Murray's introduction best sums up the dynamic emergence of inspired and inventive craftspeople who are making captivating inroads into the corridors of "art".

He writes: "There was once a familiar order to things. On one side there was the supermarket and on the other was the art gallery. There was the world of common things to be used up and discarded, and the realm of precious objects to be appreciated into the future. The meaningless cycle of consumption was counter balanced by the collection of treasured objects. But this cultural economy has become stagnant as art becomes increasingly insular and detached from everyday life. A generation of radical Australian makers is challenging this arrangement by bringing the profane world of consumption into the sacred halls of art. There is no Duchamp-like cleverness about their use of found objects. These craftpersons express a renewal in the elemental energy of creation..."

Each chapter deals with a particular group of makers. Gatherers like Kantjupayi Benson, Kate Campbell-Pope, Ari Atans and Damien Wright draw from the Australian land to produce work, while Fossickers like Roseanne Bartley, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Paul McKee, Sally Marsland and porcelain queen, Fleur Schell, discover materials in manufactured environments. Gleaners like Nicole Lister and David Herbert use what gets left behind, such as packaging, and Alchemists like Anna Phillips, Stephen Gallagher and Mark Vaarwerk look to the physical transformation of materials. Dissectors like Louiseann Zahra, Nicolas Jones, Tiffany Parbs, Caz Guiney and Honor Freeman expose beauty through the act of destruction, but Liberators take the precious out of the gallery and onto the street. They all make the common precious. For those not familiar with this movement, this new guard, this is THE book.

Stewart White