How to apply for a residency

I completed my Bachelor degree in 1990 in Ceramic Design and spent my first year post-uni as a resident artist at the Meat Market Craft Gallery in North Melbourne. I left clay for some time after that when family became my focus and have only seriously returned to ceramics in the last ten years. When I first returned, I found it quite difficult to find my place in the world of art. I entered competitions and applied for galleries and was repeatedly knocked back.

I decided that I needed something more substantial on my resume. I had read about other artists doing residencies. I wanted to gain a broader overview of my art form, see what other artists were doing in clay. I felt passionate about taking time out, away from the distractions of the day-to-day to focus solely on my art.

As many of us know, the minute you have children, personal space and time vanish into thin air. But my two children were now old enough to cope without me for a few weeks… surely.

I began researching art residencies. I was looking for a supportive environment that would allow me my own space and time to develop new artwork. For my first residency, I ruled out any that required me to present a workshop or talk. At first, it seemed like a daunting prospect and the usual doubts reared their ugly heads: Am I too old? Am I good enough? Am I fooling myself? But the most difficult question was, how am I going to tell my husband that he is not coming with me?

Before applying, I scrutinised each residency's web page and looked up artists who had previously attended. I was looking for a professional standard; I wanted to make sure that the residency attracted high-calibre artists and was run in a professional manner.

I decided to apply for AIR Vallauris, a ceramic (and now other art media) artist-in-residence program in the south of France. I may have been swayed by romantic visions of champagne, baguettes and fromage. When I finally pushed 'send', I was excited and scared all at the same time. I didn’t tell anyone I had applied, as I didn’t really think I would be accepted. But to my surprise, I received an acceptance email. I was really going to France. At that point, I realised I hadn’t actually told my husband yet (whoops!) but I knew he would be 100-percent supportive.

Raku firing in India

So, I spent six weeks in the south of France where Picasso had his ceramic studio, working with three other artists from the United States, Korea and the Netherlands in two studios that were wonderfully historic and very quaint. We worked hard during the day in the studio, and at night or on our days off we travelled around the area, drinking wine, eating the most amazing food and having the wonderful experiences. We were motivated and invigorated, and produced many artworks.

Sally teaching a workshop in Seto, Japan

I have since attended eleven other ceramic art residencies. That first one in France was the first —and the last—time I had to fund myself. Subsequent residencies have all been partially or fully funded and I am so thankful to have had these opportunities to grow as an artist. The hundreds of artists who I have worked with over the years have led to a huge network of support and career development opportunities.

If you are thinking about applying for a residency, here are a few tips based on my experience. 

• Be brave.
  Yes, you are worthy. No, you are not too old/young. Yes, you will love it. No, it’s not scary. You will make some of the greatest friends, and the time and experience will support your art-making in such a positive way.
  

• Do your research.
  Check the residency website and the artists who have previously attended. There are residencies out there for everyone. Try looking at http://www.resartis.org/en/ for a start.
  

• Check the costs.
  Make sure they are clearly stated on the website, and remember to convert to Australian currency. If the residency is funded, make sure you present a professional looking application (to be discussed in a future post).
  

• Clarify the accommodation details.
  Make sure accommodation is included in the residency cost and clarify if you will be sharing a room. If want your own room, you can usually ask and they may charge you just a little extra.
  

• Think about the dates.
  I went to France and Japan in winter, which was okay for me as I don’t mind the cold, but it may not be for everyone!
  

• Find out what materials and equipment are included.
  Some residencies pay for all materials and some require you to purchase them.
  

• Make sure the studio space suits your work.
  If you are a painter, is there enough wall space or easels for the size of the work you want to create? If you’re a ceramic artist, is there a kiln available and access to glaze materials? Ask if you will you work by yourself or with others in the studio space.
  

• Clarify what is required of you.
  Do you have to bring work with you to exhibit? Are you required to donate all or some of the work you make during the residency (usually required in China)?
  

