Suvira explains heat work during the firing process

We visited well-known ceramicist and sculptor Suvira McDonald who was gearing up for this weekend’s North Coast Mud Trail

Suvira’s studio in Goonengerry is set on a steep hill surrounded by rainforest. You wind down stairs to the circular, wooden studio which has big windows looking onto the sunny garden.

Suvira expects more than 400 art lovers through his doors during this weekend’s North Coast Mud Trail.

One of the many beautiful nooks in Suvira's studio

As one of the founding members of the Mud Trail in 2012, he’s thrilled the annual event has brought so much to the region. 

“When the Australian Ceramics Association said they wanted to do an open studio day across Australia, there were nine of us local potters who took part. We decided to promote ourselves collectively and it was an instant hit.

This year, more than 20 ceramic artists and sculptors are opening their studio doors for the Mud Trail which has you winding through the stunning scenery of the Byron hinterland.

“The increasing popularity of the Mud Trail really mirrors the huge surge in demand for the handmade.

“A few years ago, restaurants got sick of anonymous white plates. Now there is a strong dialogue between the potter and the chef in terms of how they want to present their food. It’s a similar story in the home, people are now much more likely now to have a handmade teapot or serving platter.

Suvira’s ceramics practice has a focus on domestic dinnerware as well as landscape interpretations and sculpture formed in low relief and free standing modalities.

The rough textures and earthy colours of Suvira's work

“Sculpture in low relief implies it’s a wall mounted concept, when it’s quite flattened whereas high relief is where there are protruding forms from the wall. However, as a sculpture it’s not like a painting, it has texture and undulation and the images protrude from the surface.

These pieces are reminiscent of an aerial view of the Australian landscape with its rugged shapes and earthy colours. Suvira begins work on a flat surface and then builds up the image before firing it in the kiln.

It is apparent Suvira enjoys the technical aspects of ceramics and the intricacies of construction, having been a teacher of ceramics and sculpture for 20 years at Southern Cross University. More recently, he has finished a long project involving the construction of a traditional anagama, Japanese-style wood fire kiln.

“Anagama in Japanese means excavated kiln. Traditionally the side of a hill was excavated and the kiln was built inside the hill and the earth was covered back over. When kilns heat up they expand and then when they cool they settle so unless the whole thing is compressed and held it will expand to a point of collapse.

“We’ve taken that kiln design and appropriated it in the West and have found other ways to contain the expansion with buttressing or metal frames," Suvira said. 

Suvira starts placing the pieces for firing at the back of the anagama and keeps placing items in until full. He will then light the wood fire and seal it up. To gauge the progress, Suvira uses little pyrometric cones  which measure ‘heat work’ - melting at a specific point and providing a more valuable indicator than a simple temperature reading.

Inside the Anagama - the brick walls on the inside are glazed from when the ash from the wood fire rises and melts on the wall  

Some of the results from this kiln were exhibited at ‘Smoke on the Water’ National Woodfire Conference 2017. His exhibition Vestigial Vessels was a solo showing of wood fired works at Makers Gallery Brisbane in 2018. Suvira also recently showcased his work at ‘Silhouette, the Body of Nature’ at Rochfort Gallery, North Sydney

Visit Studio Suvira this weekend at 3/300 Mafeking Rd, Goonengerry.

Mud Trail map.

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Looking for a reason to escape to the Hinterland? We've compiled the best events in the Northern Rivers for the rest of 2019. 

Contact us to add your event.

Weekly and Monthly Markets 

Every Friday - Mullum Farmers Market 7-11am Mullumbimby Showground

Every Saturday - Lismore Farmers Market 7-11am Lismore Showground

Every Saturday - Bangalow Farmers Market 7-11am Bangalow Hotel car park

1st Saturday - Brunswick Heads Markets 7-2pm Memorial Park

1st & 3rd Sunday Lismore car boot market 7-2pm Lismore Square car park

1st Sunday - Byron Bay Markets 8-2 Main Beach Foreshore

2nd & 5th Sunday - Lennox Markets 8-2pm Lennox Head Community Centre 

4th Sunday - Bangalow Market 9-3pm Bangalow Showground

Read our post on the top hinterland markets. 

AUGUST

2 – 4 Aug Byron Writers Festival

The annual Byron Writers Festival is Australia’s largest and leading regional celebration of storytelling, literature and ideas. More than 150 sessions are held during Festival Week attracting more than 12,000 people to the area. More info.

