An Artistic Adventurer

I imagine myself as an adventurer, seeing things for the first time…and I am enamoured by what I find. It is this redeemed love for the things that I find in my reading and research that makes its way into my art.

I devour images, academic papers, news articles, documentaries, and books, that delight my inner artistic senses, intellect and intuition.

The More I Learn, The More I Care

The colours, patterns, forms, habits, functions, roles and impact non-human organisms have in our world become rich fodder for my studio practice, where ideas and materials are melded together and made into detailed artworks.

There’s a sense of being a conduit for the voice of these organisms, highlighting their small, often overlooked, yet important lives. As I transform ideas and materials into sculpture, I feel a deeper connection to these little organisms that we live alongside. The more I learn, the more I care.

The Bay of Fires Quintessential Colours

Then, there’s the Bay of Fires at our doorstep. A length of coastline famous for its white sands, turquoise waters and granite boulders covered with orange lichens, the quintessential colours that identify Tasmania’s East Coast.

The Inspiration of Tasmania is Everywhere for the Ceramist Artist

A visit to my studio will demonstrate the multitude of ways that Tasmania has seeped into my mind, soul and heart.

Clays and glazes, forms and patterns have become a translated visual language that captures natures beauty, her wildness and delicate intricacies. And Tasmania is an island of abundance in biodiversity and boundless beauty. An ever-flowing font of inspiration.

The Path to Being a Ceramist Artist

Before I invested in myself as an artist, I trained and worked for 10 years in Melbourne across the Disability & Aged Care sector in multiples roles, including being an instructor, employment consultant and client services officer. I travelled overseas for a year doing Youth work.

After I returned form America, I studied and worked in the Lutheran Church for 10 years through a variety of roles in Child, Youth & Family work, Pastoral Care, Music and Youth Camping ministries.

In 2013, I became seriously ill and was hospitalised. My recovery journey was long and required me to take my long service leave to get better. During that time, I knew I needed a different way of life. I’d always been creative, however I had not invested in that part of myself.

A Ceramist Artist Residency Became a Game Changer

I embarked on an artist residency with Poatina Arts, in Poatina Tasmania. When I arrived in Tasmania, I felt like I had come home.

Which in a way is true as my grandfather’s family moved from Tasmanian to Victoria when he was young, I am the first person in my family to move back. At the 2.5 week mark of my 3 week residency, I called my boss in Melbourne and resigned, telling him I was moving to Tasmania to invest in my artist self.

Once I arrived in Tasmania, my health deteriorated further and I had a long recovery, yet during that time my creativity was healing me. I made collage paintings, each day cutting hexagons out of coloured papers and collaging them onto painted canvasses.

The Ceramist Artist Studio Journey

For the last 15 years, I have made art on the dining table or loungeroom floor. It didn’t matter where I was making, I was happy to be creating.

When I was at art school, our studio spaces became like our second home, filled with the beauty of creative chaos, where we knew where everything was.

Images from other artists, photos from excursions in nature, sketches, colour charts, test tiles, buckets of different coloured sludge, awkward sculptures proving that boundaries were being pushed, an artist studio space tells a unique story of the artist and their relationship to their work and processes.

This year (2023) I have been blessed with a studio of my own. We bought a 7m x 4m steel shed kit, with a skillion roof and installed two of the largest sliding doors we could find.

Designing the Dream Ceramist Artist Studio

After years of pinning ideas on my pinterest and five hours at the dining room table, I had designed the shelving and cabinetry for my brand-new ceramic’s studio, with a wall of shelves replicating a curiosity cabinet for holding precious objects of inspiration.

With thanks to the boys at Seaview Constructions, they made my dreams come true. My studio is fitted out with a polished concrete floor, a huge double sink with settling tanks, a large plywood table, cabinets and a bank of shelving with height adjustable shelves.

A charcoal grey paint on the walls makes the plywood pop, and five gold hexagonal pendants are suspended from the white ceiling.

It is beautiful. I adore being in the studio space. It’s inviting, cosy, yet feels inspiring and satisfying.

Ceramist Artistic Studio Adventures

Importantly it feels like a safe place to take big arty risks, to ask questions and to be an artistic adventurer. Of course, like most artist studio’s there are works in various stages of progress, tests, trials, happy accidents and recycle buckets full of clay with a film of green algae skimming the surface waiting to be recycled.

The pottery wheel sits out, ready for the next throwing session, trays of glazed student works await the kiln and first pieces of my new artwork investigations on biological soil crusts sit on the windowsill.

