Three of the Moree Arts Community Centre’s potters, from left, Candice Paton, Jenny Elsley and Sandra O’Loughlin, at the group’s Gosport Street studio, where the third anniversary exhibition opens on 13 November. Photo: Moree Online News.
Jenny Elsley joined the Moree Arts Community Centre hoping to learn painting. Three years later, she spends much of her time making pottery, and her work will be among the pieces on display when the centre celebrates its third birthday in November.
Moree Arts Community Centre Incorporated (MACCI) will mark the milestone with Three Years: Our Evolving Journey, an exhibition opening on Friday 13 November from 6pm to 8pm. The exhibition will feature pottery and other work created by members, with pieces available to buy and proceeds going back into the volunteer-run centre. Entry is a gold coin donation, and workshops and an open studio are also planned throughout the weekend.
For Jenny, the exhibition is a chance to see how much has changed since she first walked through the door. The painting classes she had hoped to attend never got started, so someone suggested pottery instead. She was still finding her feet when the centre held its first anniversary exhibition and didn’t feel she had anything worth showing.
By the second year, she could see some improvement. Now, with another exhibition approaching, she’s rather more confident about what she can make. “We’re starting to get something that’s, you know, reasonable,” she said.
MACCI operates from a corrugated iron shed at 397 Gosport Street, which Moree locals Peter and Jenni Birch let the group use. Inside are three pottery wheels, two kilns, a slab roller and shelves crowded with work in various stages of completion.
The floor has seen its share of spilled clay, but Sandra O’Loughlin considers that one of the building’s advantages. “It’s got a lot of character and we don’t have to panic if we spill something on the floor,” she said. Jenny had another reason to appreciate the arrangement: “But the price is right.”
The centre was established in November 2023 by director Dr Moj Habibi and has grown to about 25 active members. Nobody is paid to keep it running, with volunteers looking after the studio and organising activities.
Not everyone who comes through the door wants to make the same things. Candice Paton prefers working with slabs of clay and shaping pieces by hand rather than using a pottery wheel. Sandra makes plates, platters and little gnomes using the slab roller and cutters.
Jenny has been experimenting with plaster moulds, which are filled with liquid clay. The plaster draws moisture out of the clay until a layer forms against the mould, creating a hollow piece. Having learnt to make individual pieces, she’s now working out how to join them together into something new.
The pottery wheels offer another challenge. Getting a lump of spinning clay centred and pulling it into shape takes practice, and with only three wheels available, classes are kept small.
Even after a piece has been shaped, there’s plenty of waiting involved. The clay must dry before its first firing in the kiln. After that comes glazing and another firing, with each kiln cycle taking up to four days once cooling is included. The centre has a small and a large kiln, which are fired when there’s enough work to fill them.
Mistakes are part of learning. Unfired clay that cracks or doesn’t turn out as intended can be reclaimed and used again.
Sustainability is important to the group, which tries to reuse materials wherever possible. Bubble wrap from a local furniture store and a cotton farm protects finished pottery, while empty yoghurt containers are put to work around the studio. Pottery also uses a lot of water, and members are looking at ways to collect and recycle the water they use.
Over the past three years, members have exhibited at the Bank Art Museum Moree, Ceramic Break at Warialda and Newcastle University Galleries. The Newcastle exhibition included work by five MACCI members.
Back in Moree, the centre continues to attract people keen to learn something new or develop skills they already have. Newcomers can attend two casual sessions for $15 each before deciding whether to join. Annual membership costs $150, or $75 for pensioners, and gives members access to the studio’s equipment and facilities. Clay can be purchased at cost.
Regular studio sessions are held on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10.15am to 1pm, and Sundays from 10am to 1pm. Group workshops can also be arranged.
For the anniversary weekend, visitors will be able to see the work members have produced and take a closer look at the studio where it was made. Workshop times will be announced through MACCI’s Facebook page.
Jenny is already thinking about the exhibition as an opportunity for people to take home something handmade. “And it’s close to Christmas, so buy your Christmas presents too.”
The exhibition opens at 397 Gosport Street, Moree, on Friday 13 November, from 6pm to 8pm. For workshop enquiries, email [email protected].
