BROOKE HENNESSY | JULIE NELSON | CATHY HICKS | LINDA KEMP | LIZA ALLEN | JANE MACGREGOR | KYLIE GIACOMELLI | CATHERINE WOOD | DEBBIE DUNN | DAN HESLOP | ELENA AND KAREN FLETCHER-CARTER | SHARRON MOUNTAIN | SHEILA ANNIS | MIKAYLA STEWART | RACHEAL LARKIN | ROBERT LINIGEN

What to expect

• WORKSHOP with Gabriella Hegyes - MORE INFO & BOOKINGS
• Watch this space for more information

FEATURED ARTISTS

BROOKE HENNESSY

Artist Bio/Statement

I am a Lithgow-based emerging ceramic artist whose practice is grounded in connection to place and material. Much of my work is inspired by my surrounding landscape, and I often dig and process my own local clay, allowing the environment to directly inform the finished pieces. Although I have long been immersed in the arts, growing up within a family-owned gallery in the Blue Mountains and surrounded by working artists, only recently have I fully stepped into my own creative practice. I work across wheel throwing, handbuilding, and slip casting, and I am increasingly exploring alternative surface decoration techniques and firing methods including raku, pit, and gas firing.
My background in woodworking strongly informs my ceramics practice; I am continually drawn to the parallels between the rhythm of the wood lathe and the pottery wheel.
As an artist, I am committed to ongoing learning, experimentation, and the development of a distinct personal style. I am very excited to have been invited to attend an Artist Residency in India in 2027 to further my skills.

Work Description

My ceramic practice explores the landscapes of Lithgow and the Seven Valleys through the use of locally foraged wild clay and layered glazes. Working primarily with functional forms, I use colour, texture and exposed clay to reflect the varied landscape of Lithgow and the Seven Valleys, from sandstone escarpments and bushland to rolling hills, valleys, waterways and changing skies. The wild clay connects each piece directly to the landscape that inspired it, creating functional ceramics that celebrate the beauty and character of the region.

JULIE NELSON

Artist Bio/Statement

Julie Nelson is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice centres on clay and soft pastels. With a deep
appreciation for texture, colour, and form, she explores the interplay between the tangible and the ephemeral. Her work spans drawing, painting, and photography, allowing her to move fluidly between mediums while maintaining a cohesive visual language.

Clay offers Julie a grounding, tactile connection to the earth, while soft pastels allow for expressive mark-making and atmospheric colour art. Through these mediums, she creates pieces that capture emotion, movement, and narrative. Julie's photography and painting further support this exploration, often serving as studies or extensions of her sculptural and pastel-based works.

Rooted in curiosity and guided by a desire to transform raw material into meaningful expression, Julie's body
of work reflects both technical exploration and personal storytelling.

Work Description

1. Goddess - Glazes - River Birch on her body with gold on her flower - Price $275

2. Goddess - Glazes - Deep firebrick red and saturation gold - Price $250 (approx 14cms tall)

3. Goddess - Glazes - Peppered Plum - Price $250 (approx 14cms tall)

4. Goddess - Speckled Buff Clay - Glaze - Palladium $240 (approx 14cms tall)

5. Mermaid - Glazes - Tenmoku and Vintage gold ~ Price $250.00 (can be a wall hanging or lay flat (approx 22 cms length)

6. Mermaid - Glazes - floating pink, vintage gold and - Price $275 (can be a wall hanging or lay flat ~ 26 cm length)

7. Tall Candle holder or Water bowl - Glazes - tenmoku, palladium - $300 (approx 22 cms length)

8. Red Goddess of Babylon - candle holder or stand alone on a hardwood plinth - Glazes - deep fire brick red, Dark Flux, vintage gold $700 (approx 50 cms length)

LINDA KEMP

Artist Bio/Statement

I’ve always loved creative pursuits, including running a gallery for several years during a break in my corporate career when I had my children, but my love of pottery really began in 2019 when I was recovering from cancer… I started playing with clay and I was hooked. Within months I’d bought a wheel, the first of my 3 kilns and try to create on most days. I find having my hands on clay incredibly grounding…

Work Description

My work focusses on the flora and landscape of the blue mountains and is mainly handbuilt and Sgrafitto. My signature ‘pods’ always include imprints of locally grown wildflowers and my vision of the escarpments of the region. My work is a mix of decorative and functional and is continually evolving

LIZA ALLEN

Artist Bio/Statement

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 quirky 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.