17 - 18 Aug North Coast Mud Trail – Open Studios

Once a year, as part of The Australian Ceramics Association’s Open Studios, Northern Rivers’ artists open their spaces to the public for one weekend only, giving the opportunity for visitors to see demonstrations, hear artists’ talks, participate in workshops, learn about their processes, and purchase ceramics directly from the artists themselves. Read More

SEPTEMBER

7 Sep Sample Food Festival 

Each year foodies from far and wide have the opportunity to “sample” the best food and beverage, Northern New South Wales has to offer. The region’s top restaurants compete for the coveted “Gold Fork” awards and collaborate on a special luncheon. It's on at the Bangalow Showground. $5 entry at the gate. Kids Free. Free Parking all day onsite. Read more

OCTOBER 

31 Oct - 3 Nov Byron Latin Fiesta

Enjoy 3 days and 4 nights of Latin dance workshops and parties with international, national and local instructors and performers. Catering to beginners and seasoned dancers alike, there is something for everyone at Australia's longest running Latin dance festival. Read more

12 - 13 Oct Byron Bay Guitar Festival 

The Byron Bay Guitar Festival celebrates all things guitar with the best guitarists and a weekend of performances, masterclasses and showcases. Held in the iconic Byron Bay Brewery, the BBGF has staged some of the best guitarists including Kevin Borich, Ash Grunwald, British India, Dallas Frasca, Lloyd Spiegel, Jeff Martin, Hussy Hicks, Tash Wolf and the late Phil Emmanuel. Read more

NOVEMBER  

10 - 11 Nov Mullumbimby Show 

They say it's the biggest little show in Australia, situtated at the beautiful Mullumbimby Showgrounds at the base of Mount Chincogan. Read more

14 - 17 Nov Mullum Music Festival

No gates. No big headlines. No VIP areas. Basically a no hassle street festival where artists and performers mingle and where shows are held in halls, clubs and pubs rather than tents. It's a great way to experience the vibrant village of Mullumbimby. More info.

DECEMBER 

24 Dec Bangalow Christmas Eve Carnival 

The Bangalow Christmas Eve Carnival is famous shire-wide. With street performers, food trucks, fair-ground rides and Christmas cheer in abundance, this is the most wonderful family-friendly event! Join in the festivities of this delightful community event held every Christmas Eve in the main street of Bangalow. Read more

Ahead of this weekend’s North Coast Mud Trail, we spoke to well-known local potter, Brooke Clunie about her passion for pottery and why she thinks there has been a resurgence in its popularity.

As we search for meaning in our fast-paced lives and face an increasingly uncertain world, the arts and crafts are making a huge comeback. Pottery, in particular, gives people a way to connect with what’s around them and use their hands to experience something not just decorative, but functional too.

Brooke Clunie is an artisan potter who specialises in wheel-thrown ceramics.

Her trade has taken her from an Arts degree, majoring in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Fine Art at Sydney University, to London and back to the Northern Rivers where she grew up.

“It was 25 years ago in the middle of a recession and a friend and I set up what became a successful pottery studio on the third floor of London’s Camden Market. We were in-between hammocks from South America and Lloyd, a Jamaican Rastafarian who played Mariah Carey non-stop,” Brooke laughed.

Upon returning to Sydney in the 90s, Brooke established her gallery, Red Door Studio, in Sydney’s Annandale before changing pace again and opening her destination-studio in the Byron hinterland.

The creative space acts as both a gallery and workspace where she offers different ceramic experiences to a burgeoning market.

Brooke has seen first-hand the growing trend among people wanting to connect through art and her pottery classes are a big hit with tourists and locals.

“There has always been a lot of potters on the north coast.

Brooke, originally from Lismore, remembers going to the Channon Craft Market as a child and eagerly seeking out the potters.

“Steve Sawkins was always at the Channon. He set up Northern Rivers Pottery Supplies more than 30 years ago and the business is still going strong. 

“For the past three years there has been an enthusiastic and intense interest in wanting to learn how to use the potter’s wheel and clay in general.

“Almost daily I receive emails and calls from people wanting to learn how to use the wheel or to gift a lesson to a friend or loved one.

“It’s definitely on trend. 

Brooke believes the food movement, where consumers seek a paddock-to-plate experience, has also helped create an interest in pottery.

“I believe it’s a natural progression from the food culture we have and also being 'mindful'.

“People are concerned with where their food is coming from, what it is served on and importantly how we consume more generally.

“What I try to achieve with my pottery is a grounding platform for the consumer to engage with the whole process of eating and drinking. 

“At a restaurant, a hand-made piece allows you time to contemplate and appreciate not only the food but the vessel it’s served in or on. 

