Exhibition Insight... Ceramic Society

Damon Moon, *Three Skittles,* in situ, 2023, photographer: Connor Patterson; Stephanie James-Manttan, *Whoosh, Pulse + Murmur,* in-situ, 2023, photographer: Connor Patterson

In celebration of JamFactory’s 50th anniversary, Ceramic Society highlights the valuable practices and artistic contributions of the JamFactory Ceramics Studio through a chronology of works by its current and former Studio Heads and Creative Directors. Shifting between functional and conceptual traditions, Ceramic Society charts the immense talent and diversity of these makers and the ways in which they have mentored and shaped the local ceramics community across three generations.

Exhibitors: Mark Thompson, Jeff Mincham, Bronwyn Kemp, Peter Andersson, Stephen Bowers, Neville Assad-Salha, Phillip Hart, Prue Venables, Damon Moon, and Stephanie James-Manttan.

WORDS BY REBECCA FREEZER

Mark Thompson

Artistic Director: 1976-1979

While not officially recorded as the inaugural figurehead of the ceramics workshop, prominent ceramicist Mark Thompson has had a long association with the JamFactory. His influence was strongly felt within its Ceramics Studio during his tenure as Artistic Director from 1976-1979. Thompson remains a well-known and celebrated figure in the South Australian ceramics community for his innovative and technically accomplished sculptures, often self-portraits, which incorporate a wide range of materials and techniques,

Jeff Mincham

Head of Ceramics Workshop: 1979-1983

Trainees: Bronwyn Kemp, Christopher Headley, Peter Andersson, Lorraine Lee, Pamela James-Martin, Mark Heidenreich, Timothy Strachan, John Odgers, Kathy Alty, Janis Heston, and Stephen Bowers.

Jeff Mincham is a leading figure in Australian ceramics with a career spanning more than four decades. In recognition of his contributions to the field, he received the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Emeritus Award in 2017; a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2011, and an Honorary Doctorate of Visual Arts by the University of South Australia in 2004.Mincham’s career started at the JamFactory in 1976, where he began potting full-time. His first solo exhibition was held at the JamFactory’s original St Peters site. Between 1979-1983 he was the inaugural Head of the Ceramics Workshop. Mincham had a significant influence on the majority of ceramicists who trained under him. During this tenure he also honed his own skills as a ceramic artist, experimenting with different forms, glazes, and firing techniques- notably Japanese Raku.

Bronwyn Kemp

Head of Ceramics Workshop: 1983-1988

Trainees: Stephen Bowers, Gail Barwick, Anne Parsons, Gary Roberts, Kate Jenkins, Peter Rose, Philipe Lakeman, Kay Pemberton, Georgia Hale, Lincoln Kirby-Bell, Stephanie Livesey, Merrilyn Stock, Jo Crawford, Philip Hart, Robyn Herriman, Moira Corby, Liz Eakins, David Archer, and Gerard Slade.

In 1979, Bronwyn Kemp trained at JamFactory alongside Peter Andersson and Christopher Headley under Jeff Mincham’s tutelage. They were the inaugural trainees of the JamFactory Ceramics Workshop. In 1980 she became a studio tenant, producing functional ware as well as wheel and slab-built sculptural forms decorated with coloured clay as inlays and slips. From 1983-1988, she succeeded Mincham as Head of the Ceramics Workshop. Kemp’s approach, both as a practitioner and instructor, was unconventional, her own practice spanned from serious Japanese-influenced tableware to experimental, Memphis-style sculptures. As Studio Head, Kemp encouraged trainees to split their time between studio production and their own professional practice. Kemp is currently based in Sydney where she continues to teach at the National Art School. Her practice has developed to making predominantly porcelain forms decorated with incised line work derived from local landscapes.

Peter Andersson

Head of Ceramics Workshop: 1989-1990

Trainees: Moira Corby, Liz Eakins, David Archer, Gerard Slade, Rosalind Hoskin, Christopher Harford, and Joanne Fraser.

Peter Andersson was one of the inaugural trainees of the Ceramics Studio under Jeff Mincham. He returned to JamFactory to take over from Bronwyn Kemp as Studio Head from 1989-90.

His work is made from Australian clay, rich in iron, which speaks to the richness of the land from which it is extracted. Andersson’s pots are hand-thrown and characterised by dry glazed on textured surfaces evoking ancient civilizations. Andersson’s association with JamFactory still continues, often teaching masterclasses to the next generation of Ceramics Studio Associates.

Stephen Bowers

Creative Director: 1990-1999

Trainees/Associates: Joanne Fraser, Yvonne Nitschke, Tim Edwards, Richard Doheny, Georgia Rydon, Nico Petho, Naomi Boxall, Lesa Farrant, Denise Angus, Bronwyn Lennox, Bridgette Minuzzo, Jutta Kulikowski, Jane Bamford, Jacinta Ivory, Elodie Barker, Ben Booth, Marie Littlewood, and Kylie Duncan.

Stephen Bowers started his long relationship with JamFactory in the early 1980s as a trainee in the Ceramics Workshop, also under Jeff Mincham. He then became a studio tenant for a further 2 years. He held his first exhibition at JamFactory in 1983, jointly with Robin Best. At that time, Bowers met another JamFactory studio tenant, Mark Heidenreich. Over the ensuing years the two have formed a complementary working relationship, with Bowers commissioning Heidenreich, who is a master thrower of ceramics formed on the potter’s wheel, to provide the blanks for him to decorate.

Bowers is a virtuoso exponent of hand-painted, multi-fired underglaze decoration, displaying great expertise in handling layers of colour, glaze and lustre. His large plates and vases are lavishly embellished with his distinctive interpretation of blue willow pattern references, cockatoos and Australian flora, set against a montage on intricate patterns and idiosyncratic imagery.

