Anagama-fired porcelain, echidna quills, driftwood, hardwood

Guarding the liminal space between life and death, The Threshold Keeper stands as a quiet sentinel. The small skull, a human echo, is elevated on a wooden pillar, surrounded by botanical and echidna quills, signifying our passage from the earthly to the sacred. This piece reflects ancient burial traditions, where death is not an end but a transformation, a shedding of the known in preparation for what comes next.

Anagama-fired porcelain, raw raku, dark matter stoneware, brass

This vessel, the first of seven burial jars that formed part of my exhibition "Beneath the Fallen Petals - Uncovering the Seeds of Surrender", embodies the quiet contemplation of life's cycles. Hand-formed and anagama-fired, its textured surface reflects weathered coastal rocks and the surface of tidal rhythms, while the visible cracks are a testament to my current artistic rhythm, a practice often carved into precious 2-3 hour blocks amidst life's many demands.

These unintentional marks are a poignant reminder of the juggling act of modern life, yet they also speak to the inherent fragility and resilience of both clay and existence.

Unglazed porcelain, hardwood, copper

Saṃsāra, a Sanskrit word, speaks to the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth, a rhythm both cosmic and deeply personal. This piece, the first created for this body of work, emerged slowly over two years, beginning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The central form, a partially burnt fence post found washed ashore after the 2019–2020 bushfires, is a relic of destruction, resilience, and transformation. I was drawn to its raw, weathered beauty. Over time, I began forming individual porcelain botanical sculptures, each one made by hand during moments of stillness in an otherwise chaotic time. On Christmas Day, I arranged and affixed the fired pieces to the wood, an act of quiet restoration.

Samsara reflects the painful yet essential truth that death and devastation make way for renewal. Just as fire nourishes the forest floor, grief and rupture clear space for regeneration, beauty, and growth. This work honours the quiet power of surrender, and the hope that rises in its wake.

Cow skull, black mid-fire clay

A gesture of reverence, Requiem for the Gentle Beast honours the silent soul of a creature often seen only through the lens of utility. Within the hollow of the skull, dark botanical forms emerge inviting the viewer to pause and reflect on the sanctity of all life, and the beauty that can grow from grief when we acknowledge even the most overlooked beings as divine.

Anagama-fired porcelain, echidna quills, driftwood

A meditation on the co-existence of defence and delicacy, Quills and Petals No.1 brings together the soft unfolding of botanical porcelain blooms with the primal form of echidna quills, all gently resting upon time-worn driftwood. This work speaks to the tension and harmony between vulnerability and protection, decay and renewal, and invites contemplation on the quiet resilience found in the wild, and within ourselves.

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Stoneware

The Dance of Shadows embodies the essence of the dark side of nature, reminding us of the essential balance between light and darkness, life and death. Through the intentional use of two distinct black clay bodies, Dark Matter for structural integrity and Mid Fired Black Clay for porcelain-like finesse, a vessel emerges that is not only visually captivating but also laden with symbolic significance. The creation of seed-like balls and petal-like ribbons that embellish the hand coiled vessel symbolize themes of rebirth, renewal, a reflection of nature's innate ability to regenerate after periods of decay, loss, or destruction. It invites contemplation on the cyclical nature of existence and the beauty found within the delicate interplay of contrasting elements, mirroring the intricacies of the natural world.

Anagama-fired porcelain, driftwood, Australian hardwood, aluminium

Once part of a living tree, this driftwood has journeyed through salt, storm, and sea before finding rest upon the shore. Its surface bears the quiet inscriptions of time and tide, shaped by forces both fierce and fleeting. From this weathered remnant now rises a constellation of porcelain botanicals, each one hand-sculpted, bisque fired, glazed, and then transformed over five days in the flames of a wood-burning anagama kiln. The communal firing process, guided by many hands, breathes life and unpredictability into the blooms, their surfaces marked by the alchemy of fire and ash. This work honours the driftwood’s long passage and reimagines it as a vessel of renewal, a fragment of the ocean transformed into a blooming garden.

Porcelian, Australian hardwood

King Protea No.1 is the foundational piece in my Silent Ethereal Flora series, a sculptural embodiment of the strength, courage, and powerful resilience symbolised by the King Protea, South Africa's national flower. This artwork takes inspiration from the Greek god Proteus, whose ability to shape-shift speaks directly to the flower's representation of adaptability, diversity, and its capacity to thrive even in the most challenging conditions.

