5 minute read
Art for the Soul
By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Gary
In her white weatherboard studio in Mount Eliza, overlooking the Moorooduc plains, award-winning ceramic artist, Manuela Ferstl throws and squashes, rolls and coils, concocts glazes and experiments with firing. She’s an artistic alchemist creating genuinely unique work. In addition to making, she’s been teaching ceramics for over 40 years, sharing her exceptional skills with people of all ages.
“From the age of three or four, all I wanted to do was become an art teacher,” she says. Manuela has always loved art. As a girl she enjoyed painting and drawing. Her mother was a dressmaker who also painted, made textile adornments and crafted leadlight art. Manuela learned many skills watching her mother. Her father was a cabinetmaker. The family home hummed with creative energy.
Moving to Mount Eliza as a teenager really cemented her passion for ceramics. Her art teacher at Mount Eliza Secondary College was a wonderful mentor. After high school, Manuela went to Chisholm Institute of Technology in Caulfield, achieving a Bachelor of Arts in Ceramic Design with a major in Raku firing.
At Chisholm, Manuela had the opportunity to learn and experiment with many other mediums such as glass blowing and slumping, perspective and life drawing, geology and glaze making, painting and even the psychology of children’s art. It was a truly wholistic education.
Living on the Mornington Peninsula has had a huge influence on her creative practice. “Having the luxury of being so close to the bush with all its beautiful birds and being near the beach, I find when just walking through these environments that my mind wanders and my imagination goes wild. It’s so inspiring. I take a verbal snapshot on my phone of what I want to attempt next based on what I’ve seen,” she says.
I love working with clay because it’s very therapeutic. I like a challenge and I love doing new things
Her work is distinctive – quirky and playful. Even with more traditional shapes she likes to decorate their surfaces with textured sculptural glazes. She feels each piece has its own personality. “I don’t make things multiple times because my work is always changing and evolving,” she says. That keeps it fun and fresh for her and the people who buy her pieces.
In her career as an artist Manuela has won many prizes, done some wonderful residencies and had great opportunities to show her work. A real highlight was being part of an exhibition that travelled from Australia to China. “The awards are really encouraging. The money is secondary,” she says.
Her greatest satisfaction is just getting her hands into the clay. “I love working with clay because it’s very therapeutic. I like a challenge and I love doing new things. When I’m working on a piece, my mind is always onto the next thing. Selling is a bonus. My passion is to create art that is food for my soul,” she says.
Making with clay comes about in different ways. Hand building is a fairly straightforward process, but there is real art and science in throwing pieces on the wheel. Manuela begins by slapping a round of clay onto the centre of the wheel. Then, she cones the clay building it up and squashing it down to compress the particles. This evens the consistency and removes any air bubbles before she begins to make a plate, cup, pot or vase. Manuela enjoys throwing and hand building equally.
“Glazing is the hardest part of the whole process. It’s the last opportunity to ruin a perfectly good piece. It’s mentally difficult because I can put so much effort in and still not get it right. Glaze testing is really interesting. I alter glaze recipes all the time. When I get a good result, I get really excited. Getting it right after so much trial and error is thrilling,” she says.
Manuela feels that art is not about perfection, it’s about creating something original and unique. “For me, a great piece has beautiful form surface texture and glazing. I have a real appreciation of asymmetry; something that’s not perfect, but doesn’t look labored. The piece has to have a great personality,” she says.
Beauty in a sculptural work is her top priority. “How I use glaze and combine it with form is what makes my work unique. Beauty, to me, is something that works, that’s creative and has depth and dimension. A simple glaze on a piece that’s more creative and complex can look amazing,” she says.
Manuela has fulfilled both her dreams – of being and artist and an art teacher. She has taught hundreds of people the joy and satisfaction of getting their hands into clay. She no longer offers children’s classes because she wants to focus on teaching adults the therapeutic benefits of working with clay. Her classes are very small and sell out quickly. Join her wait list. It’s worth it.
