Clay Gulgong 2024

Here’s to another fantastic and inspiring Clay Gulgong! 

Keane Ceramics have been taking part in the festival for many years, and we’re always excited to come back. We love being able to connect with the pottery community in this very personal way; catching up with old friends and colleagues, chatting to the wonderful customers who use our clays, and meeting the amazing artists who travel to Gulgong from all over the world.

This year we were thrilled to be sponsoring some truly incredible artists by supplying Keane clay for their demonstrations and workshops. 

It was a privilege to see Australian legend Ted Secombe using Keane's Porcelain to demonstrate how he throws his signature forms. Shiyuan Xu worked with Mid Fire Lumina, detailing her process of adding paper pulp to the clay in order to craft her jaw-droppingly intricate porcelain sculptures. And what an absolute joy to watch Tim See throwing with our Stoneware 7 and introducing the colourful characters that feature in his work - we love Bunny Foo Foo! Naidee Changmoh blew us away with the huge sculpture he built in one day, using a whopping 10 bags of Special K. 

There were some stunning pieces on show at the World Stage, an exhibition celebrating emerging ceramic artists in Australia. We loved spotting some Keane clays in the mix - seeing our clay transformed into these beautiful works of art is really what drives us and keeps us excited to be in the business of making clay.

We are also proud to have sponsored the Teacher’s Day, with some of Australia’s leading ceramic artists using Keane clays to inspire educators working with clay. Ebony Russell demonstrated her signature piping technique using Keane’s Terracotta, Fleur Schell used a combination of our mid fire clays for her fantastical creatures, and Simone Fraser chose White Raku for her handbuilt vessels. It was uplifting to see the huge crowd that had gathered to watch these demos, leaving us confident that the future of ceramics education is looking bright.

Of course we have to mention Keith Brymer Jones hosting the ThrowDownUnder, with contestants using our Stoneware 5B throughout challenges that tested their throwing skills. Keith’s charm and enthusiasm for pottery is infectious, and we hope he’ll be back next time - we sure will be!