Speakers for this event

• Anna-Marie Wallace

  Anna-Marie Wallace

  Anna-Marie Wallace is a British born, Australian artist of Italian & Scottish heritage. She is an Industrial Designer turned Ceramicist, who began her short but avid foray into the world of clay in 2012 with Made OF Australia, a saggar firing business whose art, jewellery, & tableware are coveted by retailers, galleries, stylists, photographers, high end restaurants, & renowned chefs globally. She introduced Liquid Quartz to the ceramic arts market in 2015, after years of research & development into finding a solution to the age old issue of food safety & unglazed surfaces. She openly discusses & shares the technology used to make her pieces food safe, with the hope of allowing others to expand their alternative firing ceramic practices too. She is an outspoken advocate for the death of “starving artist” syndrome, & runs workshops, mentorship programmes, & internships to teach others how to market & sell their art, as well as run a sustainable, & profitable, arts based practice. She works solely with Australian clays, native flora, & waste from Indigenous fauna (Pandanus, Macadamia, Bunya, Magpie Goose feathers, Crocodile eggshell, Koala scat, Dugong seagrass, & calcified seaweeds & corals to name a few), foraged in her local area or sent in by friends from The Northern Territory to Tasmania. The unpredictable & unrepeatable finish of each piece tells a unique story of origins & process. Her creations pay homage to all that was destroyed to create them; they are pieces OF Australia, each as individual as you are. click here to go to Anna Marie’s website Image: Minimalist Plate (28cm); Australian Porcelain Saggar Fired with Pandanus, Macadamia, Dugong Seagrass, & Crocodile Eggshell (Range produced 2016-2018) Tiger Myrtle hand carved spoon also by the artist. Image Credit: Michelle Eabry

• Anne Mette Hjortshøj

  Anne Mette Hjortshøj

  Anne Mette Hjortshøj graduated from the ceramic department at The Royal Danish Academy on Bornholm in 2000. To improve her skills and gain further experience, she spent eighteen months working in Wales with the potter Phil Rogers and in the USA, Australia and Korea. Since then she has exhibited and worked internationally but spends most of her time making work to fire in her two chamber wood kiln on the Danish island of Bornholm. click here to go to Anne Mette’s website

• Catherine White

  Catherine White

  Catherine White works in the rolling hills of Virginia one hour from Washington, DC. Weaving together throwing and handbuilding techniques, objects are made with markings and irregularities that intentionally reveal the touch of the hand. She collects and poetically uses diverse raw materials in her anagama and gas-fired kilns. Clay work is intertwined with extensive drawing, painting and collaging. White has an MFA in ceramics, studied painting in Aix-en-Provence, France and taught ceramics for many years at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. She has made pottery for over thirty-five years for Omen-Azen, a Japanese restaurant in New York City; had commissions for state gifts from the Obamas; and has been in over 100 exhibitions. She has written for The Studio Potter and The Log Book examining failure, drawing, materials and choice. click here to go to Catherine’s website click here to go to Catherine’s instagram

• David Ray

  David Ray

  David's ceramics have built a reputation for being wild and flamboyant Baroque creations. Conceptually, the creations explore function and dysfunction within our consumeristic society. The handmade is an idealistic idea he holds dear within his making process. Decoration is incorporated within the body of the work; weaving, twisting and turning, with a confounding plethora of images and motifs. He believes life is a juxtaposition between the perception of the beautiful and the ugly, which creates a subjective perception towards making and looking at Art itself. David Ray retired from RMIT University in 1996 with Honours and his work is held in Australian and international collections. He has held numerous Artist in Residence placements and he lists that Liverpool (U.K.) was his most 'mind-bending'. Various publications and articles have been written about his work. He comes up when Googled! Terrible at self-promotion, David prefers making in his studio in the Yarra Valley, Victoria and continuing to exhibit within both realms of the 'Art' and 'Craft' worlds. He is a trained secondary teacher, specialising in trauma informed practice, with 15 years experience in this field. He says "time is precious, but teaching and making both provide a balance within my life". click here to go to David’s website Image: Wild (2017), handbuilt earthenware, decal, enamel gold, 48 x 40 x 36 cm Winner of the 2017 Manningham Victorian Ceramic Art Award Image Credit: Shannon McGrath

