COLLECTIVE – ceramic exhibition
The 'Collective' is a group of 25 ceramic artists from Northern Beaches Open Studio. This exhibition highlights a diversity of styles and techniques, from functional ware to striking sculptural pieces. Each piece reflects our creativity and love of clay.
Opening Night
Saturday 8th August, 5-7 pm
Northern Beaches Gallery
5/161 South Creek Road, Cromer
8th to 22nd August
Tuesday - Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday 9am - 2pm
Susie Roberts
Hand Made Ceramic
20cm x 11.5cm
Found across Northern Australia and the Indo Pacific, Trochus shells are treasured for their creamy mother of pearl and have been used for jewellery and button making since the1800’s. This luminous dome, crowned with translucent porcelain Trochus is an expression of Motherhood… of strength and mother love. It also highlights the ocean’s critical role as the largest carbon sink on the planet.
Susie Curtis
Hand Made Ceramic
17cm x 15cm
There is so much history in my pots.
They are my totems.
They are a distillation of me and my life.
I turn inwards to make them.
I plumb the depths of my memories and life
experiences.
I was inspired to create their singular glaze after a trip to the ancient Japanese ceramic
town of Hagi.
The glaze is a concoction of many finely
balanced ingredients.
Its versatility never ceases to surprise me.
It takes on the character of each pot.
Kara Pryor
Hand Made Ceramic
I believe every dog has a story. Inspired by rescue dogs, I hand-build each ceramic companion to capture its unique personality, resilience and spirit. Through wonky smiles, tilted heads and imperfect details, I celebrate the character, loyalty and joy dogs bring, and my belief that every dog deserves love and a second chance.
Catherine Allen
Hand Made Ceramic
15cm x 15cm x17cm
From my plein air sketches I like to create a unique blend of form and imagery echoing patterns and textures of the landscape. Using underglazes, pencil and charcoal, the imagery is spontaneous and gestural, being an observation of my time in nature.
Anne Marie Wilkins
Hand Made Ceramic
26cm x 17cm
Ottomans – The shapes and forms of Islamic and ottoman empire ceramics have been a strong influence of my work. These vessels, thrown on the wheel, with a limited colour palette of bronze and earthy tones echo the colours and textures of ancient Islamic pots. Each of my pieces is named after an ottoman sultan.
Allison Mueller
Hand Made Ceramic
15cm x 12cm x 11cm
As in life, the ceramic form is not defined by a single event but by the layering of many small encounters, relationships, memories, habits, losses and pleasures.
These pieces extend themselves through an assemblage of twisted and curled porcelain attachments, small gestures that accumulate into a larger presence. The work embraces imperfection and repetition and symbolise the constant accrual of ordinary life experiences that define us.
Phillip O’Hara
Hand Made Ceramic
40cm x 22cm
Inspired by the quiet resilience of Antarctica, these ceramic emperor penguins celebrate community, perseverance, and enduring bonds. Handcrafted in clay, each sculpture reflects the elegance and individuality of these remarkable birds. Their subtle textures and organic forms invite viewers to reflect on nature's beauty, fragility, and the enduring strength found in togetherness.
Tash Tribe
Hand Made Ceramic
9cm x 8cm
Punk Rocks is an ongoing celebration of Australia’s rich clay palette. Each sculptural form reveals the distinct colour, texture and character of a different clay body, transformed through fire. Through playful craftsmanship, the series reveals the inherent beauty of earth and the expressive possibilities held within clay.
Tash Tribe
Hand Made Ceramic
10cm x 9cm
Punk Rocks is an ongoing celebration of Australia’s rich clay palette. Each sculptural form reveals the distinct colour, texture and character of a different clay body, transformed through fire. Through playful craftsmanship, the series reveals the inherent beauty of earth and the expressive possibilities held within clay.
Kara Pryor
Hand Made Ceramic
I believe every dog has a story. Inspired by rescue dogs, I hand-build each ceramic companion to capture its unique personality, resilience and spirit. Through wonky smiles, tilted heads and imperfect details, I celebrate the character, loyalty and joy dogs bring, and my belief that every dog deserves love and a second chance.
Sue Buckle
Hand Made Ceramic
25cm x 13cm x 6cm
To use, to love, to patch, to mend.
There are objects in all our lives that we treasure because of the memories they hold and the experiences we have shared with them.
The patina of age and repairs adds value and beauty to these objects making them unique. It adds an enduring strength.
Kara Pryor
Hand Made Ceramic
I believe every dog has a story. Inspired by rescue dogs, I hand-build each ceramic companion to capture its unique personality, resilience and spirit. Through wonky smiles, tilted heads and imperfect details, I celebrate the character, loyalty and joy dogs bring, and my belief that every dog deserves love and a second chance.
Cathy McMichael
Hand Made Ceramic (Trio)
26cm x 16cm x 20cm
Conversations in Silence explores connection, posture, and relational space through a family of hand-coiled, long-necked bottles. Each piece displays a unique stance, leaning inward, standing tall, or gently curving away. Finished in moody green and satin black glaze to reflect shared shadows, each narrow opening conceals a subtle, warm flash of bronze glaze inside.
Elizabeth Cashmore
Hand Made Ceramic
34cm x 12cm
Wheel thrown pots finished with my signature crackle glaze that takes Inspiration from the shifting sea, the layered glaze evokes the beauty of ocean salt crystallising along the shoreline.
