‘Meeting Place’  by Rika Rouw

‘Meeting Place’ is the artwork created, for International Women’s Day 2006, by accomplished regional West Australian artist Rika Rouw. The image captures the coming together of women living in rural, remote and regional areas of WA, their diversity, and the land on which they live.

Mostly self taught, Rika Rouw believes necessity is the mother of invention and has learned, changed or adapted as life and circumstances dictated.  In the “70’s and 80”s she was primarily concerned with the creation of hand crafted, economically viable ceramic products which reflected the optimism and “Australiana” fervor of the times.  During the 90’s Rika became more interested in self expression through the use of bright contemporary glazing techniques and clean simple design lines and her themes were primarily concerned with exploring the role of women and mothers. 

In recent years, since turning 50, Rika has moved from personal expression to actively seeking out art projects which promote communication and identity in communities.  She is interested in the sense of place and how people identify their life experiences with a particular community, time or locality.

Rika is based in Margaret River but travels widely, working on art projects with communities throughout WA, from the South West to the Kimberly.