Work Description

Having spent many years living in Taiwan as a child I feel I embody 2 cultures - Chinese and Australian which are now influenced by living in the Blue Mountains. For the exhibition I would like to enter a series of native and quirky native birds with a cross-cultural twist. I will provide an explanation for each piece.

The images I have provided show 1 image with 3 birds. This is the only image I have of these. The Gang Gang is a sculpture created recently. The other image shows 2 small pieces as an example

CATHY HICKS

Artist Bio/Statement

I work from my small home studio in Blackheath, Blackbird Ceramics on the land of the Dharug and Gundungurra people. 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.
In the mountains, one is acutely aware of the changing light, colours and temperatures of the four seasons of the year, which I try to express in my work: autumnal rich red clays and warm brown glazes; black clays and glazes that reflect the early dying of the light in winter; the crisp clarity of spring is echoed in my white and pastel ranges; the bright cheerful colours of summer.

Description

My work is both functional as well as decorative, with careful attention to detail. It is important to me that each ceramic piece has a place in the owner's everyday life and invites the user to take a moment to slow down, observe, feel and touch. Turning and decorating is as important to me as the making of the piece. For decoration, I am interested in the use of slip, underglaze, texture and glaze combinations.
My current fascination is with large bowls (30cm +) and platters - most certainly to be used for salads and other generous dishes, but also a feature for the home, and thus heavily decorated. While large, I like to ensure that the weight of each item is not unnecessaily heavy - thus each item is carefully turned to ensure they fit comfortably in the arms of the bearer.
I am also developing a range of teapots and vases: some of the teapots are included here.

 JANE MACGREGOR

Artist Bio/Statement

I have been working with clay for some years now. Largely self taught, I owe my interest in the human form - especially female - to my medical training and exposure to all shapes and sizes at their most vulnerable. I am not interested in the concept of an ideal boy; rather, I love curves, asymmetry and 'imperfections', like scars. Ancient statues and artefacts are another source of inspiration.
Apart from sculptural figures, my other focus is on making unique memorial urns in a range of sizes from micro to large.
All my work is handbuilt and often fired more than once to achieve the effect I am looking for.

Work Description

Grounded

This unique, handbuilt figure was hand built from stoneware clay and wood fired unglazed.

KYLIE GIACOMELLI

Artist Bio/Statement

Kylie creates one-of-a-kind ceramic beings, vessels, and sculptural objects that sit somewhere between character, guardian, and artefact.
Working primarily by hand and without fixed sketches, she allows each form to emerge through an intuitive conversation with the clay. Faces, markings, textures, and personalities develop slowly, often revealing themselves through play, chance, and spontaneous discovery.
Her work is influenced by symbolism, folklore, the unconscious, and the strange inner worlds carried within ordinary life. Some pieces appear humorous and mischievous, while others hold a quieter, more watchful presence.
By blurring the boundaries between sculpture, object, creature, and ritual form, Kylie’s ceramics invite curiosity, storytelling, and personal interpretation.

 Work Description

Kylie Giacomelli's work explores the space between the familiar and the imagined. Her hand-built creatures, vessels and sculptural forms often appear as guardians, companions or artefacts from an unknown world, each carrying its own expression, markings and quiet sense of history.
Made intuitively and without moulds, the pieces evolve through touch, chance and close attention to the clay. Humour, folklore, symbolism and the unconscious move through the work, creating objects that feel playful, mysterious and deeply individual.
Rather than offering a fixed story, each piece invites curiosity, interpretation and a personal connection. They are not always especially useful. They are, however, excellent company.

CATHERINE WOOD

Artist Bio/Statement

I like imagining abstract movements and forms to create appealing sculptural pieces that resonate with the viewer. The works are designed to have a contemporary aesthetic and to be displayed in either a home or workplace settings thst I hope will provoke memories and dreams that the gestures suggest.
My sculptures are hand built , sometimes from wild sourced clay, which adds element of deep connection to the source of material to my process.