• Find out if you are you required to give a presentation or workshop.
  If you are, clarify who your audience will be. Don’t be afraid of presentations as many organisations include a community aspect in their programs to help them obtain funding. They are usually quite fun.
  

• Don’t ever let a knock-back get you down.
  Just improve your application and apply to another residency, or apply again in the next round. I have been refused as many times as I have accepted.

Sally Walk is a ceramic artist. She holds a Bachelor of Art (Ceramic Design) and a Post Grad Diploma of Education. She has been working in clay for more than thirty years and creates sculptural work in stoneware and porcelain clays. Sally has attended twelve ceramic art residencies all over the world and has held six solo exhibitions and more than thirty group exhibitions. She was selected to exhibit at the Tokyo Art Fair in Japan, Art Melbourne, and the Florence Biennale in Italy, where she was awarded the ‘Lorenzo il Magnifico’ first prize for ceramics. For more about Sally, visit her website or follow her on Instagram (@sally_walk).

Meet the Makers: Melbourne Ceramics Market

The pottery wheel scene in Ghost has officially been confirmed as a very common reference that Tina Thorburn and Daisy Cooper, the creators, curators and coordinators of Melbourne Ceramic Market (MCM) get tired of hearing. In fact, we're confident that everyone at Melbourne’s newest independent ceramics market has heard it before, too.

Knowing that, don’t ask about it at the upcoming MCM summer event, which is on again at the end of the month, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, in Collingwood.

After a bustling and successful turnout of more than two thousand people for their launch event in August, MCM is back bigger and better, showcasing over fifty emerging and established ceramic makers under one roof and aiming to create a vibrant marketplace that highlights and reflects the work of Melbourne’s finest ceramic talent.

Annette Wagner caught up with Tina and Daisy and asked them some questions about being ceramicists.

Tina Thorburn (L) and Daisy Cooper (R), the creators, curators and coordinators of Melbourne Ceramic Market. Photo: Annette Wagner.

Tell us your insights about the Melbourne ceramic movement.

DC: It’s here and it needs to be celebrated! There are so many amazing artists creating really interesting work across all the fields of ceramics that it’s hard not to be immersed in it.

TT: The appreciation for ceramics has grown in this movement and it seems pottery schools can’t keep up with demand of people wanting to try ceramics!

Did this prompt the ceramic focused market?

DC: Yes, we felt that there were so many makers going unseen and there wasn’t a specific market outlet for them. There was a niche that needed filling.

TT: Not everyone who tries ceramics will enjoy the process, and not everyone is good at it. Why not connect people who love and appreciate ceramics with local ceramicists who make beautiful work? 

Is the ceramic market competitive or community orientated?  

DC: Completely community orientated! We want to create a space that allows new makers to the market scene feel supported and welcomed. Of course there is a competitive element in the selling, but in a welcoming and knowledgeable way.

Tina Thorburn, at August 2017 Melbourne Ceramic Market. Photo: Annette Wagner

TT: We are intentionally doing specific things to make this more than a market. For example, we raised thirteen hundred dollars for SisterWorks by collecting gold coin donations at our last market, and we have lots of fun things planned for midsummer events that bring the community of ceramicists in contact with the general community. We are about more than selling ceramics. We also believe we are responsible to help educate people about the craft and share our insights as full-time potters with other makers.

What customer insights have you been able to observe from the recent market? 

TT: We’ve had lots of feedback. Everyone loved it but some found it too crowded. We have taken steps to make the November market bigger and control the crowds better. It’s all a big learning curve!

What is the response from your consumers?

TT: Many customers asked us to do monthly markets, but we want to stay fresh and keep our markets boutique in feel. 

Is there a demand from the more conscious consumer for more thoughtful pieces?

TT: Yes! And this is linked to the whole handmade movement that is giving pottery its big presence. In our experience, people are craving things that are thoughtfully made and with purpose in mind. Ceramics is functional art and there is big demand for that now!

