By Madeleine Murray
THE MURWILLUMBAH Potters are gearing up for MAT18 with great enthusiasm as twelve members will be taking part in this year’s event under the theme ‘Moving On’.
At first, there was some apprehension about the show. Is pottery art? Are potters artisans or artists? How do I make pottery with a Moving On theme?
Then, gradually, each potter began to understand the broad, profound possibilities of the theme, to get excited about making work with a concept, and using clay combined with other media.
Each of the club’s 35 members has a distinct style and technique. One person makes fairy houses; one makes classic Japanese pots; another paints intricate designs on huge vases, another sculpts women’s bodies.
The 12 potters in MAT18 are each tackling the theme in a unique way. Each Moving On work will be displayed on a plinth, in a row in the middle of the room, surrounded by tables with other works.
Veteran potter Ann Lee said her piece evolved while working her magic.
“You’ll have to wait for the exhibition to see it,” she said.
“It’s a big sculpture using glass and clay, reflecting the reinvention of creativity after disaster.
“It also pays homage to the reasons why we have to move on from disaster.”
Shirley Featherstone has been making exquisite, classical pots, tea sets, tajines and big bowls for more than 40 years and Moving On is a new challenge for her.
“Because of the movement in the clay, I wanted to just keep it going, to have it feel like it’s bursting. I’m firing it with some glaze but mainly natural clay,” she said.
“It’s looking like something from nature and I’m pleased with the look from all angles. I think it’s moving on into the spring-summer feeling.”
Madeleine Murray is using mixed media for her interactive piece, Requiem for a Bat which she said is going to make a small funeral pyre for a micro-bat skeleton in resin on a rusted wire platform, coming out of a wood-fired clay sculpture.
“You can use a magnifying glass to look at the tiny skeleton more closely,” she said.
President Robyn Porritt said she’s working on two pieces for the Moving On concept and will decide which one to put in later.
The club is lucky to have several experienced potters who love to share their expertise and experience.
Porritt, a retired occupational therapist who lives on a macadamia farm outside Bangalow, learned to pot as a young woman.
“I have come and gone from it over the years,” she said.
“Each time I return to the medium I do a different body of work.
“It reflects where my life is and I’m really interested in glazes, glaze techniques, and primitive firings.
“I love teaching and I give wheel classes here.”
Past-president and founding member Ann Lee said she has developed a long-term relationship with clay.
“When I discovered clay, I knew I was hooked,” she said.
“I’ve been a potter with varying degrees of intensity for more than 40 years.
“I have a passion for passing that on to new potters – that passion to be able to create, and to lose yourself in something so peaceful, in our busy world.
Lee, and other experienced potters, attends the club from 10am to 3pm every Wednesday and Friday to help anyone with advice and tips.
She also does all the firings as the gas kiln is a complex beast that requires constant supervision and adjustment for 12 hours.
The group holds classes, workshops and pottery sales at the 100-year-old schoolhouse in the idyllic open woodland forest about 2km down the Fernvale Road, 8km south of Murwillumbah.