 Work Description

Hand built sculptures

DEBBIE DUNN

Artist Bio/Statement

I have lived in the beautiful Blue Mountains for 33 years, surrounded by a landscape that continues to inspire and influence my pottery.
My practice includes pieces for everyday living alongside larger sculptural forms.
Through the guidance and knowledge of accomplished potters I have continued to refine my craft. I use a variety of techniques including wheel throwing, top-hatting, coiling, and hand building.
I experiment with different clays, glazes, and the very unpredictable firing techniques of raku and obvara. I continue to create earthy tactile pieces that bring warmth, purpose, and a sense of connection to those who enjoy them.
What began as a hobby has grown into a deeply rewarding creative journey.
I look forward to discovering where this ancient craft will continue to lead me.

 Work Description

My work explores the tactile and expressive qualities of clay through functional and sculptural forms. I embrace earthy textures, organic surfaces and the unpredictable effects of raku and obvara, allowing clay and fire to shape the character of each piece.

DAN HESLOP

Artist Bio/Statement

Dan Heslop is a ceramic artist and landscape designer based in the Blue Mountains, NSW. He has been exploring ceramics for approximately twelve years, initially inspired by Australian ceramic artists whose work he encountered through Cultivate Exterior Design, a small bijou nursery he established in Paddington. His early ambition was to create sculptural ceramic pieces, combining his interests in horticulture, design and the built environment.

Dan's ceramic practice has since developed into a diverse exploration of sculptural and functional forms, with a particular interest in expressive surfaces, materiality and the evidence of the hand. He studied ceramics at the National Art School in Sydney and has continued his development through the guidance of ceramic mentors in the Blue Mountains. His studio in Bullaburra provides a space to pursue his practice alongside his work in landscape design.

His current work brings together his enduring fascination with architecture and his connection to landscape. Influenced by mid-century modernism, Japanese design and architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Richard Neutra, and Glenn Murcutt, Dan is drawn to the simplicity of line, material and function, and particularly to architecture's relationship with the natural environment.

Bio

This body of work explores imagined architectural structures — fragments of buildings that feel somehow familiar, yet impossible to place. Rather than representing specific buildings, the forms are constructed from a simplified architectural vocabulary: walls, openings, planes, thresholds and structural elements. Their irregularly positioned negative spaces and deliberately imperfect geometry suggest architecture without attempting to reproduce it precisely. There is something almost childlike in this interpretation — as though a remembered building has been reconstructed from fragments of memory, or remains as a ghost of a structure that once existed.

The work is strongly informed by Dan's fascination with mid-century modernism and its relationship to Japanese design. The linear simplicity, restrained material palettes and emphasis on form following function resonate with his own experience as a landscape designer, where the relationship between built form and its natural setting is a constant consideration. He is particularly interested in the way architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright conceived buildings as part of their landscape, and in the way mid-century and contemporary architecture can dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior, allowing nature to become part of the experience of a dwelling.

The architectural forms provide a deliberate structure, while the surfaces introduce uncertainty and imperfection. Irregularity, asymmetry and unexpected openings allow the pieces to retain something of the wabi-sabi sensibility present throughout Dan's ceramic practice. Proposed glaze treatments further soften the architectural geometry through drips, splashes, texture and movement, allowing the work to move away from the precision of architecture towards something more organic and connected to landscape.

Ultimately, these sculptures seek to occupy a space between architecture and nature, memory and structure, intention and accident. They are imagined places rather than models of real buildings. Rooted in Dan's experience of the Blue Mountains, the work explores the possibility that even the most geometric and constructed forms can carry a sense of place.

ELENA AND KAREN FLETCHER-CARTER

Artist Bio/Statement

Elena and Karen Fletcher-Carter are self-taught ceramic artists driven by a boundless passion for clay. Beginning their creative journey in 2021 after relocating to Australia, they work from their home studio, the She Shed Potters, in picturesque Culburra Beach. Informed by their professional backgrounds in psychiatric nursing and teaching—which revealed to them the profound therapeutic power of art—their diverse collection spans from functional everyday items to thought-provoking, narrative-driven sculptures, each uniquely shaped by the coastal landscapes and people around them.