As Head of the Ceramics Studio from 1990 to 1999, he left his mark through facilitating a range of innovative projects. These included public artworks, a jigger-jolly production workshop, the CADCeram Industrial Ceramics project and the partnership with Ernabella. He changed the model for the studio’s operations, forming a production team to create his successful Andamooka product range for retail and wholesale, and enabling Associates to work on their own projects or contribute to the studio range. Bowers returned to JamFactory as Managing Director from 2004-2010.

Neville Assad-Salha

Creative Director: 1999-2003

Associates: Marie Littlewood, Kylie Duncan, Karen Warburton, Vicki Xiros, Judy Griffith, Lee Marshall, Peter Ward, Jane Burbidge, Honor Freeman, Tracey Rosser, Zoe Warburton, Peter Anderson, and Alison Arnold.

Neville Assad-Salha has been working with clay for fifty years. As well as heading the JamFactory Ceramics Studio he was was Head of Ceramics at the Victorian College of the Arts, the Adelaide College of Arts, and Professor of Fine Arts at the American University of Beirut, where he continues to teach each year. At its heart, Assad-Salha’s ceramic works reference these cross-cultural identities. Under Assad-Salha’s creative direction, JamFactory Ceramic Associates were encouraged to maintain and develop their own practice while keeping the studio up and running. During this period there was a distinct and renewed interest in reduction firing that had a trickle-down effect towards the broader ceramics community

Phillip Hart, *Unspecified Object #1,* hand-built terracotta, underglaze colours, slips, in-situ, 2023, Photographer: Connor Patterson

Philip Hart

Creative Director: 2006-2007

Associates: Jane Robertson, Isabella Niven, Charmain Hearder, John Coleman, Maria Parmenter, John Colman, Stephanie James-Manttan, and Erin Lykos.

Phil Hart has been working with clay and making pottery in Adelaide for over 30 years, producing decorative functional works and hand-built sculptural pieces. Hart, who was a trainee under Bronwyn Kemp in the 1980s, contributed greatly to the JamFactory Ceramics Studio over the years as Studio Technician and then Creative Director. More recently, he has lectured part-time at Adelaide College of the Arts and the University of SA. Those who trained in the Ceramics Studio during his tenure keenly felt Hart’s practical, no-nonsense approach, enthusiasm and knowledge of all things ceramics.

Hart’s own practice mainly incorporates earthenware to explore “the big ideas, and nothing at all”. His decal-laden funk-inspired objects display Hart’s deft hand-skills and playful brushwork.

Robin Best

Creative Director: 2008-2010

Associates: Stephanie James-Manttan, Erin Lykos, Tamara Hahn, Suzanne Gregor, Susan Frost, Maria Chatzinikolaki, and James Edwards.

Robin Best, although not featured in this exhibition, as Creative Director she was instrumental in the establishment of the ceramics studio at Ernabella Arts as well at the pilot program in the ceramics studio of Central Craft, Alice Springs.

Prue Venables

Creative Director: 2010-2012

Associates: Maria Chatzinikolaki, James Edwards, Wayne McAra, Sophia Philips, Hilary Jones, Alison Smiles, and Ulrica Trulsson.

Venables’ first formal engagement with JamFactory was in 1993, when she exhibited in Gallery One with acclaimed Japanese ceramic artist Takeshi Yasuda. Interaction through other exhibitions and invitations to conduct workshops ultimately led to Venables applying for the Creative Director’s role in 2010. One of the Ceramics Studio’s most significant achievements under Venables’ leadership was the completion of a commission for 1,000 hand-thrown bowls for a major event in Port Willunga. This project was valuable in bringing a strong sense of community back to the Studio, with many potters contracted to assist in production. Venables, who is now based in NSW, is renowned for her refined Limoges porcelain vessels, sculptures and installations, which are studies in space and volume within form.

Damon Moon

Creative Director: 2013 -2018

Associates: Ulrica Trulsson, Jordan Gower, Maddie McDade, Connie Augoustinos, Ebony Heidenreich, Ashlee Hopkins, Kerryn Levy, and Hannah Vorrath-Pajak

Damon Moon is a second-generation potter based in Victoria. He is the son of well-known Australian potter Milton Moon AM. Over the past four decades he has worked in many capacities within the arts, as a writer and researcher, curator, teacher and maker. Ceramics has remained a constant presence in his life. His slip-cast Skittles, developed during his tenure as JamFactory Ceramics Studio Creative Director were designed in response to the works of English potter Robert Washington of the 1970s. His design, prototype and implementation of the Thrown production range of JamFactory tableware endures as Moon’s greatest legacy during his time at JamFactory.

Stephanie James-Manttan

Studio Head: 2019-

Associates: Hannah Vorrath-Pajak, Xanthe Murphy, Michael Carney, Sam Gold, Mirjana Dobson, Eloise White, Lauren Murphy, Tom Summers, Holly Phillipson, Bridget Saville, Sophie Horvat, and Lotte Schwerdtfeger.

Current JamFactory Head of Ceramics Studio Stephanie James-Manttan was an Associate of JamFactory during Phil Hart’s Creative Direction of the Ceramics Studio. She creates intricately detailed sculptural porcelain forms, which challenge light and balance by transforming the hard visual exterior of clay to the soft, woven appearance of textiles. Inspired by the repetitive patterns in life, objects, art and nature, as well as the rhythmic patterns and organic materiality of Indigenous basket weaving, James-Manttan utilises her practice to explore the visual effect that mark-making has on porcelain. James Manttan works closely with JamFactory Creative Directors Daniel To and Emma Aiston to design and create a cohesive range of ceramic products as part of the jam (JamFactory Australian Made) collection.

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