Mansfield & District Potters (MAD Potters) is a not-for-profit member based community organisation that aims to bring the clay lovers of Mansfield and surrounds together fostering a welcoming environment in which to share ideas, knowledge and skills in the craft of pottery.
Formed in 2022 in response to the desire to connect with other potters and ceramic artists in our district and further afield.
MAD Potters main objectives are to establish a Mansfield Pottery Festival and a Community Pottery Studio – a permanent facility that the community can readily access.
The Mansfield Pottery Festival and the Community Pottery Studio would be mutually supportive – we would have a place to make, learn and meet and a place to display and market.
The Festival would generate local and visitor interest and involvement while furthering appreciation of pottery art. As Mansfield already has a vibrant pottery community, we were looking to build on this and strengthen that connection through the Festival and a Community Pottery Studio.
The Mansfield Pottery Festival had it’s inaugural event over the Labour Day weekend in March 2023. The successful event attracted a commendation from the Australian Event Award and was honoured with Mansfield Best Community Event Award on Australia Day.
In December 2023 MAD Potters took up the lease of the Old Police Stables in Curia St, Mansfield. This is an historic building recently renovated to its original condition. We now have a premises where we are establishing a Community Pottery Studio named The Clay Stables to represent its former use and its new creative reincarnation. The Clay Stables is in memory of Joy Forrest, a friend and fellow potter.
Please visit our website to find out how you can be part of this exciting initiative.
www.madpotters.org.au
Welcome to the POETS of POTTERY EXHIBITION & AWARD
Mansfield & District (MAD) Potters is proud to present the works of over 30 artists exhibiting in the Poets of Pottery exhibition. This exhibition is a showcase of ‘imagination & expression’ through pottery. As you view the exhibition you will see the diversity of what can be made from clay.
Why call it Poets of Pottery? A poet creates with imagination and expression and here we have an exhibition created by poets of pottery.
One artwork from the exhibition will be chosen as the winner of the Poets of Pottery Award 2025 and will be announced at the Opening Event on Friday 7 March 2025.
We hope you enjoy this exhibition showcasing imagination & expression through pottery.
Karen Pirie President, MAD Potters
Ian Hodge. His one-off, hand-built pieces vary from structured to free flowing and are adorned with inscribed lines, marks and textured painterly effects which is achieved through the application of stains, slips and oxides. He draws on the impact on our land and seascape due to our ever changing weather and environment which moulds and shapes our world, both beautifully and/or chaotically.
Eruption
Stoneware 250mm x 170mm x 150mm
Chapeau de Jardin
Terracotta clay fired to cone 04 three times and decorated with iron oxide.
Wendy Blackledge. My inspiration for ceramics comes from the garden and love of decorative pieces placed amongst the flowers and shrubs.
This past year I have enjoyed creating different textures along with trying out various clays including collecting and processing wild clay from the defunct local brickworks in Jamieson where I remember playing as a child.
Anne Sfetkidis. I make pottery because I enjoy being creative with clay, it makes me smile and it is a reflection of people and things that I hold dear.
Handbuilt Paperclay, underglazes
Fired to cone 6 24cm 22cm.
Owl girl
Fine blend, sodium silicate to facilitate cracking and cobalt oxide.
Diana Kilford. My work in the main is all wheel thrown and each piece has a practical function while still being considered works of art. I have been experimenting with a number of different clays including the imported Stoke on Trent clays and I have also been testing out oxides on the different surfaces and textures. A number of my latest pieces have been created with the sodium silicate technique.
Vasi di zenzero e olio
Margaret Pearse. I have been experimenting with hand building large pieces using Buff Racu Trachyte clay which has iron minerals incorporated in it. Once fired at a high temperature gives the clay a fabulous structure and texture. My inspiration for this year’s exhibition pieces come from my time hiking through the alpine meadows of the Dolomite mountains in Italy.
Buff Raku Trachyte clay
Bluestone glaze fired to cone 10 30cm 28cm
Gerrminare
Lidded container
15cm x 15cm Midfire Keanes 33 clay Fired to cone 6
CHRIS
Chris Sfetkidis. I make functional, wheel thrown ceramic pieces that reflect my strong interest in form and glazes.
John Paul Unger. I focus on the interplay between rough and smooth surfaces as seen in nature.
JOHN PAUL UNGAR
Volcanic shoreline vase
Outgrown
Porcelain, underglaze, Fired to 1300C
35 x 20 x 18 cm
GLENYS
Glenys Hodgeman. My work is inspired by nature and the play between fantasy and dark reality of life and life spans. The works are time intensive one -off hand made artworks, which are glazed in bright colours and covered in repetitive patterns. They virtually became outgrown with decoration, a metaphor for moving on and/or the battle of strength when one group/ species tries to overtake another.
