Introduction by Sandy Lockwood
Instructor of the course

I am pleased to write this introduction to the online exhibition for the 2024 ON Centre course at La Meridiana Italy.

Teaching this course was a wonderful experience. It was a rewarding pleasure meeting with such a diverse group of people and watching their work develop.
The work you see here represents a selection of what the participants produced during the course. An integral part of the course was the use of a variety of clays, slips, glazes and firing techniques in an environment that encouraged experimentation and new ideas. The work here shows a wonderful range of approaches and techniques that students have used to produce a remarkable body of work. This exhibition also recognizes the dedication and effort students have shown during this course.

Each person bought with them to the course their life experience and ceramic background, and worked remarkably hard to develop their own ceramic ‘voice’.

I hope for each of them, that this course formed the beginning of the next phase of development in their ceramic practice.
The hard work and long hours that the participants put in was supported by the generous and knowledgeable staff at La Meridiana. Glaze teacher Eve Carrobourg expertly made the complex nature of glaze readily accessible in an encouraging way to all participants.

Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the valuable support offered by my course assistant Gaby Novoa and studio manager Giulia Bagni. I hope you enjoy viewing these works as much as I enjoyed my part in bringing them into existence.

Dr Sandra Lockwood

Balmoral, Australia