My journey with making started when I was very small, there has always been something about everything handmade that I have been attracted to. Its the process of making, the time that it takes, the effort that goes into something that can be attractive and useful.
Ceramics has been in my life since I was a child. My mother used to do it at TAFE for years and had a pottery wheel and a big gas kiln in our back shed (luckily Sydney's suburbia had bigger backyards back then). My brothers, sister and I used to sit and watch her on the wheel whilst we hand built little creatures and figurines. I didn't really get completely into ceramics myself until I went to uni and did wheel throwing as part of my Art Education degree at COFA, UNSW (now UNSW Art & Design). Being on the wheel felt like I had done it before, it was all of that time watching mum that made me understand it all just that much more, an osmosis of sorts. Since then, ceramics has been something that I have taught high school students in my day job and I know that as a creative medium its an inroads to falling in love with making.
Making things is my oxygen. Its an insatiable itch that needs to be scratched. The juggle of family life and work can sometimes mean that I become a little restless if I haven't had time to make. I have been fortunate this year to have been able to dedicate a couple of full days a week to making in a wonderful ceramics studio and have been able to rearrange the laundry a little to fit in my pottery wheel so I don't have to work outside.
My aim this year has been to test myself, to see what I'm made of. I spend much of my working time assisting students in their artistic creation, it was time to give back just a little to myself. I have spent this year setting making challenges, exploring what skills I have and extending on them in the hope that I will understand the path that I need to go forward with. The path that I have found is wanting to make useful and attractive ceramic objects for people. I want to share what I have created. I hope that you can follow me on this creative journey and that I can make something useful and beautiful for you or someone special to you.
