canberra.

We're ready to drive back to Melbourne after the Australian Ceramics Triennale. Our week has been grand. Intense, sometimes stressful, often hilarious (and delirious) and exhausting! 

The Instagram treasure hunt, @Trienseek, was utterly hilarious - watching people scuttling around the ANU school of art clutching their smart phones, determined to take a pot home with them! Well done to Callum for finding my pourer. 

[Such a strange and lovely surprise to find myself peering out of the Journal of Australian Ceramics!]

[I assisted Adriana with some early morning sneakiness around the school of art to find hiding places]

[we *may* have felt a little excited after the hunt finished...]

It's been a week of meeting social media friends and seeing their pots in real life (IRL!)! A particular favourite is Melanie McEvoy (@melaniemcevoy), her hand-painted porcelain cups are charming. 

These teeny espresso cups came with me from the Isle of Man for a little secret suitcase sale. They're now travelling to new homes across the country!

[cutest market set-up ever? Yeah I think so.]

[aaaaaaaaand Adriana made frittole for us...]

There is so much to be learnt from these events, but mostly they remind me that all (or at least most) of us are self-conscious, insecure and highly critical of our work. Even the potters that seem like they're killing it and living the dream, they're all worrying whether their work is good enough. It's grounding to be reminded of this and it levels the playing field somewhat. We all need to give ourselves a break and quit the internal bullying!

Saturday was a real highlight for the talks, which were all focussed on making money. Mike Goldmark of Goldmark Gallery gave a stirring keynote speech with an emphasis on selling real, functional pots to be used in daily life. Mike must have received around seven rounds of applause during his 45 minute talk! We liked him a lot. Other favourite speakers were Carole Epp, Ben Carter and Fred Olsen. The closing presentation from Vipoo Srivilasa, Kenji Uranishi and Kirsten Coelho on residencies in Arita, Japan was also incredible inspiring. 

Thank you to the Isle of Man Arts Council for the grant to cover my conference fee, it's wonderful to be here and represent our wee island! I still feel such a part of this community even though I've been gone for over 2 years.