THE POTTERS 2026

LIZA ALLEN

I have been enjoying the art of working with clay for over 30 years, adapting my practice to fit around family and work commitments. SInce moving to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains in 2021, I have been able to devote more time to creating functional ware, table decorations and garden ceramic items alongside my whimsical bird sculptures whilst exploring different finishes and shapes. My work blends hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, allowing me to explore both practicality and playfulness in my pieces.

KERRY FARTHING

Kerrie aims to create functional vessels that are also artful objects. Using both wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques she works with fine white stoneware coloured with ceramic stains and oxides which are often mixed with other stoneware clay bodies. In the last couple of years, she has been experimenting with the endless forms of the vase. Various techniques and surface treatments are used while always

incorporating some element of coloured clay. The movement and colour that comes from working with coloured clay results in every piece being unique. The wheel-thrown pieces have the characteristic symmetrical shape, where the hand-built pieces create a more organic form.

Kerrie works from her home studio in Jordan Springs.

LYN HART

My passion using the Australian landscape from the mountains to the sea influences all my ceramic pieces. The ceramics are created either on the potter’s wheel, or totally by hand, pinch pots, slab construction and coils all form a large repertoire of my work. Decoration by glaze onglaze, shellac resist, wax resist, applied texture, underglaze colours and oxides is added to enhance each pot and give it that original finish.

Lately I have started using lustres on glazed pieces to give them thatspecial touch. It is my aim that each piece gives joy and happiness to its new owner, connecting them to our beautiful environment.

CATHY HICKS

I work from my small home studio in Blackheath, Blackbird Ceramics. While not formally trained in ceramics, I have developed my practice through lessons and workshops with individual potters both locally and overseas, as well as short courses at TAFE NSW.

I work almost exclusively in the midfire range. There is now a wonderful array of clay bodies available in this range, and the textural and glazing possibilities are endless. I love wheel work for the rhythmic and centering experience it provides. I generally listen to audiobooks while I work, reminding me of the comforting childhood experience of being read to. This syncs with the comforting feeling I experience when eating from a handmade vessel – I do think nourishment is enhanced by the container.

Recently, I’ve done more handbuilding with slabs – my candlesticks are a new direction which I’m finding really satisfying.

LINDA KEMP

Working from my studio, Bellevue Ceramics, in Wentworth Falls, my journey with Clay began briefly in the early 1980’s while I was running an Art & Craft Gallery in Katoomba.

A return to the corporate world followed in 1987, however retirement in 2017 opened the door to rediscovering my passion for ceramics.

Classes and workshops in Canberra and NSW helped refine both hand-building and wheel throwing. Days are now spent joyfully creating a signature range of delicate hand built ‘pods’ inspired by the rich textures of the Blue Mountains flora. The work includes both functional and decorative pieces, blending natures beauty with artistry

KOKI CRAFT

Koki Craft is a ceramic artist who recently moved from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, where the surrounding nature now inspires her work. Specializing in whimsical ceramic pieces—from figurines and vases to plates, bowls, and jewelry—her creations blend kawaii culture with natural beauty.

Koki’s artistic journey started with drawing and painting, evolving through mediums like polymer clay before embracing stoneware ceramics. Since founding Koki Craft in 2019, she has refined her craft, drawing inspiration from wildlife and beloved pets. Each handcrafted piece brings joy and a touch of wonder into everyday life.

RACHEAL LARKIN

I was a full-time potter and artist throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and early ’90s, having studied in Canberra. During that time, I established a workshop and gallery in Bungendore with my potter partner, worked as a designer and production potter on the Gold Coast, retailed across NSW, and exhibited regularly.

Later, I moved to Sydney, where I completed a Post Certificate at East Sydney Technical College, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts. I was also a member of the Inner City Clayworker’s Cooperative.

Alongside my own practice, I taught at various TAFEs and spent eight years as a Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Ceramics Arts Workshop at Sydney University.

Then life took a creative detour—raising small humans, a long, busy, and deeply fulfilling hiatus. Now, I’ve returned to ceramics with renewed passion, a touch of bewilderment, and a shoshin mindset (beginner’s mind, with bonus experience).

