Mason Reed

I first discovered pottery through stumbling across wheel throwing videos of Korean and Japanese potters on Instagram. They could produce such fine and large work on the wheel it inspired me enough to try a class and I took a 10-week course with Linda de Toma at Clay Dreamers in Eltham. The initial interest was in wheel throwing but as I got deeper into the craft I discovered the chemistry behind pottery, this what really got me hooked. A lot of chemistry goes into the process of turning soil into something as basic as a cup. I spent a lot of time researching soil types, geology, glass and glaze chemistry to better understand how the materials in nature around us can become functional pieces of tableware or sculptural pieces.

I’m currently researching the development of glazes and clay bodies made from entirely collected materials found around Victoria. Recently, I have been using clay from Kinglake and Philip Island for a lot of my work and have collected materials such as granite, basalt, calcite and wood ash which can all be used to create functional glazes. Currently, I have made pieces with around 90% foraged materials but I intend to further develop my glazes so that pieces can be made entirely from foraged materials. To expand on this glaze research I plan on building a gas kiln in the coming months. In a gas kiln the different oxygen environment will allow me to achieve better colour and texture of both glazes and clay bodies which are unattainable in an electric kiln. If the construction of the gas kiln goes to plan I hope to develop a more defined style to my work based on foraged local materials, particularly with Kinglake clay and wood ash of native trees.

Makerspace: 6 McMahons Rd Kinglake

CONTACT

0426919085

Insta: @stof.ceramic