By HOLLIE HARRIS
ANYONE who has ever wanted to see how beautiful clay pieces are created can see firsthand the love and care that goes into each piece as part of the Noosa Open Studios festival.
From Friday 19 to Sunday 21 August, over 40 artists and artisans will be welcoming attendees to their own unique creative space as part of the Noosa Open Studios festival, including Angela Pude of Ceramics at Noosa Arts and Crafts.
Members of her ceramics group will be throwing the clay, turning the wheels, hand-building their creations or firing the kilns in their large studio at the Noosa Open Studios hub at Wallace House in Noosaville.
“Clay for me is the Earth, we become part of it and it becomes part of us,” Angela said.
“Its tactile and malleable characteristics are a joy to play with. The clay seems to tell me what it wants to be, even though I have an idea of what I want to make.”
Also joining the Open Studio event is local ceramicist Wendy Britton, who has her studio on beautiful Cooroibah acreage, and is inspired by her natural surroundings.
“Being surrounded by native flora and fauna I find these influence my ceramic work immensely,” Wendy said.
“I use plants to impress some of my work and also like to create native animals.”
Renowned local Noosa ceramicist and educator Ellen Appleby will also have her personal Noosa Heads studio open.
Ellen recently returned from a residency in the Japanese porcelain town of Arita where she enjoyed the facilities of the Kouraku factory making slip-cast ware with decals and lustres.
“I watched many skilled artisans at work and explored my own layered surfaces on porcelain, combining gosu (traditional Japanese blues) with my printed layers and gold lustre,” Ellen said.
She is now home in her own Noosa studio and has commenced a new range of exquisitely beautiful, handmade porcelain tableware ready for the Noosa Open Studios event.
Wendy, Ellen, Angela and also ceramicist Carol Watkins are just a few of the outstanding Clay Masters art lovers can engage with during the three-day event.
Studio bus tours are available with pick up points in Hastings Street, Gympie Terrace and at the event hub at Wallace House in Noosaville.
For bus tickets, phone 0403 170 207 or email noosaopenstudios@gmail.com and visit www.noosaopenstudios.com.au for full event information.