Miranda Burgess. "ON EARTH”
My work focuses on the organic beauty of the natural world with collections reflecting the textures and colours found in Earth's environment.
Earth and Fire. Fine blend clay body. Fired in Reduction to 1300
TERRA IGNIS
Progression
Embodies the nonlinear path of human experience, shifting through growth and change. 47cmx11cm. Wheelthrown & handbuilt. Raku. Mid-fire.
Lucy Allman. I create functional ceramics that bring beauty to daily rituals, elevating the ordinary with thoughtful design. I enjoy exploring form and texture to capture thoughts and emotions in clay. Progression embodies the nonlinear path of human experience — from a cylindrical foundation, the work shifts and unfolds through twists and turns, symbolising the complexities of personal growth and change.
Lisa Banh. I like to stand quietly in the presence of stones and great rocks. This way, I can almost hear them talking to each other, telling stories that are thousands of years old. They bear the scars of their worst years, now softened over time because they were strong enough to weather the storms.
Talking Stones
Stoneware Clay Firing: Oxidation
Rock 1 - 13 x 12 x 8 cm
Rock 2 - 9 x 9 x 10 cm
Gillian Martin. I explore the interplay of subtle tones and delicate textures through the use of varying shades of terra sigillata green stripes on porcelain bowls. The porcelain’s smooth surface and ridges enhances the stripes’ soft rhythmic transitions circling the bowls.
Shades of Green
Cool Ice Porcelain Fired to 1220
95 x 185mm.
90 x 140mm.
120 x 165mm
Sue Di Giacomo. I love clay and its connection to earth. My pottery studio is on our farm. Surrounded by beauty and rolling hills, I'm heavily influenced and inspired by the colours and shapes in nature. My design philosophy is simple, classy, elegant and sophisticated. Each piece is bespoke and ranges from functional tableware to larger garden pieces made in stoneware clays.
No ‘Blooming’
Blossom bowl made in stoneware 9 clay fired at 1280C. Layered glazes. 20cm x 8cm.
Fiona Wood. My artworks reflect my fascination with flowers and the natural world, focusing on those that embody resilience, beauty, and happiness. A hand-built porcelain vessel serves as a canvas to add hand-sculpted flowers and natural elements. The addition of gold lustre enhances the beauty associated with flowers, creating a luminous quality that invites viewers to appreciate the intricate details.
FIONA
FLORALIS
A delicate tribute to the flower goddess. Mid fire porcelain clay, gold lustre 25 x 11cm
Harry Kyriakou creates one-off functional art that reflects his deep connection to nature. His ceramics are hand built using clays such as BRT, Dark Matter and White Raku. He employs various layering and glazing techniques to create tones and textures reminiscent of the natural environment. Harry is inspired by Japanese aesthetics, in particular the acceptance of transience and imperfection.
Moon Jar
BRT clay; midfiring; glazes, slips and oxides. 180mm x 80mm
Sue Haag. 'Curiosity' is a hand built, stoneware piece created with Raku clay.The whimsical children have a sence of playfulness and movement. I like to think it reflects my ideas on encouraging curiosity so we can all continue learn and develop.
Curiosity
Hand built buff raku Tracyte piece, fired to 1250C. 350mm x 200mm
Antoinette Wadge. 'Pot de fleurs' I wished to make a large vase, with whimsical decorations and color that reflect on my horticultural background, my love of the ocean and of the outdoors. In doing so, I let my imagination run wild.
'Pot de Fleurs'
Coil pot. Stoneware white & colored slips, Underglazes 3.55kg 31x24cm
Mellow Yellow
Handled vessel made with a Stoneware clay and slip dipped in a clear glaze.Fired to 1280C 43cm x 23cm x 9cm
SUSI
Susi Fraser. Red Fox Pottery in Berwick Victoria is home to ceramic artist Susi. Her handmade pieces have an earthy tactile quality. Using wheel throwing, slab construction and hand pinching she blends traditional and modern techniques to create ceramics that merge classic forms with contemporary finishes. Susi embraces imperfections seeing them as marks of authenticity that make each piece unique.
Kym Stubbs. I am revisiting Decorated "Spheres". When held and turned there is a tinkling sound coming from inside, like a meditation ball. The colours and swirls lead you to explore and be "Mindful" as the ball is slowly turned.
Mindfull
Decorated sphere with underglazes Keanes Earthernware clay, bisque 1000C, glaze temperature 1100C 22cm diameter.
Ephemeral Reflections
A handbuilt ceramic vessel Dark Matter Clay.Fired to 1220C 14cm x 21cm
KAVITHA GOBINATHAN
Kavitha Gobinathan. This vessel mimics raindrops carving grooves into the earth, forming small puddles over time. The glazed grooves reflect the shifting hues of the forest and sky, as seen through a macro lens. Inspired by these abstract patterns in nature, Kavitha aims to translate them into clay, capturing the movement and the ephemeral beauty of water’s interaction with the land.