I have established a studio in what was once an old 1940s pool on our property, backing onto bushland in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Here, I create tableware and vessel-oriented ceramic pieces designed for celebrating food and gathering around a shared table. I am relishing the process (most days) and have fallen madly back in love with this glorious, endlessly challenging, and wildly frustrating medium—clay.

Racheal Larkin – Mudhouse Studio

SHANNON LEWIS

I began working with clay in 2016. My practice centres on creating classic forms for everyday rituals and domestic use and celebrating the handmade. My surface decoration is guided by a desire for calm and simplicity in functional pieces but also by the colours and textures of my surroundings—from the coastline and bushland in the National Parks close to my home, to the plants, birds and insects in my own back yard. My work reflects a connection to the places I inhabit—the cup used daily for morning coffee in the kitchen, the decorative vase holding cuttings from the garden, the bowls glazed in soft white with light oxides reminiscent of seashell fragments. I aim to make pieces that are highly functional with a modern classic style that are a joy to use now and will continue to be into the future.

DENISE MCDONALD

DM Pottery

Denise McDonald has been making functional ceramics under the business name DM Pottery since 2009. She made her start in the craft of clay as a young girl who was consistently supplied with the material to keep her occupied. “I think the seeds were sown for this obsession back then. I also remember finding a clay deposit on a bush walk on a family holiday and making rather sloppy ashtrays for my (then smoker) parents.”

Since then, Denise has trained in potteries in England and Australia as well as completing a TAFE diploma and a design degree. She uses time honoured skills and new innovative techniques to make art for everyday living - functional ceramics. Denise works solo in her small Randwick studio.

Denise’s work is currently dominated by an interesting technique that she calls ‘slab throwing’ which involves bringing textured slabs of clay to the potters wheel. She favours a heritage 100 year old flannel flower pattern sourced from her Federation home window for texture, along with other designs of banksia and ferns. High quality glazes with depth and bold colour developed by Denise are another feature of her work.

SUSIE McMEEKIN

Susie McMeekin has been potting since 1978. She has been living in the Blue Mountains since 1984 and has a small but comprehensive workshop with two kilns at her home in Katoomba. Making her own glazes from gathered materials necessitates specialized equipment which she is grateful to have. She has two kilns a gas fired and a wood fired kilns. Her pots are traditional, conservative and influenced by China, Korea and Japan.

Blue and white porcelain bowl

Made 2025

PAULINE RYAN

I am a Sydney based artist who has been working with Raku and Stoneware ceramics for over 40 years.

I love to create quirky and whimsical animals and figures. My process involves using a raku kiln and glazes to add depth and character to each piece resulting in one-of-a-kind creations. My aim is to create pieces that bring joy and playfulness into people's lives.

VERONIQUE SELLIES

I have been working with clay since 1996, a journey that began with my studies at the ANU, Hornsby & Brookvale TAFE. Along the way, my work has been featured in the Australian Ceramics Magazine, and had the privilege of exhibiting both nationally and in France.

I started teaching ceramics in 2016, sharing my love for the craft. Recently moved to the mountains and built my studio in Bullaburra.

My creations include both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces, with a particular passion for Saggar-fired work, laced with metalwork. My artistic journey has been influenced by my upbringing in the Middle East and in Africa. Moroccan pottery has always captivated me with the rich earthy colors, symbolic geometric patterns and the use of metal overlays on pottery.

Website: https://earthlydesignstudio.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063632515308

Instagram: veronique.sellies

LESLEY TARLINTON

Lesley lives in Wentworth Falls and works in her Glass Door studio. She is a graduate from the National Art School (painting major) and has a Diploma in ceramics from East Sydney Technical College.

“ The enduring company I enjoy though my life is art. My materials are demanding and delightful co-workers”.

NATALIE TOTTERDELL

As an emerging potter with six years of experience creating primarily functional work, my art is constantly evolving to reflect new ideas and inspiration. My art is principally a reflection of my connection and experiences in nature. I spent a lot of time in my formative years bushwalking throughout the Blue Mountains. This fostered a love of thnatural environment and birds particularly, which led me to studying Environmental Science at Macquarie University

My passion and inherent appreciation of nature has resulted in me living in inspirational landscapes such as Uluru, Kakadu, Arnhem Land and morerecently on the Far South Coast of NSW. These experiences continue to inspire me today and can be seen reflected in my designs. While not formally trained in ceramics, my journey has been one of experimentation, reflection and self-direction.

