HANDS on CLAY '26

March 26 - April 19

Opening Event | Saturday March 28, 2pm


Gang Gang Gallery, Lithgow

One of Gang Gang Gallery's more popular and always anticipated exhibitions is back!

With a selection of works from 13 highly accomplished and well regarded masters of their trade, we bring you a varied and unique selection of works.

And in conjunction with 'Clay Gulgong 2026' we welcome BERNADETTE MANSFIELD (Clay Gulgong Artistic Director) to officially kick off the show.

BILL SAMUELS | LISE EDWARDS | VERONIQUE SELLIES |  JULIE NELSON | ROS AULD | JUDE KEOGH | ROB BARRON | CATHERINE DRINAN | PAM WELSH | GABRIELLA HEGYES | GEOFF THOMAS | SUVIRA McDONALD | SUZANNE BELLAMY

Supporting CLAY GULGONG

What to expect

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

FEATURED ARTISTS

BILL SAMUELS

Bill Samuels is a renowned Australian studio potter with a significant connection to the Blue Mountains. He has maintained studios in the region, including at Katoomba and, since 2000, at Good Forrest in the Hartley Valley, where he continues to work. Samuels is a leading figure in the woodfiring tradition, specializing in Shino-type glazes and using locally sourced materials for his clay bodies and glazes. 

His work is characterized by a deep sensitivity to form, glaze, and the natural process of woodfiring Samuels trained at East Sydney Technical College and later served as Head of Ceramics at the National Art School from 1997 to 2009.  

He is also a former President of the Australian Potters' Society and has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship (1994) and the Clay Modern Medal (2004). His pieces are often marked with an impressed 'S' in a circle and are highly sought after, with values ranging from $85 to $438 based on auction records. 

LISE EDWARDS

Lise Edwards is an Australian ceramic artist and potter whose practice explores the expressive possibilities of clay through both functional and sculptural forms. Working primarily with raw clay, Edwards is drawn to the material’s elemental qualities and its transformation through fire. Her work reflects an intuitive, hands-on process, where making becomes a direct response to the environment, the spaces she inhabits, and the experiences that shape her creative life.

Edwards often approaches clay as a living material—something that carries geological history and can return, through firing, to a stone-like permanence. This fascination with the origins and potential of clay informs the shapes and surfaces of her vessels and objects, which balance spontaneity with a strong sense of form.

Her work frequently engages with themes of place, memory, and the physical relationship between maker and material. Edwards embraces a tactile process, preferring to work directly with the clay and allowing the act of making to guide the outcome. The resulting pieces convey a sense of immediacy and connection to the natural world.

Edwards has exhibited her ceramics in a number of group and collaborative exhibitions, including shows at Gang Gang Gallery, where her work has appeared alongside other contemporary Australian ceramic artists. Through these exhibitions she contributes to the vibrant regional ceramics community, sharing work that celebrates both the ancient origins and contemporary possibilities of clay.

Clay Sketches - These latest works are clay sketches that  are not intended to be monuments.

They are figurative snapshots of a moment, recorded in a medium and process that remembers every touch. They
offer a thought, a feeling for form in a direct gestural way.

VERONIQUE SELLIES

I have been working with clay since 1996, a journey that began with my studies at the ANU, Hornsby & Brookvale TAFE. Along the way, my work has been featured in the Australian Ceramics Magazine, and had the privilege of exhibiting both nationally and in France.

 I started teaching ceramics in 2016, sharing my love for the craft. Recently moved to the mountains and built my studio in Bullaburra.

 My creations include both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces, with a particular passion for Saggar-fired work, laced with metalwork. My artistic journey has been influenced by my upbringing in the Middle East and in Africa. Moroccan pottery has always captivated me with the rich earthy colors, symbolic geometric patterns and the use of metal overlays on pottery.

CATHERINE DRINAN

Catherine has worked in the ceramic field for over 30 years. TAFE-trained potter with a BA Visual Arts (Ceramics) from the ANU 1996. In her studio practice she produces wheel thrown tableware; sculptural and wheel wood fired pieces. Formerly Sapphire Coast, Taranaki New Zealand & Strathnairn Arts ACT.

Catherine has resided in Narooma since 2018 where she continues her practice, she conducts classes, workshops and is complete site specific /bespoke commissions. Finalist in the Australian Siliceous Ceramic Award 2023. "In my practice I create individual, high-fired ceramic tableware and hand built sculptural pieces.