• Elisa Helland-Hansen

  Elisa Helland-Hansen

  Elisa Helland-Hansen is a Norwegian studio potter based in Rosendal by the Hardangerfjord in western Norway. She was trained at the Bergen National College for Arts and Design in the 1970s, and has worked as a full-time potter making utilitarian work since then. She was head of the department and a professor at HDK - University of Gothenburg, in Sweden for five years, has traveled extensively, and exhibits nationally and internationally. click here to go to Elisa’s website Image: Porcelain cups (2016), reduction fired to cone 10, 10 cm H x 10.5 cm W Portrait: courtesy of the artist

• Hayley Panangka Coulthard

  Hayley Panangka Coulthard

  Hayley Panangka Coulthard was born in Hermannsburg, daughter of fellow Hermannsburg Potter Anita Ratara. Joining the Hermannsburg Potters in 2009, Coulthard has established herself as a prominent member of the group, developing her raw natural talent under the mentorship of Senior Potters Judith Inkamala and Rahel Ungwanaka. Her work is known for its incorporation of ceramic relief methods, which plays on the Hermannsburg Potters' multidimensional style. Like her mother Anita, Hayley chooses to depict her traditional Country, Palm Valley, in her work, and the associated Willy Wagtail Dreaming. As an emerging artist of the Hermannsburg Potters, Hayley Coulthard is known for producing work of both a high technical standard and of artistic merit. Having participated in numerous group exhibitions in Australia, she was invited to exhibit in the 2010 collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai, China. This significant international exhibition showcased the work of artists from the Northern Territory's Hermannsburg Potters, Warlukurlangu Artists and Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts Centre. Hayley Coulthard is also renowned for her delightful AFL footy pots, her work St Kilda versus Collingwood being acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2011. She has since gone on to be a part of the significant 2016 National Gallery of Victoria exhibition, Our Land is Alive - Hermannsburg Potters for Kids, where twenty AFL-themed pots were commissioned to tell the story of the game's history, particularly as it has unfolded in the footy fanatic community of Hermannsburg. Hayley served on the Desart Incorporated Board from 2010 to 2012 and is currently a director on the Hermannsburg Potters Board and Desart Board.

• Judith Pungkarta Inkamala

  Judith Pungkarta Inkamala

  Judith is a founding member of Hermannsburg Potters. Judith's work has been exhibited widely throughout Australia over the past 30 years and she has travelled extensively, both nationally and internationally over this time to represent the Hermannsburg Potters. Her pots reflect a predisposition for balanced, symmetrical objects and reveal an accomplished hand in the craftsmanship. Inkamala takes inspiration from her Western Aranda country and transforms these visions into wonderfully crafted terracotta pots and occasionally paintngs on canvas. Her pots are beautfully crafted and show a great attention to detail. Her paintings seem to invite her pots into the landscape - as skillfully painted as the pot is constructed. Judith Inkamala has had a long-standing association with creative work and as a child was known to spend time at the Albert Namatjira household as she was great friends with his grand-daughter Gloria. As a child, Judith recalls watching the famous Albert Namatjira and his kinsmen painting in the camp near the Mission, going to the painters' camp after school and watching the men paint. Her historical works on the Hermannsburg Mission and, as well as her works on the Namatjira story, are of particular interest to collectors both in Australia and internationally. In 2010 Judith accompanied Rahel Ungwanaka to China to showcase their pottery to ceramic artists for the collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai, China.

• Neville Assad-Salha

  Neville Assad-Salha

  Neville Assad-Salha studied at the South Australian School of Art from 1973 to 1976. He has been a practising ceramist/ potter for over 40 years. He has held many solo exhibitions and group shows. Neville taught ceramics at many universities in Melbourne and Adelaide. He is a former professor at the University of Beirut. He has attended many international symposiums. Neville lives between South Australia and Lebanon.

• Somchai Saroen

  Somchai Saroen

  Somchai Charoen is a Thai born ceramic artist based in Sydney who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Trained in industrial ceramics design, he was a former lecturer at Silpakorn University, Thailand. Since migrating to Australia in 2002, he has worked commercially as a mould and model maker as well as established his ceramic home ware label Eat Clay. Somchai is a co-founder of Belmore ITCH, a creative for non-ceramic artists to experiment, explore and interpret the medium. Over twenty year experience in making plaster moulds for ceramics. Somchai like to challenge his skill by making mould that will explore the idea and possibilities of what mould making technique can be. For example created the plaster moulds that can be easily be used to create a number of different mould or can connected in different ways by having part that can be construction or flexible arrangement. Somchai will showcase his latest new mould making and slip casting technique by created plaster moulds that able to dip into the slip to create the forms instead of pouring slip into the plaster moulds.