Antler handles, naturally shed each year as part of the deer’s normal growth cycle cause no harm to the animals.
Fiona Alvarez
Hand Made Ceramic
15cm x 5cm x5cm
I have made small figurative ceramic sculptures to represent the connection and competition between powerful universal forces such as culture, nature, ideals, antiquity, ruins and regeneration.
Anne Marie Wilkins
Hand Made Ceramic
38cm x 12.5cm
Ottomans – The shapes and forms of Islamic and ottoman empire ceramics have been a strong influence of my work. These vessels, thrown on the wheel, with a limited colour palette of bronze and earthy tones echo the colours and textures of ancient Islamic pots. Each of my pieces is named after an ottoman sultan.
Lisa Wiley-Strong
Hand Made Ceramic
15cm x 15cm x 15cm
Life takes us along many different paths. Some are smooth, while others become tangled with challenges and attachments that weigh us down. By gently letting go of what no longer serves us, we can release stress, find greater clarity, and create space for a deeper sense of peace and renewal.
Jules Irving
Hand Made Ceramic
33cm x 17cm
Inspired by the annual arrival of black cockatoos on the Central Coast, this abstract ceramic sculpture celebrates their grave, presence and unmistakable spirit. Rather than depicting the bird literally, it captures a memory of their seasonal return – a quiet reminder to pause, look skyward and appreciate nature’s enduring rhythms and beauty.
Jackie Gilmour
Hand Made Ceramic
30cm x 30cm x 20cm
Little Creatures is an attempt to infuse clay with life through freshly cut edges, joined components, and clay encouraged to sag and twist. The creatures take on a life of their own and interact with each other in groups, encouraging the viewer to reflect on the interactions that shape their own lives.
David Hough
Hand Made Ceramic
20cm x 10cm x 18cm
The ‘Studies in a Hat’ series of sculptures is reminiscent of slow summer days. Inspired by the relaxed ritual of beach life in Australia, these sculptures capture moments of stillness and quiet reflection. Their textured finish echoes the feel of warm sand on sun-kissed skin.
Kate Sutton
Hand Made Ceramic
30cm x 28cm
New World Order represents the undercurrent of our time: a growing resistance against exploitation, the erosion of privacy, and the trillion-dollar wealth divide.
The globe-like form is layered with textured blue and white slips, mirroring the natural beauty of the earth, but the finish is deliberately disrupted. A heavy speckling from the clay tarnishes the surface, a fracturing and scattering of society under these pressures.
This work is a reflection on a world out of balance, and the collective desire to reshape it.
Tash Tribe
Hand Made Ceramic
13cm x 10cm
Punk Rocks is an ongoing celebration of Australia’s rich clay palette. Each sculptural form reveals the distinct colour, texture and character of a different clay body, transformed through fire. Through playful craftsmanship, the series reveals the inherent beauty of earth and the expressive possibilities held within clay.
Fiona Alvarez
Hand Made Ceramic
16.5cm x 5cm x5cm
I have made small figurative ceramic sculptures to represent the connection and competition between powerful universal forces such as culture, nature, ideals, antiquity, ruins and regeneration.
Rahle Mendelowitz
Hand Made Ceramic
18.5cm x 12cm
My work is inspired by nature and its endless layers. Through spontaneous line work, I create flowing forms without beginning or end, evoking peace, harmony and connection. Clay becomes my blank canvas, allowing me to combine ceramics with my love of drawing and painting, expressing beauty through simplicity and movement.
Tash Tribe
Hand Made Ceramic
11cm x 10cm
Punk Rocks is an ongoing celebration of Australia’s rich clay palette. Each sculptural form reveals the distinct colour, texture and character of a different clay body, transformed through fire. Through playful craftsmanship, the series reveals the inherent beauty of earth and the expressive possibilities held within clay.
Heidi Steller
Hand Made Ceramic
40cm Diameter
A fascination of ancient and tribal cultures, their rituals and artefacts sparked the inspiration for this series of work especially their neck piece adornments.
My works are hand built and textured with glazed and unglazed finishes.
Heidi Steller
Hand Made Ceramic
55cm Diameter
A fascination of ancient and tribal cultures, their rituals and artefacts sparked the inspiration for this series of work especially their neck piece adornments.
My works are hand built and textured with glazed and unglazed finishes.
Jules Irving
Hand Made Ceramic
33cm x 16cm
Inspired by the annual arrival of black cockatoos on the Central Coast, this abstract ceramic sculpture celebrates their grave, presence and unmistakable spirit. Rather than depicting the bird literally, it captures a memory of their seasonal return – a quiet reminder to pause, look skyward and appreciate nature’s enduring rhythms and beauty.
Susie Curtis
Hand Made Ceramic
20cm x 16cm
There is so much history in my pots.
They are my totems.
They are a distillation of me and my life.
I turn inwards to make them.
I plumb the depths of my memories and life
experiences.
I was inspired to create their singular glaze after a trip to the ancient Japanese ceramic
town of Hagi.
The glaze is a concoction of many finely
balanced ingredients.
Its versatility never ceases to surprise me.
It takes on the character of each pot.
Heidi Steller
Hand Made Ceramic
48cm Diameter
A fascination of ancient and tribal cultures, their rituals and artefacts sparked the inspiration for this series of work especially their neck piece adornments.
My works are hand built and textured with glazed and unglazed finishes.