Clarissa Leatham loves how clay feels. Its grounding impact. The way it can be cradled in your hands as well as seemingly having a mind of its own. Texture and color are a big part of Clarissa's work and she is often inspired by the patterns and texture in the environment around her.
Grubs
Triple fired, wheel thrown, hand carved stoneware with oxides and gold lustre. Inspired by the wood grubs that are collected with our firewood.
Margaret-Ann Milburn. Poets of Pottery has given me the inspiration to create a work that is sculptural and whimsical, encompassing my interest in botanicals and the human figure.
Mary Mary Quite Contrary
Stoneware glaze and oxides. Feeneys BRS clay.
Hand built using slab and coil. 20cm x 24 x 13 cm deep.
Louise Mueller. Finding inspiration in the beauty of mystical creatures, fairytales and fork lore… my work always gravitates towards nature. My creations are Influenced by the strange fantasy of monsters, the whimsical beauty of pixies and playfulness of forest creatures.
Forest Creature
A mythological woodland creature. Hand built clay sculpture using BRT 1280C stoneware 22 x 28 x 40cm
FRIDA
A portrait using clay, detail is all handpainted by using and mixing underglazes. Keanes fine white bodied earthenware 37 - Low Fired
Lynn Taylor. My inspiration for Frida is her self portraiture art, her love of flora, fauna and colour. All achieved under adversity since she was 18 after an accident nearly claimed her life. I love being able to use my painting skills to mix underglazes and paint on pottery pieces to create artwork. This is what I did to create this piece.
Ann Knights. Work for this exhibition is created upon a reflection of the world around me. Craggy mountains, cascading water, trees and their textural bark. The beauty of the forests and mountains. Not defined, my work is intended to evoke a memory or connection to the observer of something experienced or seen.
Terrain 2
Handbuilt stoneware using feldspar, slips, oxides and glazes. Fired in oxidation.
300 x 300 x 300
Karen Pirie enjoys the illustrative effect of silhouettes. Finding expression and movement in the ‘feel’ of the natural rather than the literal. She likes to leave something to chance in the firing process for the surprise of it all.
KAREN PIRIE
Birds in Paradise
Two pots. White Raku, underglaze lined with copper oxide for reaction with clear glaze.
Carson Culp. Functional pottery bridges art and life, blending utility with personal expression. Rather than barriers, boundaries become opportunities that drive creativity forward. Each piece of mine reflects the human spirit, shaped by time, place, and emotion. Believing that a good pot fosters an unspoken dialogue between maker and user, reinforcing the craftsman's role in this world.
High fired reduction stoneware 55cm wide
CARSON
Charger
DOT DE FLEUR VASE
Vase inspired by bday cake that I made with sugared rose petals. 20 x 20cm
Feeneys fine blend clay
EMILY MCCORMACK
Emily McCormack. I have grown up with clay for as long as I can remember. My Grandmother would run childrens pottery sessions on Saturday mornings in the old fire station in Warrandyte. She had a studio at home as well where there were many after school hours spent creating all sorts of treasures. More recently, I have turned an old woolshed into a studio where my mum and I spend much time primarily hand building.
Erin Stedman. With technology and greed brewing dark storms across the world, nature brings peace and invokes kindness and imagination. Expressing my swirling emotions through altered thrown forms and dark high fire glazes, I have created a magical tulipiere. Bringing together my late mother's Dutch heritage, the past, in a vessel to hold small delightful snippets of nature and a little hope for the future.
A dark storm is brewing
Fine White Stoneware. 22cm H, 22cm W
ERIN STEDMAN
Wheel thrown with hand pressed scallop sprigs. Stoneware. 210mm x 230mm
NATALIE HERIOT
Natalie Heriot creates decorative and functional stoneware pottery. Each piece being made from hand blended clay and decorated with glazes developed of years of trial and error. Decorative features are created by mark making from found objects and shells foraged from the coastline on which she lives.
Scallop Jar
Angie Russi graduated from RMIT with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Ceramics in 1981. She is known for her many representations of creatures that take to the wing, either literally or metaphorically. Her use of winged creatures as muse and metaphor populates her sculptural and functional works. Angie likes to work in series, following a thread to a conclusion, ultimately leading to the next obsession.
Spotted Fowl Trio
Wheel thrown and altered. Stoneware. Hand applied coloured engobes and glaze.
Wendy Jagger is strongly influenced by seasonal changes in the landscape and the diversity of native flora, especially in rugged alpine, inland, and coastal regions of Australia, Wendy Jagger’s paintings and ceramics capture her response to being in, within, and of the land. Her work is held in public and private collections, and she has been a finalist in numerous national and international art prizes. $1100
