CHRIS BALL

Potter

I began potting full time in 1975 and I am currently producing high fired stoneware pots in the salt glaze tradition with oriental influences. I am very interested in Chinese stoneware glazes, especially copper reds. I also make joined wooden boxes using Australian timbers and have training in metalwork.

I really enjoy making things for people to use and hopefully, admire. I enjoy the process of making pots and my biggest reward is unpacking the kiln after a glaze firing. The desire to make wood-fired pots one day is very strong, and I look forward to seeing and feeling the lick of the flame on the clay.

GILLIAN DODDS

Potter

I trained at a part time course run at East Sydney Technical College and have worked full time for many years making domestic stoneware pottery and murals. I have also undertaken training in oil and acrylic painting, which has influenced my ceramic decorating techniques

My pottery is truly Australian in theme, with earthy colours, incorporating bush scenes, native animal and flower motifs. I fire in a 35 cubic foot kiln, heated by natural gas. My clay base is from Pugoon, Mudgee, New South Wales. My work has been in the NSW Craft Council Travelling Exhibition. I have also exhibited in the Potters Society gallery, the Craft Fair, and at exhibitions in Melbourne, Canberra and Fremantle.

HEIDI FRANCIS

Potter

I use an electric kiln for my work and porcelain clay for my domestic work. This is fired to 1280 centigrade. I use Bennett's clay for my terracotta one-off pieces, and fire them to 1100 centigrade. The warmth of earthenware colours has always appealed to me. Each pot is burnished and then sealed with a colloidal slip called 'terra sigillata' which I make from the same clay, before applying the airbrushed decoration.

My decorations vary with each pot. I love bright colours and geometric and abstract designs. Negative spaces are extremely important and the fine black lines bring harmony and balance to the whole concept. This conceptual development of my work is from primitive to abstract. Primitive because of the glossy slipcoating over the earthenware (terra sigillata) and abstract because of the geometric decorations which depend upon logic and calculation.

PAT HAYWARD

Ceramics

I work mainly in stoneware, fired in both reduction and oxidation to 1300° celsius. Most of my work is inspired by historical pieces from many cultures:Islamic, African, Papua New Guinea and Chinese.

I enjoy incorporating non-ceramic materials with my one-off pieces. I am a contributor at the Australian Craft Show and the North Shore Craft Group.

INGE HAHN

Potter

I was born in Berlin and came to Australia in 1957. About twenty five years ago, I discovered clay and have been obsessed every since. Because I live in a bush environment, I gather plant material to impress in the soft clay and the image is highlighted with iron oxides. I like clay to look like the earth it came from but my sculptured figures give me the chance to experiment with coloured glazes.

LIZ HARDY

Potter

I have been making pots for 39 years. All my work is produced on a potter's wheel. It is the process of throwing and turning vessels that I enjoy.

My focus at present is on polished porcelain bowls, some transluscent. Quiet forms with understated decoration.

The response I like my work to provoke is the desire to pick up and hold. It is then that the play of light through the finely turned clay can be observed. The translucency creates the fragile eggshell quality.

BEV ORME

Potter

I have been working with clay for over 20 years, having gained a certificate in Ceramics from Brookvale Technical College.

My training focused mainly on producing functional ware. I enjoy working with clay as a medium for self expression. Its tactile and direct qualities allow me to explore many forms. Recently I have become interested in making sculptural pieces.

GREG SUGDEN

Pottery

I work with my wife, Merrie Hamilton, from our studio in a small rural village near Canberra. Together, we make several ranges of ceramic jewellery - some elegant and made precious by firing gold, copper and platinum onto their surface and some more playfully casual. Our larger pieces can be wall plaques, platters, pots or sculpture. Neither Merrie nor I use a potters wheel. Our favourite way of working is with inlaid coloured clays. This seldom-used method results in a raw clay surface and an earthy palette. With it, we aim to give our exhibition work an 'Australianness', influenced by our environment and the painter, Margaret Preston. We also enjoy celebrating the everyday, the small event.

Although self taught in this medium, both of us have worked on the Boards of Arts Organisations in Canberra, taught in TAFE's and given numerous workshops on our approach to pottery.

KRYSIA ST CLAIR

Ceramics

My designs are one of a kind; classic shaped vases, bowls, plump quails and zany tea vessels. My pieces are simple in line and form, yet by experimenting with glaze and oxides, I have been able to achieve a kaleidoscope of colour.

My pieces are fired in either a large pit with sawdust and timber for five hours, or in Raku where they may be reglazed and refired anywhere up to 19 times in temperatures varying from 1000° to 1100° in 20 minutes, resulting in an orange peel effect, a moon crater finish or a lustre surface.

Presently I am working with porcelain and copper slip and a lithium based glaze (90% of lithium).