What and where are your top tips, from where to fire work to how to use a wheel?

DC: There are so many amazing ceramics schools around Melbourne and across Australia. Get yourself booked into a class and have a go at as many things as you can. Don’t be afraid of the wheel (like me)—go for it!

TT: My top tip, and the thing I tell people in my workshops, is to be kind to yourself. If you give kids a piece of clay they’ll dive straight in and make weird and wonderful things without self criticism. Give adults a piece of clay and they’ll automatically say they aren’t creative, or panic about what they ‘should’ make. In my experience, no one is good at ceramics from the start. It takes time, practice, patience and kindness to oneself to get good.

When did you first start working with ceramics, and for how long? 

DC: I started an evening class in London at Turning Earth Ceramics Studio in May 2014 and have never looked back. From there, it has all been self-taught and having amazing ceramic maker friends to call upon when I get stuck with something technical or tricky. The wealth of knowledge of other makers is invaluable to a creative.

TT: I took it up in October 2014, so coming up to three years. I took it up as an evening filler because the hockey season had finished and I wanted to keep busy. It was an eight-week course at the Carlton Arts Centre. By March 2015, I’d quit my job and became a full time potter.

Where did your interest in ceramics come from?

DC: I was travelling around Australia and China in 2013 and fell in love with the colours, textures and variety of ceramic work out there. I thought to myself, I want to try my hands at this! I found my medium!

TT: I had an inkling I would enjoy ceramics because my dad had done a lot of ceramics through his life. His pieces litter his house, and I grew up with handmade ceramics all over my childhood home.

Can you remember the first piece you ever made? Was it a coil pot?!

DC: It was indeed a coil pot! I am truly useless at the wheel, so my first pieces were some bowls (not great) and a set of cups (a bit better). I still have the cups and my mum has the bowls. I get them out now and then to remind myself how far I’ve come in three years! It’s always a laugh for my family and partner.

TT: I learned on the wheel and we threw away our first two weeks attempts in an effort to loosen up our expectations. The first batch of pieces from that course were given to friends and family for Christmas. I regret this as every once in a while my mother-in-law will pull out a cup made in that first batch to show off, only making me cringe and want to break in when no one is home and smash those early pieces! They are so different and primitive to what I make now.

What appealed to you about working with ceramics, as opposed to other forms of art?

DC: I studied fine art, so have tried my hand at many art forms, from painting to screen printing and now ceramics. I love anything that is hands-on and where you really get into the raw materials, so clay was the ultimate medium for me. I’ve even worked with clay that I have dug straight from the earth near home in Scotland. You don’t get much closer to the raw material than that.

TT: I love clay. It's the only thing in the world that slows me down. I'm not naturally a patient person but I have to be with clay and that quality is slowly creeping into the rest of my life. Ceramics has also helped nurture a stillness in me that is helping with my self esteem and giving me to time and space to figure out where I belong in the world. Sounds very profound, and to be honest, it is.

What other artist/s do you admire that were represented at the market?

DC: That’s a hard one. The quality of work was so amazing from all the makers, but obviously Tina’s work and work ethic inspires me greatly, along with Melanie Channel and Dasa Ceramics for their enthusiasm and love of the craft.

TT: I love Daisy's work along with Ghostwares, alhora and Georgina Proud.

Do you ever get the equivalent of ‘writers block’?

DC: Sometimes, and it’s usually when I’ve got loads of orders to fulfil and I just want to create something of my own that’s a bit different but when I come to create this piece I get stuck. It’s usually overcome by telling myself to look around at what you’ve achieved! Just try something new. What’s the worst that can happen?

TT: Yeah, I guess so. But when that happens I give myself a day of play in the studio where I follow the clay and make whatever I want rather than fill orders.

What do you value most: the process of creating a piece or the achievement of having made it?