Working from their creative sanctuary at the She Shed Potters studio, ceramic artists Elena and Karen Fletcher-Carter create work that stands as a vivid testament to their diverse life experiences and rich cultural heritage. Discovering a profound bond with clay—a medium capable of conveying intricate thoughts and emotions far more eloquently than words—they embarked on a collaborative artistic journey defined by deep expression. Each piece reflects their roots and connection to the history and culture of their homeland, while equally drawing inspiration from the stunning Australian landscape, where they take long walks to source diverse local clays for their art.

SHARRON MOUNTAIN

Artist Bio/Statement

Sharron Mountain is a ceramic artist and educator of Visual Arts based in the Blue Mountains, NSW. She has been exploring ceramics for approximately 30 years, as part of both her artist practice and teacher. Her 33 years Visual Arts teaching career followed explorations into sculptural and photographic expressions, settling in the realm of ceramics, in particular sculptural ceramics.
Her current work brings together his enduring fascination with the landscape and the changes that are evolving during to climate change
Influenced by Australian artists such as Julie Bartholemew, Janet Lawrence and Robyn Phelan, Sharron’s work explores the resilience of flora and fauna and the relationship with the impacts of human interaction with the land.

Work Description

This body of work explores imagined hybrid forms that generate after an environmental events — fragments of forms and fauna that feel somehow familiar, yet the memory of the fauna is irrevocably altered through abstraction and the painterly surface by incorporating manufactured and foraged clay and glazes into my pieces. The colour although vibrant and engaging holds a story or change and shift from nature and natural.
Ultimately, these vessels shaped embody Mother Earth Ghia and forms seek to reflect years of experimentation within ceramic Sharron’s practice and connection to occupied and not necessarily managed land as urban structures further encroach upon the natural environment.

Note:
I have included several work in progress images given the short notice of the exhibition.

SHEILA ANNIS

Artist Bio/Statement

Sheila Annis, Blue Mountains Clay Collective

I spent my younger life around the fashion industry and had a bespoke shop in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada, where I designed and made all of the clothing.

I moved on to making puppets and character costumes for film, television and theatre.

I have always been imaginative, creative and made stuff! Clay work has taken most of my attention.

In the last thirty (30) years, I have studied and practiced Yoga intensively, which has become intrinsic to my work..

A few of the formal certificates and studies I have completed are as follows:

Bachelor of Fine Art, Major in Sculpture and Installation (2007)
University of Western Sydney

Diploma in Fashion Design and Clothing Technology (1976)
Quantlin College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

After completing a bachelor of fine arts I moved over to TAFE where I was lucky enough to study under Rob Linigen for several years. I alternated this with stints in Canada where I cared for my aged mother and spent as much time as I could across the street at Pickering Potters Studio under the tutelage of many fine potters.

Exhibitions:

Solo exhibition, Pickering Potters Studio, 2011.

Bent Art, Katoomba, groups shows from 2005 - 2026

TAFE, Kingswood, winner of Ceramics Acquisition Award,2011

Artist Residency, Manang, Nepal October 2024, January 18, 2025- February 8, 2025

Dalai La Gallery, Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal

Work Description

Sometimes I make work to understand how I feel. Sometimes I make work to reflect how iIfeel

MIKAYLA STEWART

Artist Bio/Statement

I walk barefoot often as a way to ground myself and connect with nature. I love the feelings of the soft, cool sand and soil, the slippery clay and mud after some rain and the way pebbles and small stones feel with each step under my feet. I become fully immersed within nature and my ceramic practice is a continuation of this experience.

My inspiration comes from the earth and the natural materials she creates. I collect and forage the majority of the materials I use in my ceramic practice, using every aspect of what I collect; the clay, the minerals, the sand and stones screened out of the clay as I process it. I use Ash and clay glazes to finish my functional wares, which complement the colours of the clays chosen.

Different wild clays embody unique properties and personalities, something I am guided by when envisioning their final form. Vessels made with wild clay start making themselves before the clay is even dug up. I listen to the clay, and with its help, I facilitate the journey from the Earth to ceramic vessel.
I hope to create work which embodies the natural landscape, celebrating the beauty and intricate simplicity of the natural world in a contemporary art space.

Work Descriton

The pieces designed for this exhibition will include functional teaware and vases which showcase the colours and textures of the Gundagurra and Darug lands of the Blue Mountains, made with clay intentionally and mindfully hand-collected from the local area.

RACHEAL LARKIN

Artist Bio/Statement

ROBERT LINIGEN

Artist Bio/Statement