TEACHERS
SOPHIE MORAN
20 years' experience
Sophie is a Melbourne-based potter who creates collections of stoneware and porcelain tableware from her private studio in Collingwood.
Her primary intent is to make quiet, minimal vessels that return significance to household objects and can be handled, used and enjoyed daily. Creating wares that inhabit diverse domestic environments in a multi-cultural community is another concern of Sophie's practice. She pays considered attention to the variety and presentation of home cooked meals, creating pieces that find completion with use and become silent members of family life.
Her slow pace of making and keen attention to detail results in unique pieces that offer a deliberate counterpoint to the mass-produced wares of today.
COLIN HOPKINS
15 years' experience
Colin is a Melbourne-based ceramic artist. His work contains fragments from his past as a practicing architect and performing jazz pianist and he continues to find parallels between the three disciplines.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Music) from the Victorian College of the Arts (1984), Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Planning and Design from The University of Melbourne (1991) and Diploma of Arts (Ceramics) form Box Hill Institute of TAFE (2008).
Colin's awards include the Nell Norris and The Stevenson and Turner Architecture prizes from the University of Melbourne, and he was the recipient of The Australia Council’s Artstart Grant in 2010.
He has studied under ceramicists Shane Kent, Phil Elson and Malcolm Greenwood and travels regularly to Japan.
ILONA TOPOLCSANYI
15 years' experience
A Melbourne-based potter, Ilona initially completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Chinese Medicine) at Victoria University (2000) before embarking on ceramics-based studies at Box Hill Institute of TAFE, completing a Diploma of Arts, Ceramics (2008). During this time she also completed a skills development artist residency at the International Ceramic Centre in Keshkemet, Hungary.
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Ilona has made tableware for many of Australia’s critically acclaimed restaurants including Brae (VIC), Aria (NSW) and QGOMA (QLD).
Her latest venture is a collaboration with the iconic Bendigo Pottery, where she has developed ‘The Good Plate’ range that also contributes to training refugees in the hospitality industry.
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Her work has been included in various exhibitions including C3, The Convent Gallery and The Australian Design Centre National Touring Exhibition. She has recently been the recipient of Delicious Magazine’s Design Excellence Award.
KEIKO MATSUI
20 years' experience
Keiko moved to Australia in 1999 from Japan and completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) degree in 2006 at the National Art School in Sydney.
She has been teaching ceramics for adults and children in Sydney since 2007, including porcelain technique courses at Hornsby TAFE, NSW. Keiko's way of teaching is student focused, she observes each students' needs and teaches them individually with her Osakan sense of humour and smile.
Keiko is now based in Melbourne, and works from her studio at Montsalvat – an artist colony in Eltham, Victoria, which was established by Justus Jörgensen in 1934.
She had her first solo exhibition at Sturt Gallery in Mittagong in 2012 after exhibiting many group shows since 2003. Keiko's recent achievements include the Gosford Art Prize (Winner in Ceramics, 2014, 2012 and 2018), Vitrify Alcorso Ceramic Award (Finalist, 2013), John Fries Memorial Award (Finalist, 2011) Small Art Object Prize in Vallauris, France (Winner, 2009) and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (viewer’s choice award, 2008).
KATE JONES
14 years' experience
Kate is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist with a practice grounded in clay. She completed a Diploma of Visual Arts at Box Hill TAFE in 2011, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with honours at RMIT in 2014.
Kate was taught by potters trained in Japan, leading to an abiding love of the thrown pot and a deep respect for ceramic traditions. Her exhibition work largely centres on handbuilt forms that speak more directly to the language of western art. She is driven by the possibilities of playing with both of these threads, weaving them together with local materials into a personal vocabulary.
Kate was awarded the Trudie Alfred Bequest Ceramic Scholarship in 2013, the Craft Victoria Fresh award in 2014 and the Victorian Craft Award for ceramics in 2015.
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She is currently President of The Australian Ceramics Association.
ROB O'NEILL
6 years' experience
Rob is a ceramic artist creating small batch, functional and sculptural pieces from his Melbourne studio.
His work is raw and rustic in nature with a focus on bold texture on both handbuilt and wheel-thrown creations.
Rob loves the meditative and mindful nature of ceramics and as a coffee enthusiast enjoys creating hand-pinched cups and mugs, among other larger-scale forms.
PARKER LEV DUPAIN
6 years' experience
Parker is a visual artist whose practice spans ceramics, sculpture, and video. Their work considers prevailing ideologies of the act art making, the ‘Artist’ persona and critiques the interplay between these ideas and the mundanity of everyday.
Parker’s ceramic work includes considered, thrown tableware that draws on the history of ceramics in domestic contexts and experimental sculptural forms that push the limits of the material. With a background in Education, Parker is an experienced facilitator and enjoys teaching groups with ranging experiences, learning styles and goals within their making. Parker is currently studying a Bachelor of Fine Art at VCA (Sculpture).