As a maker I am interested in every part of the ceramic process. I enjoy the plasticity of clay and the flexibility it allows while creating. I look for the evidence of clays pliability and softness in a finished ceramic piece. This evidence of the handmade can connect us to those who have made the object.

Wood firing imparts flame marks, fire blush natural ash. I am interested in the flame paths with in the wood kilns I fire . Interested in how each form can invite or inhibit the flame to explore and enhance its surface. I often use locally sourced clay and inclusions such as pumice -stone, which I embed into the surface of my pieces to become part of the finished piece. I am influenced by the works of Hiroe Swen, Ken Eastman and ceramic Artist whom wood fire World Wide.

JULIE NELSON

"I’m a multidisciplinary artist working with clay, soft pastels, drawing, painting, and photography. Clay grounds me; pastels let my emotions move in colour. My work is inspired by goddesses, the wild feminine, and women who rise without apology. Through texture, story, and raw material, I explore inner landscapes and the power of divine femininity. Every piece I create is an act of truth, intuition, and sovereignty."

ROS AULD

"I aim to express both the strength and fragility of nature using materials from the earth, with interplay
between the monumental forms and delicate, complex surface textures.

Landscape is my source; more the accumulation of recollected impressions than particular sites: the
weathered surfaces, textures and subtle colours of the Australian bush and patterns in the cultivated
landscape.
I enjoy the challenge: the physical nature of the process and the magic that happens in firing clay and
glazes.
The large vessels are an ongoing series, where functional form, painterly surfaces and sculptural form can
come together.”

JUDE KEOGH

Jude graduated her associate diploma of art (ceramics) in 1995 at Orange TAFE. Her major body of work
being salt glazed woodfired ceramics.
Jude chose wood firing because of the beautiful colours created from the flames and the glazing qualities of
the wood ash as it floats through the kiln and rests on the pots. Jude enjoys the physicality of wood firing
and the results are truly unique.

Jude also works with her gas kiln using commercially bought glaze materials and clay. Jude mixes her own
glazes and also uses local glaze materials to create some of her work. Jude uses ash from various plants
and trees as well as ground up rocks and stones. Local materials create unique earthy colours and reflect
the landscape around her.

Jude likes to make individual functional ware and also artistic pieces.

ROB BARRON

Robert Barron is a renowned Australian ceramic artist known for his wood-fired stoneware and porcelain. Born in Harpenden, England, in 1957, he grew up in Croydon, Victoria, where his mother ran a pottery. He began working full-time in the family pottery in 1976 and later traveled globally—New Zealand, North America, England, Europe, and South Korea—between 1979 and 1984 to study with master woodfiring potters, including Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery in Cornwall, UK, and at Cornwall Bridge Pottery in Connecticut, USA

In 1984, Barron established Gooseneck Pottery in Kardella, Victoria, where he continues to work today. He built a large 1,000 cubic foot, five-chambered Nabori-Gama style wood-fired kiln with assistance from a Crafts Board grant. The kiln is fired twice a year, over a four-day period, producing distinctive glazes and textures from wood ash, flame, and heat. His work is characterized by hand-thrown, functional forms such as jugs, teapots, mugs, bowls, platters, jars, and planters, often featuring salt glaze or wood-fired effects like “potter’s tear” and deep, varied surface textures. He marks his pieces with painted 'RB', 'Robert Barron', or 'GNP' (for Gooseneck Pottery), often impressed or painted.

Barron’s ceramics are highly collectible and are held in major public and private collections across Australia, the USA, UK, France, Italy, Japan, and Norway. His work has been exhibited in galleries including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Shepparton Art Gallery.

He has also been involved in teaching and mentoring, contributing significantly to the development of contemporary Australian ceramics. His influence is rooted in the Leach/Cardew tradition, emphasizing craftsmanship, simplicity, and the beauty of natural, process-driven forms. 

PAMELA WELSH

Excerpt from A Nest in the Hills Exhibition Catalogue....
Finally, we enjoy a moment of humour through the hilarious creations of Mudgee-based
artist, Pamela Welsh. As a ceramicist, the works she created for her exhibition The Princess
and the Piano in 2022 were extraordinary, expanding on a true story of Princess Alexandra
Amalie of Bavaria (1826 – 1875) who had a rare condition whereby she was convinced she
had swallowed a glass grand piano as a child.
In this flock of sculptures provided for the exhibition, the artist cheerfully outs her entire
family as birds in disguise – herself included. Each work starts with an Australian species,
then gets nudged (or shoved) into the realm of human foible.