The Byron Hinterland has long been a haven from creative types to practice their art, and the pottery community continues to grow steadily.

“There’s so many new potters in the area and the Mud Trail gets bigger and more popular each year. Lismore TAFE produces some really good potters with recent graduates doing extremely well.

“You also have the older potters, like myself, who have been doing it for a while and finding success too.

Brooke’s work can be seen in cafes across the country and she has built a large client base of return customers.

Closer to home, the award-winning restaurant, Harvest in Newrybar, is using her smaller serving pieces for their tasting plates, desserts, olives and breads. The almost minimalist look of her works provide the perfect base for the colourful, locally-sourced ingredients served at the restaurant. 

“I also sell my work in the Harvest Deli, the support from them has been really fantastic.

The Clunes Store also sells Brooke’s pieces, particularly the travel cups, which owners Brian and Karen are selling like hot cakes in the café and the store. 

Increasingly, Brooke believes that consumers are interested in seeing unique, beautiful pieces that are also functional.

“How it feels, the lip of a cup, how a teapot pours and a bowl performs, that’s what is important to me and the feedback that I’m getting is people like to hold and use my works.

As more and more people see the therapeutic benefits of time at the potter’s wheel and the interest in the age old art continues to grow, this week’s Mud Trail event promises to be bigger than ever.

“The Mud Trail is a fun way for people to see how a pottery studio operates and it’s an opportunity to see how creative the Northern Coast pottery community has become," Brooke said. 

The North Coast Mud Trail runs from 19-20 August and allows visitors to see demonstrations, hear artists talk and participate in various workshops. 

Make sure you drop in and see Brooke at Red Door Studio. Follow her work on Instagram - brookeclunie.

When local artist, Katka Adams and her husband Russell moved to Clunes in the 80s, they had no idea what to do with their 11 acres and little clue about their family connection to the region.   

“Russell’s grandfather, George Sharpe, had told us about time he’d spent in Bonalbo. He’d built a house from scratch and soon after Russell’s mum was born, they moved to Sydney,” Katka said.

“But it was only after we told George we’d bought in Clunes that we found out he was put on a train from Sydney to Eltham when he was a very young to become a farm hand at one of the new dairy’s.

“It was the early 1900s and when George’s father died young, his mum couldn’t make ends meet.

“He used to talk about how hard life was. He’d do the milking every morning barefoot because he had no shoes and he’d get frostbitten toes. When George was a bit older he got work clearing the Big Scrub.

“He called it “the scrub” like it was a menacing creature. It was something they had to get rid of so they could make way for the cows.

“He talked about clearing the land and using possum fur to keep warm. They would sew them into bedspreads and rugs to guard against the cold.

“George said they got so sick of eating eggs. Chickens were running wild and they’d lay wherever, so he’d come across these mountains of eggs in the bush,” she said.

In the 1840s, on the promise of ‘red gold’, men descended on the Big Scrub. Red cedar was in high demand for cabinetry and more than 185,000 acres between Lismore, Ballina and Byron was a virtual gold mine.

It took just a few decades for the largest area of subtropical lowland rainforest in eastern Australia to be demolished. Today, as little as 1 per cent of the Big Scrub remains.

The land clearing and the addition of exotic crops and weeds brought by the settlers, wreaked havoc on the environment.

In the early 1860s, to improve the situation and prevent squatters’ domination of the land, settlers were able to purchase freehold lots. The lots were £1 per acre, on a 25 per cent deposit with the balance to be paid within three years.

Landowners were required to live on their land and to make improvements which usually meant further clearing. Dairying became the major industry in the Northern Rivers.  

By the time Katka and Russell bought their patch of land, down the road from Eltham, it was a bunch of cleared paddocks previously used for a dairy.  

“We thought about what to do with the land for a year, Russell researched it and we decided to put the rainforest back. He’s actually planted around 2,000 Booyongs, Quandongs, Cedars and many other varieties,” Katka said.

Katka’s art studio looks over the regenerated land to the fields that Russell’s grandfather could have cleared all those years ago.

Weather Katka’s art series, It’s not common for hens to have pillows, was inspired by George’s chicken tales or her own chooks is unclear. However, it was a huge hit in the region with both the paintings and gift cards selling out in local shops and galleries.

One of the paintings in the series, A little nest is warmer than a big nest was selected for the Money Myth exhibition at the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery in Melbourne.  

“I think the series was popular in this region because it really spoke to our identity and culture.  

“We are down to earth, we love nature, animals and our community. We want the simplicity but beauty and quality is important to us as well,” she said.

Purchase Katka’s cards at the Clunes Store or through her website.