Prize finalist 2025
Linden Postcard Show finalist 2025
Solo-November. Another Quiet Protest tour. Pride Centre 2025.
Workshops/Learnings~
Ros Epstein & Rhona Gaitz - Ros Epstein Pottery Studio
Vally Potters
Emma J V Parker
Ri Van Veen
Marlize Myburgh - My studio
James Lemon
Jack Latti
Ilona Toposcsanyi - Cone 11
Alistair Whyte (R.I.P.)
Pie Bolton - The Kiln Room
Rob Barron - Goose Neck Pottery
Sales Outlets~
https://www.artemisgallery.com.au/stockroom-artists
https://www.clayfire.com.au/collections/alistair-fowler
Ballarat Gallery Shop
Storehouse St Kilda
Professional Memberships~
NAVA
Association of Sculptors of Victoria
Contemporary Sculptors Association (CSA)
MAVA.
Writings~
Solo exhibition review by Scarlet Thomas August 2025.
MUTTS. A celebration of the wonderful world of dogs by Alistair Fowler.
'At Artemisia Gallery, Alistair Fowler’s ceramic mutts tumble into the room like companions from another dimension—wonky, playful, and oddly tender, each one brimming with strange affection 🐾
At first glance, they radiate childlike joy: elongated legs wobble like a foal’s, ears jut awkwardly, tongues loll as if caught mid-bark. They’re scrappy and imperfect, moulded together from clay, glaze, and imagination—yet it’s this very awkwardness that makes them lovable.
The word mutt doesn’t immediately sound like an endearment, but here it becomes a badge of affection. These dogs are not pedigreed trophies; they’re the stubborn ones, the scruffy ones, the streetwise companions whose quirks endear them most. Their patchwork coats of blotched glazes—spotted browns, streaky yellows, uneven whites—carry the individuality of dogs you pass on the street and somehow remember. No two alike, each figure wobbles with personality ✰
Fowler’s playful ribbons—pink for “fastest zoomies,” blue for “best booper,” yellow for “No. 1 stinky bum” parody the solemn prestige of dog shows, subverting hierarchy with humour. Instead of breeding standards, the prizes celebrate chaos, silliness, smell—the overlooked intimacies of dog companionship. These ribbons affirm what any dog-lover knows: that loyalty, joy, and ridiculous antics mean far more than medals ☆
But alongside their joy, there’s a delightful strangeness. Some mutts sprout tiny faces on their behinds—miniature companions, uncanny mutations, surreal jokes that tip the sculptures into dream territory. Are they playful adornments or shadow selves, always tagging along? This uncanny detail complicates the works, unsettling their sweetness with just enough absurdity to keep them unpredictable.
Fowler’s Mutts remind us that affection thrives in the messy, joyful, unrepeatable moments of connection. Just as real dogs shift the rhythm of our days with a glance or a wag, these sculptures tug at something deep and instinctive—inviting us to take the long way home, to notice, to play, and to love in all our unruly, awkward forms.'
