Welcome
Woodfired pottery, for home, hand, heart and table. Each piece meticulously crafted to bring wonder, joy and beauty to your everyday.
Upcoming Workshops in Australia! Anagama Workshop at Cooroy anagama - SOLD OUT
”Not Down with Round” Brisbane Institute of Art!
“Cohorts Down Under” with Ann Marie Cooper
“One Day MasterClass” 1 Spot Left At Sandy Lockwood’s Balmoral Studio.
Not Down With Round: Presented by Simon Levin
September 4th
In this one-day demo workshop Simon Levin will introduce techniques that will change the way you think about throwing on the wheel. The truth is that the wheel is just another hand-building tool. What might you make if you thought more openly and freely about this wonderful tool?
Brisbane Institute of Art : 41 Grafton Street, Windsor, QLD, 4030
Ceramx Studio
1 Winderadeen Court, Nerang, Gold Coast Qld 4211
1-DAY MASTERCLASS WITH SIMON LEVIN FROM USA
At SANDY LOCKWOOD’S Balmoral Pottery Studio in the Southern Highlands New South Wales.
Saturday, September 14th
10am to 4 pm
I am really excited about this one. Sandy is an old friend. We built a kiln in East Timor back in 2003. It will be a treat to be in her space and meet her larger community. I am also thrilled that Sandy Will be joining Cohorts.Art as a mentor in 2025.
Discussions around making for wood-fire, textures, throwing techniques and finding your voice will be rich and accompanied by playful demos that will change the way you work in your studio.
Artaxis
Simon’s Artaxis Profile
I’ve recently updated my Artaxis profile with a selection of recent pots - you can find links here to my articles and an up-to-date resume.
“Earth, water, fire, and wind harnessed to make uniquely beautiful objects.”
I love the primal aspect of being a wood fire potter, primal in the sense that everything I work with, clay, water, brick, fire, wood, are all known and easily accessible. The pots I make are not special because I am using anything rare to make them, they are one-of-a-kind pieces because they are made in a system that embraces variation and exploration. Each piece I make is a culmination of all the work I have done before this, I am one of those constantly changing variables in my process.
There is no simple way to help you envision wood firing, the complex process has dominated my life for 30 years. The kilns are custom-built, they are big enough to walk or crawl in. The fire temperatures are hot enough to melt wood ash, turning it into glass. The firings take days of round-the-clock tending to achieve and hold temperature. The pots I make are selected for their reactivity to flame and ash, each has its own color palette to be evoked. And after the firing we hand sand each piece so the surfaces are both visually and tactilly lush.
Shop the Store
Cohorts.Art
We continue to grow. In 2024 we will have 7 mentors, 40 students, and 1 fantastic manager.
Small Batch Mentorship progam to help you level up your art.
Apprenticeships
In 2004 we started an apprenticeship program at Mill Creek Pottery with the idea of creating a symbiotic experience. In many ways, I designed the program to offer the experience I would have liked to have had when I was trying to find my voice in clay. Today in the United States apprenticeships in the studio arts have become a vibrant educational avenue in arts education.
The apprentices play a vital role in the success of the pottery allowing for more opportunities to travel, create and learn. Over the years my program has grown along with my business and now I generally have two apprentices at a time.
The apprenticeship is an intense relationship, I am looking for young people to invest in, and who are committed to the field of ceramics.
As of 2023 I have had the pleasure to work with 24 apprentices.
Ailddehongliad direidus o draddodiadau crochenwaith cefn gwlad Brydeinig - is Welsh for “a mischievous reimagining of British country pottery traditions”
A native Welsh speaker, the next Mill Creek Apprentice is Elin Hughes. Elin is a go-getter, well-trained in ceramics with a BA (Hons) in Ceramics from the Cardiff School of Art and Design in 2019. Looking to gain a deeper understanding of woodfiring, Elin assisted at the Intimate Anagama Workshop in 2022 and went on to do a residency at Guldagergaard in Denmark.
Elin will start her time here at Mill Creek Pottery in February of 2023. Partially funded by a grant from the Arts Council of Wales, both Elin and I are looking forward to her being deeply entrenched in the studio, and burning a lot of kilns.
In addition to her interest in becoming an educator, and bringing knowlege back to Wales, Elin says “I am intrinsically motivated to communicate something fundamental about my experience of being human through clay.”
Hope you follow Elin on her Journey @ElinHughesCeramics on Instagram!