DC: The process of making the work is the most valuable to me. I get to come to work every day and make! For myself! It doesn’t get better than that. Once my pieces are out in the world, they are their own thing, but it’s the pleasure of making that makes this the best job in the world.

TT: The process. I adore glazing. I think that is where all the magic happens. And that process will make or break a piece. I get so nervous about bringing my pieces into the world for sale. This is getting easier for me, but I find each piece has a bit of my soul in it. I have crafted the clay into what it is, and to put it on a table and ask people for money is scary. Sometimes people scoff and say it’s too much, sometimes people say hurtful things, like they could make that. I find that part of the process very taxing.

What do you least enjoy about ceramics? References to the scene from Ghost?!

DC: Ha ha, yep, lots of Ghost references—which have no relevance to me as I don’t throw! I think the hardest thing is putting yourself out there. There are major highs and major lows with creating and running your own business, but the highs usually outweigh the lows.

TT: I get this all the time. And I just smile and nod.

What qualities make a great ceramic piece?

DC: Timelessness. A piece that can sit in a house or a gallery and always bring you back to it is a great ceramic piece.

TT: For me, the mindset and ethos of the person who made it. I also like bright colours and unique takes on old techniques.

What do regard as more important: a piece that is aesthetically pleasing, or one that has practical function? 

DC: That’s a hard one to answer. It’s a combination of both for me. I would never use or buy something that I didn’t find aesthetically pleasing but I also love a functional piece that I can get pleasure out of using every day.

TT: For me, functionality is paramount. I don't make anything that doesn't have a use. I think ceramics is the perfect balance of function and art.

If you weren’t working in ceramics, what other field would you work in?

DC: I’ve worked a lot as an arts facilitator in the disabilities sector. I love working with groups of individuals who are so talented but either don’t get the representation they deserve or don’t believe themselves to be the artists they are. Working to help people realise this is so rewarding and something I recommend anyone to try volunteering in. There are so many amazing organizations out there like Arts Project Australia that need support and recognition for the work they do.

TT: I will probably go back and study nursing/midwifery in the next five years. I care a lot about rural health and think balancing ceramics with a health career will allow me to live the life I wants in my later thirties.

The MCM will be held on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2017 at Fiveasy Upstairs, 5 Easy St, Collingwood, 3066. Opening hours are Saturday 10am–6pm and Sunday 10am–4pm.

For more about the MCM, visit their website at melbourneceramicsmarket.com or follow them on Facebook (melbourneceramicsmarket) and Instagram (@melbourne.ceramics.market).

Annette Wagner is a designer, marketer, creative consultant, artist and writer. She is also on the board of the Creative Women’s Circle. Obsessively passionate about the arts and the creative process, she is determined to not talk art-speak and instead focus on supporting and sharing concepts and insights most creative types crave to know.

Tools of the Trade: Fiona McDonald of Ichimu

By Brianna Read The subject of this month’s Tools of the Trade brought up a rather interesting idea in the discussion of creative practice – rules. With every trade comes a history of how the practice has grown and moved with time, there are always long lists of the recognised methods of practice and an equally long list of things which ought not be done. This particular idea was touched upon in an earlier Tools instalment and I was glad for the opportunity to get a little further into the topic – you see I am an advocate of bending and breaking rules… I am making my subject sound rather rebellious which is actually not the case at all.

Fiona McDonald makes objects of porcelain – under the label Ichimu (translated roughly from Japanese meaning a dream, or a fleeting thing).  Everything about Fiona’s creative practices are as gentle and light of hand as the name implies. The rule breaking I referred to was from an almost off-hand remark Fiona made about why her ceramic practice brings so much pleasure: ‘Maybe it is because I don’t really know the rules about clay and porcelain that I love it so much.’

