ESSENCE OF CLAY

John Dermer OAM

Euan Craig

April / May 2026

Skepsi Gallery

JOHN DERMER OAM

Terra Sigillata literally means ‘to seal with earth’.

Potters have used this microfine clay slip for more than 5000 years to decorate with, or to seal pots for use with food. I have been working and experimenting with terra sigillata for 40 years. It has been a passion of mine since I was asked to fulfil a major commission of works for the new Parliament House in Canberra in 1988. I use this ancient method of working with a microfine clay slip, but have employed space-age materials (a ceramic fibre blanket), to create the shell within which the magic evolves. Although I use porcelain clay for the main body, I fire it at a lower temperature than is usual for this type of clay. I can encase casuarina branchlets against the pots in the kiln for the second firing which creates the ash deposits and markings I am seeking.

What drives my fascination with Terra Sigillata?

It evokes the colours, the light and shadows, the shapes and moods of the Australian landscape and especially the remote and beautiful areas of the outback. Coupled with the organic shapes I use as my canvas and landform, it represents beautifully the unique and very special images that remain with me after many years of outback travel and rural living in our remarkable country.

EUAN CRAIG

There is beauty in the world which we all understand, because we are all part of it and it is part of us.

My pots are the result of a simple, traditional lifestyle and work process. I blend my own clay by hand, throw, on a wooden kick wheel by the light of day, with water drawn from our well. The pots are bound with Igusa, the rush used to make tatami mats, and single fired from raw to 1320 Celsius. I use responsibly sourced local wood, and the wood and rush ash, melt in the kiln and form natural glazes. The entire process, completed without the use of electricity or fossil fuels.

ESSENCE OF CLAY

John Dermer OAM

Euan Craig

April / May 2026

Skepsi Gallery

JOHN DERMER OAM IN CONVERSATION

EUAN CRAIG IN CONVERSATION