Our current Teachers

Janine Schenkel

A professional potter with 20 years' experience.
She is a regular exhibitor at the Kerrie Lowe Gallery in Newtown and a featured artist on the Arcadian Artist's Trail.

"I teach wheel work and hand-building". My personal work is based in function, it is wheel-thrown functional pieces.

"The thing that draws people to clay is that it is a tactile medium with so much potential to explore, such as working with flat sheets of clay and throwing."

Jojo Fuller

Jo-anne Fuller shares a studio in Artarmon where she makes both sculptural and functional ware, and exhibits in Sydney and on the Central Coast, where she and her partner Colin Husband share a cottage backing onto Brisbane Water National Park.

She works as a freelance writer and is a former technical editor and regular contributor to Australian Ceramics and Pottery. She has also worked with public art specialists, Environmental Art+Design, contributing to a number of tile murals and in-situ works, including splash tiles for the fountain in Mashman Park at Chatswood, which commemorates the contribution to the area of one of Sydney's first potteries.

Glenda Hoy

At the age of 12 I discovered a captivating fact, you can create items of beauty from essentially a handful of dirt! I am a local Willoughby potter with over 30 years of experience making and selling through galleries, markets and directly. I differ to most Ceramic Artist, as I am so inspired by working with clay, I could never restrict myself just to one process, you never stop learning and discovering another great experience of the medium.

My work is much about the process as it is the outcome. Each step is as important as the next. From the designs process, mixing the materials, throwing on the wheel or hand building, trimming, 2 kiln firings, glazing and finally, the marketing.

My works range from Contemporary Art and sculptures to functional bowls, plates, nesting sets, vases, and much more. I love exploring the elegance of contrasting Raku black, with white glazes. I enjoy pushing the boundaries with fine white porcelain, to throw to its thinnest translucency. Or Raku ware and sets that when combined, make new compact displays along with my original designed ceramic jewellery collection. I look forward to passing on some of the many ideas and tips have learnt during my own experience, with the students at Macquarie Hills Pottery.

Riti Malik

link to Riti's web page

I am a graphic designer and ceramic artist, originally from India, currently based and working out of Sydney, Australia. My professional journey is inspired by my personal experiences, and desire to channel my creative energy into something that has unique appeal. After graduating in mass communication and videography, I chose to teach myself graphic design and worked as a communications designer for nearly 20 years, crafting annual reports, books, and brands. After moving to Australia, I yearned for a more tactile and personal manifestation of my creative spirit, which would signify meaning and joy.

My work draws heavily from my experiences and explores the intersection at which nature, and by extension, life operates. Fragility and strength are the yin and yang of life for me. The process of creating delicate ceramic pieces allows me to express my feelings about life. They teach me the value of patience and attention to detail, leading to an intricate bond with each stage, and an ownership of the entire process of transformation, with every stage blending into the other, rather than being an aggregation of individual elements. This allows me to treat the material as an organic, living body, whose instincts, pulse and temperament has to be understood, valued, respected and molded at every stage, before it comes into its own. The process of creating ceramics is a therapeutic one, often containing important life lessons – focus, contemplation, respect, care and being in the moment.