I adore these types of honest insights as they reveal so much about why we create. During the interview Fiona made mention of her love of children’s illustrations (those done by children rather than for them) and her appreciation of the honesty they hold. Her remark about not knowing the rules of porcelain and the link this may have to her enjoyment of the process revealed that she found for herself in ceramics what she appreciated in the unfettered and unpretentious expressions of children’s creativity.

Take a look at her work in Ichimu and it is not difficult to see the pleasure taken in creating it. When I asked Fiona to interview for this column I presumed that the effortless beauty in her ceramics had been from years of labored study and crafting with the medium of porcelain. I had no idea Fiona’s background was in fact in graphic design and pattern design for textiles. Indeed, Fiona was introduced to the art of ceramics by a friend relatively recently.

I think it is precisely because of her recent introduction to the medium and an absence of formal training that Fiona’s work stands out. I love that the hand and marks of the tool can be seen in the work – these pieces have a physicality which speaks of their production. Of course, her knowledge of and practice in the visual arts can be seen in her ceramic work. Each piece is hand built using a variety of tools and found objects and the surface treatment and colour sensibility of each collection of pieces clearly displays her talent for design.

While I wholeheartedly appreciate mastery in any medium and understand that rules are made often for very sound reasons; whenever I encounter an artisan who blazes their own trail through a quagmire of dos and don’ts I am reminded of the very reason why creativity exists: because it brings pleasure to those who create and those who behold the results.

Yet another invaluable tool for the kit of any creative: the ability to shirk the rules when they are hampering the enjoyment of the creative process.

More of Fiona’s porcelain work at Ichimu can be seen here and here. Her textile and graphic works have online homes here, here and here.

Brianna Read is a designer/maker based in Melbourne. Her knitwear label Jack of Diamonds  employs traditional hand-made techniques in combination with machine knit technologies. Brianna’s multi-faceted creative practice encompasses design, production, works for exhibition and machine knitting workshops. 

Tools of the Trade : Taë Schmeisser

By Brianna Read In this second instalment of Tools I have the great pleasure to introduce you to the inimitable Taë Schmeisser. A Melbourne based designer and jeweller, Taë’s creative background is as diverse as her jewellery collections – Taë has studied glass and ceramics and more recently engineering technology (jewellery) – her design collections utilise materials from glass through to felt. Diverse though her materials and methods of construction may be, a consistent thread throughout each range of designs is that of the body and more specifically objects to be worn on the body.

So you can understand why I chose to interview Taë about the tools of her trade – which tool could a designer like this not live without? The answer: a sketchbook and pencil. Of course! Taë also mentioned that she would be rather lost without her flexi drive drill but continued on to explain that the sketchbook is the constant player in her tool kit, she says “It’s not particularly ordered and there is a whole lot of chicken scrawl, torn out pages of magazines, photos, embarrassing and impractical ideas but it’s where it all starts.”

As a designer ever ready to embrace a new material, Taë mentions the importance of the material informing the tools. She says that with the development process of every collection the ideas have to work their way around the materials chosen. For her most recent collection, titled Architexture (launched this month under the label Bëuy), a range of wearable works of art have been created using German wool felt and metal. The results are quite simply striking.

With a genuine love of exploring new territory this is reflected in her choice of favoured tool – it is the point where the working through of an idea begins. The sketchbook is the ‘this is where I want to go’ part of the design process. Taë calls it ‘tumbleweeding’, in reference to the action of an idea rolling around in the head of the designer.

On the horizon she is looking toward a collection which returns to one of her early loves – glass; but she is certainly not traversing old ground. Always up for a design challenge, her designs are incorporating elastic, glass and metal. I for one cannot wait to see the fruits of that adventure…

Architexture by is available online at www.beuy.com.au and in store at The Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art Shop.

Brianna Read is a designer-maker based in Melbourne. Her knitwear label Jack of Diamonds Knits employs traditional hand-made techniques in combination with machine knit technologies. Brianna’s multi-faceted creative practice encompasses design, production, works for exhibition and machine knitting workshops.