This intricate piece is a stunning arrangement of individually hand-formed porcelain botanicals meticulously assembled onto a piece of salvaged Australian hardwood. Through the contrast of the porcelain's delicate white forms against the raw, dark wood, the work honours the flower’s enduring symbolism while celebrating the quiet strength found within nature’s most intricate and enduring forms.

Anagama-fired porcelain, driftwood

Mounted upon the wall, this driftwood bears the gentle traces of its oceanic passage. Upon its surface, porcelain blossoms emerge, each one painstakingly hand-sculpted, bisque fired, glazed, and then surrendered to a five-day wood-fired journey within an anagama kiln. This communal firing, stoked and tended around the clock, leaves behind its own subtle imprints: flashes of flame, deposits of ash, and the quiet unpredictability of transformation. Adorned with these kiln-born botanicals, the driftwood becomes both memory and offering, a still-life grown from salt, tide, and fire. The work whispers of resilience and renewal, a tidal garden suspended in time.

Stoneware

Flora In The Cradle Of Stone No.1 explores the delicate yet powerful relationship between life and earth, where the seemingly unyielding stone cradles and nurtures the fragile beauty of flora. This work speaks to the resilience of nature, emphasising how life finds a way to thrive even in the most rugged and inhospitable environments.

The vessel, hand-built from a gritty dark matter clay body, embodies the strength and permanence of stone, while the intricate flowers and botanicals, crafted from a more porcelaneous mid-fire black clay, represent the softness and transience of plant life. The contrast between these clay bodies and the forms mirrors the duality of fragility and resilience, highlighting the harmonious dance between the elements.

Anagama-fired porcelain, echidna quills, driftwood

Continuing the conversation of duality begun in its sister piece, Quills and Petals No.2 explores nature’s cycles through contrast: fragility and fortitude, surrender and stillness. The driftwood, once adrift and now at rest, cradles both the softened florals and the pointed quills, a visual reminder that even in the remnants of what once lived, beauty continues to bloom.

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Anagama-fired porcelain, plywood

Elegy After Flight is a tribute to the spirit in stillness, the final quiet after movement has ceased. A sculpted Shearwater bird skull, wood-fired and adorned with emerging porcelain florals, rests in eternal pause, honouring a life once in motion. A migratory bird, the Shearwater travels thousands of kilometers annually, in relentless movement. It is both farewell and remembrance: an invitation to see beauty in endings, and to honour what has returned to the earth.

Anagama-fired porcelain, unglazed porcelain, driftwood

She Who Sheds Light embodies the sacred act of transformation. The snake, long a symbol of renewal, rebirth, and healing, rests in elegant stillness, entwined with pure white porcelain blossoms. Laid upon driftwood, the piece whispers of surrender and becoming. It is a gentle invocation: that in letting go, we make space for light to emerge from within the coils of our former selves.

Bleached cow bone, black porcelain

At the heart of Requiem for Renewal lies a bleached cow bone, once a structure of strength and movement, now a quiet symbol of reflection. Adorned onto its form are arranged black porcelaneous botanicals, transforming it into a shrine of remembrance and renewal.

This work honours the life of a creature whose existence likely served human need. It is a gesture of reverence, not to beautify loss, but to hold space for it. In decorating the remains, I invite viewers to reflect on the systems of consumption we often overlook, and to recognise the dignity of all that lives and dies in service to us.

Anagama-fired porcelain, raw raku, dark matter stoneware, brass

Vessels for the Departed No.2 is the second piece in this contemplative series of 9 hand-formed burial jars, continuing the ancient tradition of ceramics serving as sacred vessels for the dead. This particular vessel functions as a quiet, ceremonial chamber, a dignified resting place for the ashes of a loved one who awaits their return to the earth or sea.

Crafted using a distinctive textured clay body, this work immediately evokes a sense of geological time and layered memory, honouring the delicate, liminal space between profound loss and the slow act of letting go.

Vessels for the Departed No.2 holds space for grief, remembrance, and the slow unfolding of return, serving as a poetic, powerful act of holding on while preparing to release.