The Birth of an Artistic Passion

In high school we had an art teacher who was a potter, Mrs Barnard. She was the real deal, an artist who could make in many mediums, and loved clay.

She introduced me to clay. To pinch pots, coil pots, slab building, slip casting, glazing and the pottery wheel.

Mrs Barnard had an old square electric frypan filled with bees wax that she used to wax the bottoms of pots before glazing that we all used to dip our fingers in, it burnt for a second, but felt so warm and smooth. The aroma of honey and wax used to fill the classroom. Sigh.

At art school, I did all the ceramics subjects I possibly could and then in other sculpture subjects made sure I did ceramics projects.

A Potter’s Love for Clay

I love working with clay, it has a malleability and plasticity that allows it to be shaped, pushed, pinched, perforated, and imprinted. It has a memory. I love porcelain and slip clay.

The sheen of the porcelain is so satisfying, the sonorous tinkling as it cools after it emerges from the kiln, the refined purity in its white form and its ability to hold bright colour, all these characteristics delight me.

I feel an intense joy in applying a million slip dots onto my sculptures, yes, it takes a really long time, but its so worth it for the dizzying effect lime green dots have on black clay.

Joy Multiples

Ceramics are synonymous with multiples. Whether is repetitive patterns or processes.

There’s something deeply satisfying about a collection of clay sculptures or a shelf of ceramic cups.

There’s a grounded nature, a simplicity experienced when working with clay. To sculpt something from a clump of clay.

There’s a sense of renewal that moves within me, when making anew from the dust.

Sharing Artist Skills Through Workshops and Classes

Part of my creative business is teaching group workshops, team building sessions, NDIS sessions, private bookings for individuals and groups and beginner pottery wheel classes.

I am a people person; I love meeting new people. I find great joy through getting to know someone and helping them discover or rediscover their creativity. Through facilitating workshops and classes I am able to pass on skills and encourage others to embrace a life of creativity and making.

Conversation, Connection and Laughter

At one of my workshops, there’s much conversation, connection and laughter. An avenue I am particularly fond of is our Clay & Me – Creative Mindfulness session. We’ve hosted three events so far that have been well attended and the participants have loved the time and space to breathe, relax and play.

Self-Care and Creativity

Self-care and creativity go hand in hand, and I believe from rest, creativity flows. I am looking forward to a couple collaborations we have happening in the New Year here on the East Coast. I am partnering with a Yoga Instructor and a Pilates Instructor in St Helen’s to continue to provide Creative Mindfulness and Embodiment practices. Its an exciting new adventure for exploring human creative potential.

Going on Artist Dates

Nurturing my inner artist is a key part of my practice. I spend time going on artist dates, a notion created by Julia Cameron.

The idea is to go out by yourself, taking you inner artist out on a date, and have fun doing things you enjoy. It’s a way to top up your tank with joy, fun and images from seeing new places, or visiting a museum, or seeing a new movie.

I also enjoy following threads on the internet, to read about different ecological events, organisms and processes that occur in nature.

There’s a lot of information and imagery that feeds into my art.

Rest, Relaxatoin, Mediation and Journaling

Rest is also key for me, as an artist who lives with a health condition, its important to pace myself. Rest and relaxation, meditation and journalling are practices that are essential to my life and work as an artist.

I enjoy a life where the little things are celebrated.

Becoming a Creative Business Owner

Never having run a small business before, I have learnt on the job.

There’s so much you need to know about running a small business and if I had waited to learn all the things before I started, I wouldn’t have started! LOL

Supporting and Sharing

I am thankful to all the people who have shared their experience and knowledge with me along the way.

I think that’s how we have the courage to build a creative business, the support and generousity of people that have bravely forged their way in business and have graciously shared that experience with others.

What Christie Says About Art Trails Tasmania

“I’m loving what Belinda from Art Trails Tasmania is creating for Tasmanian Artists and Tassie travellers through her website, exhibition and member support.

I signed up recently as a Tasmanian Artist living and working regionally in Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires. My artwork was included in the Art Trails Tasmania Exhibition in Deloraine alongside a myriad of artworks from Tasmanian arts and craftspeople. It was wonderful to get my artwork out into the world for many eyes to see.

Art Trails Tasmania is a growing resource for artists like me who are running their own small business, learning the art of marketing and gaining further exposure and income.

I believe art is a real job and the support from Belinda through becoming a member of Art Trails Tasmania is invaluable to my growth and business activities.

Thanks Belinda for your work and support. 

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