Hedley Potts has been working in ceramics for more than half a century, having enrolled at RMIT School of Art in 1960. The state of clay has changed dramatically over that period so that currently a wide range of individual approaches to ceramics is ever expanding across the globe. Hedley has been part of that experimental voyage that took the broader art school training into the pottery studio to explore unlimited expressions available with clay. He still respects and uses the art of the potter and makes vessels and some functional ware at times. But over the last quarter century his work has become much more dependent on drawing in and with the clay to pursue figurative narratives, often exploring socio-political content while continuing to use the broad skills of the potter to develop and enrich the work.
Le déjeuner sur la plage avec Édouard et Suzanne, et Léon désintéressé. 2013. 40 H x 28 W. Detail of Diptych: The Brighton Beach You Yangs. After our tree-change to Gippsland in 1972, the sea-change to Bayside in 1994 made a different impact.