Ontologies of Touch - IAC Oceania members' exhibition, Jingdezhen.

Changnanli Grand Bowl Art Museum, Jingdezhen, China. The exhibition showcased the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) Oceania members and was presented in association with the 52nd IAC Congress and General Assembly, Inheritance and Innovation.

"The exhibition, 'Ontologies of Touch', explores the tactile, relational nature of ceramics, where touch becomes a way of knowing and clay is understood as an active agent in the co-creation of meaning and form. Rooted in the philosophical underpinnings of new materialism this exhibition explores the idea that knowledge, identity, and meaning emerge not solely through language or representation, but through tactile, material engagement with the world.

Clay—earthbound, elemental, responsive—becomes more than a medium; it is a thinking partner, a surface of encounter, and a site of resistance and resonance. Each work is a record of embodied negotiation, a moment where matter and maker are mutually transformed. Through touch, gesture, and process, the artists engage with clay as a vibrant actor in its own right—pressing, collapsing, hardening, cracking, holding memory, and defying certainty."

IAC Oceania member, Sally Walk.

This exhibition proposes that to touch is to know—and that clay, in its mutable vitality, offers a unique ontology: one that is not fixed, but fluid; not imposed, but discovered through relational practice. 'Ontologies of Touch' invites viewers into an intimate encounter with works that bear the marks of both intention and surrender, control and collaboration—reminding us that matter is never mute, and that the hand is always in dialogue with what it shapes.

The artists represent a region defined by its geographic vastness, cultural diversity, and deep relationship with land and material. Oceania is home to a multicultural society shaped by communities of global heritage, informed by generations of exchange. It is a place where colour, history, and place intersect with lived experience, and where artistic practices are nourished by knowledge systems from across the world.

The ceramics presented in this exhibition are infused with the sensibilities of this rich cultural terrain. They carry with them not only the voices of individual makers but the textures, stories, and resonances of a region that draws inspiration from many sources—natural, historical, and intercultural.

Left to Right:

Simone Fraser. Title: Anemone Series. For Simone, to touch clay is to engage in a dialogue with earth itself. The vessel becomes a holding of timeless tradition. Sally Walk. Title: Obsessive. Sally’s sculptures – inspired by form, textures and patterns of coastal marine creatures – take a playful approach. Moraig McKenna. Moraig uses fire to reveal and obscure, creating a dynamic interplay between presence and absence.

Left to Right:

Greg Daly. Title: Line of sight. Greg, a master in glaze technology, uses this skill to distill the beauty of landscape in his work. Cathy Franzi. Title: After the Wildfires. Cathy invites contemplation of the impact of bush-fires, the wildfires that are present in increasing intensity throughout Australia’s summers.

Left to Right:

Ruth Ju-Shih Li. Title: White Fruit XII. Ruth uses fire to loose control, embracing risk and vulnerability, enabling the work to become a co-creation. Graham Hay. Title: Nest. Graham draws inspiration from mud-dauber wasps, exploring paper clay as a living medium.

Left to Right:

Ian Jones. Title: Wood-fire Jar. Ian, master wood-firer, transform feelings and ideas that are not intellectually touchable into objects that allow an expression of those feelings. Bernard Kerr. Title: Qi Series. Bernard’s work embodies the beautiful translucency of clay and glaze mastered by Chinese master craftsman.

Left to Right:

Elena Renker. Elena surrenders her work to fire, flames, heat and ash, her making processes embracing the conscious and unconscious. Jane Sawyer. Title: Collapse-Renew. Listening to messages from the land through millions of years of weathering processes and dynamic movement, Jane’s work embraces touch as her language.

Left to Right:

Avi Amesbury. Title: Bleached and Broken. Avi’s work looks at the impact of climate change on Australia’s coral reefs. Jane Bamford. Title: Spotted handfish habitat. Jane’s ceramic practice centres around collaborating with scientist and researchers to create solutions for habitat and threatened species loss.

The artwork of Bernard Kerr, Simone Fraser, Jane Sawyer, Avi Amesbury, Moraig McKenna, Ian Jones, Elena Renker, Jane Bamford, Graham Hay, Greg Daly, and Jane Sawyer was collected by the Changnanli Grand Bowl Art Museum.

Avi Amesbury

August 2026

International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) Representative for Oceania (2024-2030).

Curator.