Rod and Gabi VS The Pottery Wheel BONUS

If you love handmade pottery and ceramics you don’t want to miss the PottersPopup in Gundaroo Sunday the 4th and 11th of May.

There will also be pizza, coffee and other treats available so pop along and see some beautiful pieces of art at 24 Cork St Gundaroo.

Rod and Gabi caught up with Ceramic Artists Emily Kerr and Lee Nelms to view some of their gorgeous creations and to find out if the movie Ghost is blacklisted in pottery circles.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think all of us when we were little, you know,
did pottery as part of art, and then for gen
X's and Jen wise perhaps left pottery for a little while.
And then there was this resurgeon of interest fueled by
ghosts of the film and that fantastic pottery wheel scene.
And I don't know whether or not actual potters.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Even like well, we said that is this going to
be offensive to bring this up? And we're gonna find out.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We're going to find out indeed, because we have two
extraordinary potters, Emily Kerr and Lee Nelms are joining us now.
Emily and Lee, Hello, Hello, good morning. Do you even
like talking about have you seen it anytime recently?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Let's not talk about how long ago it was that
I saw film. Needless to say, I prefer I prefer
to pot alone.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
Patrick Swayzey behind you.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I feel like it would be more like emotional support
rather than getting physically involved.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
A lot of people overlook that Patrick Swayzey came in
and really into perfectly good pot exactly. So that's yeah,
I can understand why solo potting Emily is a good idea.
I mean to get to this level of skill because
it is extraordinary. We have all tried with a pottery
wheel a lot of us once and go oh oh
that requires.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Oh it was hard.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yes, effort and focus and time and trying, like any
skill that you develop. How long have you been doing
this for?

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Probably for about a decade, but in a more focused
sort of way for the last couple of years. So
my main type of pottery is, as you say, at
the wheel, and that does require quite a lot of
time and sort of the zen attention to having a
bit of time to actually sit down and really focus
on it. So last couple of years I've had a

(01:44):
bit more space to do that, so it's been great.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
We did do pottery in primary school often for Mother's
Day presence back maybe when I was a kid, not
so much, but when my sisters were kids, they'd make
aush trace.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
That's not so much a thing anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
But like I made a mug for Mum for Mother's Day,
this pop up is happening on Mother's Day. So kids
that have brought home pottery for Mother's Day, should they
be going along to see where this could go, like
compare their mug with your works?

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
And as Rod was saying, at the beginning kids of
any ages. So what you described before about having an
early sort of experience with playing around with clay and
then having a big break and coming back to it,
that's one hundred percent my experience, right. So even if
you're you know, grown up kid and thinking about, you know,
what's something really special that we can get for mum,

(02:37):
or you know, can I inspire my own kids?

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Just still have things you made for mom back in
the day.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
PRICE have a couple of small turtles, yes, which have
somehow survived.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Are they in the blue like the blue green that
everyone put I would say.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
They're more of a sort of eighties brown.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, Emily the word before zen and I just to me,
I love the sound of this. Is it? Is it
good for the soul?

Speaker 5 (03:07):
It absolutely is. I find a lot of the time
and I'm potting, I'm not even really thinking your body
is your body is doing something sometimes that you're not
even aware of. So give be on the wheel making things,
and suddenly I realized, oh my gosh, is that what
you are? You know, they turn into their own thing
and you can get into like a meditative state as well.
I do, where you have flashbacks of different memories while

(03:31):
you're doing this thing with your body. It's it's wonderful.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
I really love it, and you've been very therapy. It
is absolutely it.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Does sound therapeutic, and I love the sound of that.
You're very kindly brought in some of your pieces. I
wonder if you wouldn't mind, can we have a look?
This would be incredible. Now obviously they're wrapped up very
carefully reveal. I heard a clink, Emily, what what have
you brought in for?

Speaker 3 (03:57):
I have the handbag that you will always win the handbag.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Fight with a porcelain bag.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
So this piece, the top part of this piece, I
threw again on the wheel as a big cylinder, and
then I sort of manipulated it because this plane circle
is not always what you want. So I made it
more into a sort of an organic shape, and then
added a base to it, and then again, after it
was quite dry, I've used a little hand tool to
carve a pattern into the surface of that pot. And

(04:29):
then it's got a lot more color in it, and.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
I imagine you could use that.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Do you want to you? I would take this to
an event, for sure.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
I was going to ask if anyone would be ambitious
enough to use it as an actual bag. Gabby has
skipped ahead and said, I'm there. I'll hold this for
one moment.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Oh my goodness it is again, it's quite heavy.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
It's going to run away on you.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
I saw Emily flinch when you handed that to me, like,
don't drop it, mate, very beautiful.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Imagine putting that on the table at a ball and
you're just like.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
Right here again.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
You're also making it a really nervous So you can
give that back and do not miss out because you
can go and see Emily and Lee and the remaining
sixteen Potters in Gundaroo twenty four. Cork Street Potters pop
up ten until three o'clock. It's at the St Mark's
Anglican Church and Cork Street Cafe.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
So we have a bit around the grounds outsidebulous.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
We won't miss you.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
No big signs, fantas.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
You're both so generous with your time and particularly to
bring this in and we didn't break.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Anything yet they've got to pack them up.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Hands back to you with two hands in just a moment. Emily,
and thank you against so much for the time, Thank
you so.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Much, lovely coming. Thank you