PETER WILSON

My interest in pottery started in high school through my art teacher who was a potter. It is a long road full of continuous learning to understand the natural world, its processes, its geology, materials, as well as refining the skills to make works on the wheel, then glazes, and firing. Each area offers infinite possibilities. Much of my knowledge comes through other potters, mentors and further study but mostly the continuous experimentation throughout my life.

I appreciate good craftsmanship and value the human qualities of handmade work. I’m seldom satisfied with my own pots and am always looking to improve them.

ANTHONY BRINK

Website: anthony brink.com.au
Instagram: Anthony_Brink

NICOLA CODY

Texture tends to dominate my forms with my latest being the East Meets West platters which is a combination of the Boro design with the Australian flora in the middle. Jugs with attitude and again, a mixture of textures

Website: nickycoady.weebly.com

SIAN THOMAS

Working in ceramics for 40 years since finishing National Art School (East Sydney Tech 1982). I work in porcelain producing work in slipcast and hand thrown homewares, teapots, butter dishes, Pendant shades, vases.
In 2011 I started again at markets, Finder Keepers, Handmade Canberra, Undercurrent Canberra

Website: sianthomas.net

SUSAN BURET

Susan Buret is a ceramist, painter and installation artist living and working in Robertson on Gundungurra Land where she makes hand formed ceramics. Susan has an MPhil (Visual Arts) from the ANU and has participated in Artist Residencies in Australia and overseas. She has exhibited widely in Australia, the US and Europe where her work is held in public and private collections. She is a regular participant in artisans’ markets in NSW. Using mid-fired clay and porcelain, Buret employs coloured slips and underglazes to achieve maximum saturation of colour in the painted patterns on her hand formed vessels. Buret is interested in the forms and colours found in her garden. Fragmented impressions from daily observations of the garden shape her works as these perceptions guide her hands to make marks and form the clay.

Website: www.susanburet.net

Instagram: sburetblackhousestudio

BRETT SMOUT

Brett Smout is an Australian ceramic artist who has conducted innovative research into incorporating industrial and agricultural by-products into ceramic materials. His diverse artistic practice spans multiple firing techniques at his Sydney workshop and with antipodean collaborators. His academic journey in ceramics commenced in 1980 and culminated in a PhD in ceramics completed in 2013 at Sydney College of Arts in Rozelle. The work is characterised by its technical versatility, employing wheel-thrown, hand-built, and slip-cast methods, and contrasting ancient techniques with use of solely 21st century techniques including computer assisted design and 3D printing.

Website: www.brettsmout.com

Instagram: ceramic.ocean

ELIZABETH ROSE

Elizabeth Rose, a Blue Mountains ceramicist based in Winmalee, draws inspiration from the landscape — from the textures and surfaces that capture the interplay of light and water on rock, lichen and moss, to the colour palette found in the natural environment.

She observes how time quietly alters every surface. Elizabeth has a deep connection with the mineral world beneath our feet, creating exquisite surfaces that capture light through alchemy. Glaze-on-glaze techniques are widely used on her functional ware. The transformative power of fire in a reduction gas kiln is used to draw out rich, atmospheric tones and layered depth within the glaze and clay body.

Her sculptural work invites touch as much as contemplation, balancing raw texture with refined detail. Each piece reflects an intimate dialogue between earth, fire and maker, embodying both landscape and memory.

Website: elizabethroseceramics.com
Instagram: elizabeth.rose.ceramics

VAISHALI HINGMIRE

Website: www.vikhingmire.com

Instagram:

ELENA FLETCHER-CARTER

Meet Elena and Karen, the dynamic duo of ceramics! Their love affair with clay began in 2021, and since then, they've been 'molding' their inspiration from the stunning Australian coastline and Elena's Ukrainian roots, with a nod to the ancient Trypilia tradition.
Today, they create from their home studio, the She Shed, in picturesque Culburra Beach NSW.