Gallery
From Earth Through Fire — Group Exhibition Contemporary Ceramics in Australia
July 26 to August 24th, 2025
Discover diverse works that honor art history, embrace playfulness, and bridge East and West. Indulge in sculptural chocolates crafted for the occasion!
The exhibition showcases the diverse practices of emerging and established ceramic artists based in Australia. Exhibiting artists include Grace Brown, Jess Eun, Alexandra Howie, Danielle Thiris, Martyn Thompson, Sally Kent, Madelyn McKenzie, Grace Rokesky, Naru kubota, Heidi Kwong.
Where: R L Foote Design Studio,
1 Parslow St, Clifton Hill, VIC
Exhibition Opening: Jul 26th, 1pm-4pm
Experience the transformative power of ceramics!
Grace Brown
Grace Brown of Oh Hey Grace is a ceramic artist living and working in Castlemaine on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Drawing inspiration from lost cities, dislocated civilizations, and science fiction, her work aims to transport viewers to otherworldly spaces. Using a combination of wheel throwing and hand-building techniques, her sculptures invite playful interaction, blending art with mindfulness in everyday life.
Jess Eun
Jess sees each piece as a time capsule of her creative journey, allowing the work to evolve organically alongside her and foster a sense of authenticity and deep personal connection. Her vessels often blur the boundaries between art and function, offering a new perspective on everyday objects and how they can hold space — emotionally, physically, and aesthetically.
Alexandra Howie
The sculpted vessels by Alexandra Howie are of her burgeoning practice bring forth what lies hidden within – allowing the intangible to take physical form. Archetypal forms are meticulously sculpted to render them as if swathed in folds of fabric and wet drapery. Howie’s distinctive work resonates with both tradition and innovation, integrating rich historical references with intimations of culture and ritual.
Danielle Thiris
Danielle’s hybrid forms evoke the past while remaining contemporary, sitting between the ritualistic and the playful. The work invites contemplation, challenging the spaces between historical and modern, functional and sculptural, connection and separation.
Martyn Thompson
Martyn Thompson is one of the artists that have been creating his beautiful works in the R L Foote Design Studio. As an artist he embraces an aesthetic defined by the touch of the hand.
These three pieces have been produced with RL Foote Design studio. They are an exploration of shape and patina. He likes to think they may have been uncovered in an archealogical find or amogst sunken treasures.
Sally Kent
Sally Kent is a contemporary Australian ceramicist, working predominantly with hand-built porcelain. She has exhibited widely, including most recently
at the National Gallery of Victoria in Art of Bloom. Kent was a finalist in the Victorian Craft Awards and the Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize. Dark Flower Pods was Highly Commended in the 2020 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.
Madelyn McKenzie
Madelyn McKenzie is an emerging artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at RMIT University Madelyn’s feminist perspective shapes her exploration of girlhood and identity, drawing on her personal memories of growing up. Her work is inspired by the decorative arts, in particular wrought iron from the Victorian era and the repetitive line and patterns of the Baroque Era. Paperclay, subtle glazes and skilled hand building techniques allow Madelyn to create large complex structures which challenge the nature of ceramic production.
Grace Rokesky
Grace is one of our artists in residence at @rlfootedesignstudio. The work, Untitled, was inspired by her enchantment by the haunting beauty of the undulating landscape of disused quarries that replaced the native heathlands of her ancestral homelands in Upper Lusatia (Saxony, Germany). The industrialisation of Lusatia in the 1950’s saw native Sorbian land destroyed and many Sorbian peoples displaced in order to create large open-cast lignite mines. This has led to an acceleration in the decline of Sorbian culture and language, and has extensively damaged Upper Lusatia’s biodiverse ecosystems.
Naru Kubota
Naru Kubota is a Melbourne based artist who sculpted figurines capture rare, expressive body language—moments that feel like dreams made solid. Her work aims to delight you, pleasure you and tickle your imagination.
Heidi Kwong
Heidi is one of our Artists in Residence @rlfootedesignstudio who graduated from RMIT. Her works, Linger (I) , (II) , and (III) reflect a slow, intuitive process of hand-building and repair. Each form began as a vessel but shifted through the making — stretching, yielding, and settling into its own shape. Fractures are gently held, not erased, becoming part of the form’s memory. The process unfolded as a quiet exchange — a pause, a response, a subtle adjustment — where the material was allowed to lead. What changed was not cast aside but held with care, allowed to remain in a new form. These pieces rest between strength and softness, shaped by time, pressure, and pause.
Where: R L Foote Design Studio,
1 Parslow St, Clifton Hill, VIC
Exhibition Opening: Jul 26th, 1pm-4pm
and running from
Jul 26th to aug 24th
10am -4pm
Experience the transformative power of ceramics!