Pamela lives in Mudgee, NSW. She has worked with clay sculpturally all of her career.

She taught Visual Arts after she gained her degree and began to produce work in ceramic, participating in local exhibitions and selling work from a Mudgee gallery. Her work has sold locally and overseas. 

GABRIELLA HEGYES & ROS AULD

Journey - It is the shared interest and admiration for the natural environment that inspired long term friends,
ceramic artist Ros Auld and installation artist Gabriella Hegyes to create this collaborative work. These land
forms in a grid reflect the ‘mapping’ of geological changes travelling through five regions by the artists.
Natural materials on the way were gathered and incorporated into the works whilst the colour of the glaze
reflect the inland hues.

GABRIELLA HEGYES migrated from Hungary and developed her art practice in Australia. Trained in sculpture, photography and printmaking she moved to installation based work where all these skills could be employed. She combines conventional forms of sculpture, printmaking and traditional crafts to create installations. Her work is inspired by memory/place/identity.
She has curated several exhibitions and developed and coordinated a number of community public art projects most notably The Wentworth Falls Lake sandstone sculptures depicting native seedpods working with 15 other artists.
Her 40 years of teaching experience include fine art and design at tertiary level as well as workshops for various communities, regional galleries, schools and organisations. She exhibits regularly and her work is represented in public and private collections in Australia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Poland and USA.

GEOFF THOMAS

“I have been making pots since 1972 and firing with wood in both a Spring Arch bourry box kiln and an Anagama kiln. I like to think I take a fairly direct approach to pots. The idea of being able to dig clay out of the ground, throw it into a pot on the wheel, formulate glazes with the inclusion of local material, build kilns and fire on wood holds a sort of fascination and mystery. It is not always so straight forward!!
To quote others, making pots for wood firing A little bit of tree, a little bit of me and several thousand years of Eastern philosophy.”As a maker I am interested in every part of the ceramic process. I enjoy the plasticity of clay and the flexibility it allows while creating. I look for the evidence of clays pliability and softness in a finished ceramic piece. This evidence of the handmade can connect us to those who have made the object.

Wood firing imparts flame marks, fire blush natural ash. I am interested in the flame paths with in the wood kilns I fire . Interested in how each form can invite or inhibit the flame to explore and enhance its surface. I often use locally sourced clay and inclusions such as pumice -stone, which I embed into the surface of my pieces to become part of the finished piece. I am influenced by the works of Hiroe Swen, Ken Eastman and ceramic Artist whom wood fire World Wide."

SUVIRA McDONALD

SuVira McDonald is an Australian ceramic artist known for her finely crafted vessels that balance sculptural presence with a deep respect for traditional pottery techniques. Working primarily in stoneware and porcelain, her practice explores the quiet dialogue between form, surface, and the natural processes of the kiln.

McDonald’s work is characterised by elegant, restrained forms and richly textured glazes that echo the colours and patinas of the landscape. Drawing inspiration from both Eastern and Western ceramic traditions, she embraces slow, attentive making—often allowing the unpredictable effects of firing to play an active role in the final outcome. This approach results in pieces that feel both timeless and contemporary.

Her ceramics range from functional vessels to contemplative sculptural forms, each reflecting a sensitivity to proportion, balance, and material. Through subtle variations in glaze, texture, and firing atmosphere, McDonald creates surfaces that invite close viewing and tactile engagement.

Over the course of her career, McDonald has exhibited widely in Australia and her work is held in private collections. Her practice continues to evolve through experimentation with clay bodies, firing methods, and surface treatments, while remaining grounded in the enduring traditions of studio pottery.

SUZANNE BELLAMY

In Memory of Suzanne Bellamy Words by Susan Hawthorne. “Feminists across Australia and overseas have treasured examples of this intellect and artist Susanne Bellamy…”

We are grateful to the family that has been the benefactors of Suzanne’s remaining work, and for entrusting Gang Gang Gallery with these precious pieces. All works displayed are for sale from the family who wish that her extraordinary art be recognized as amongst some of the most original in Australia. We believe Suzanne’s work and life should be celebrated through this collection and passed on to future collectors and pottery enthusiast.