A major exhibition charting studio ceramic practice in Australia over the last 50 years will open at the Powerhouse Museum on 20 August 2021.

Bringing together works from 168 Australian artists, Clay Dynasty will celebrate Australian studio ceramics, as shaped by three generations of makers. The exhibition will present more than 450 works from the Powerhouse collection and will feature 70 new commissions and acquisitions from Australian artists.

Surveying over 50 years of practice, Clay Dynasty will feature works by pioneer potters who profoundly changed the course of Australian studio ceramics in the 1960s. Led by the English potter Bernard Leach’s interest in pre-industrial ceramic traditions of Europe and East Asia, they made uniquely Australian objects by using local materials and responding to the Australian environment.

Alongside the functional tradition, Clay Dynasty will explore the quest for artistic expression. Objects from the 1970s will illustrate the impact of American Funk art movement and popular culture in Australia, while works from the 1980s will reveal how Australian artists explored the vessel tradition through postmodern forms, colours and patterns.

Image: Marea Gazzard, ‘Delos: Naxos’ and ‘Delos: Paros’, stoneware with semi-matt glaze, Paddington, New South Wales, 1972