Author: claymakers

By Michaela Kloeckner

October 2025

As a finalist in the 2025 STILL: National Still Life Award held recently at YAM (Yarilla Arts and Museum), Gerry Wedd was visiting Coffs Harbour to present a talk and workshop in association with the exhibition. Coastal Claymakers were fortunate to host a separate event with Gerry as a guest of the Makers Meet Up and a lucky group of members met the artist and learnt more about him and his way of working. 

With a career spanning 4 decades his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in major collections across Australia. From making little dinner sets out of dug up clay as a child to becoming one of Australia’s most iconic ceramic superstar- Gerry Wedd remains refreshingly humble and down to earth.

Gerry is also well known for his work as graphic designer for the Australian Company Mambo. As a competent surfer his passion often features in his work.

In the morning Gerry gave a talk and presented a slide show of his varied artworks, from still life works to porcelain thongs to his 3D blue willow collection. His impressive tile work installations have been used to create entire rooms and  in created a fireplace complete with 3D vases titled Where are We Now as part of The National exhibition, at the Art Gallery of NSW.

He is known for his fine line work in cobalt blue depicting surfers and waves reminiscent of Hokusai on large jars. He also showed us a small collection works he brough with him demonstrating his sgraffito decoration through layers of coloured slips giving the impression of a lino cut. He also shared his work with delicate brushwork in cobalt.

In the afternoon we watched Gerry work (throwing and decorating cups) as he shared entertaining stories and anecdotes from his career. Story telling, song lyrics and playful use of language is a feature of his work.

Other tips and techniques he shared included the way he trimmed the hair away from the outside with the result of leaving a fine point which would create a fine line while the brush would still hold a lot of liquid; and he use of stencils of his favourite drawings to transfer images on pots using charcoal before outlining them with fine lines. A blue body stain in water is used to create a water colour finish.

We all enjoyed spending a leisurely day with  Gerry Wedd and we felt privileged to get to know him and his work on a more intimate  level. Some lucky people even took a special Gerry Wedd ceramic piece home! You can follow Gerry Wedd on instagram @gerrywedd

By Clare Danby

Being a ceramicist who often works at home, alone, can be isolating. It’s a very different experience to being in a supportive group on a ceramics course. It is difficult to find the right time to gain open and honest feedback and input from peers. I find that we meet each other at exhibitions and exclaim over each others work without there being time or the opportunity to drill down to the detail. Recognising this, a small group of 5 decided to trial an approach using the Art Quest Artist Peer Support Group guide as a starting point.

The group met twice, once in May and once in November, at the homes of group members. The members were Cath Fogarty, Susan Romyn, Rachael Naylor, Jeannie Holker and Clare Danby. Each group member brought two or three pieces of ceramics to the meetings. We followed the methodology on page 14 of the guide. In turn, each member puts their work onto the table without saying anything about them. The others state what they see and discuss their interpretations for about 10 minutes. Then the artist asks questions about the interpretations of the others and the group then responds to these questions. Each artist has an allocation of about 20 minutes. We had drinks and food to support the process and it didn’t strictly adhere to every step.

At the end of two sessions, the group agreed that it was an interesting experience, both for artistic progression and for social aspects. In the first meeting, I showed some work that is more compositional than my normal thrown work. Starting out on this new trajectory, I piled on too much and the group helped me to hone down and identify the techniques and approaches to pursue. Between the two meetings, I tried these and was able to gain further feedback on the more recent iteration. Another member found that it was a good debriefing space for unpacking artistic experiences, and others that it was a motivating process for generating work but that trying the group’s feedback didn’t always result in positive directions, and that this is useful in itself.It was also very interesting for group members who are teachers to see different learning styles in action.

We intend to continue meeting a few times a year and encourage others that are interested in a similar group to contact us for more details.