There are very few forms of art where the notion of “success” can be measured. Pottery is one of them — and it’s exactly why Renae Pennicuik loves it. The part-time potter talks to Teagan Bell about the compelling nature of her stoneware creations. Picture: Louise Barker.
Sitting at a makeshift bench in Renae Pennicuik’s backyard studio, it’s not hard to see where she draws her inspiration.
A table is littered with mugs, jugs and bowls, glazed in the green-grey hue of saltbush, and to my right are various platters, chalky and red like the earth beneath us, drying on the window sill before they hit the kiln.
A pale pink vase sits rejected on a shelf; “I wasn’t a fan of the pink salt colour,” Renae tells me.
In the corner of the room on a desk, a sculpture of a backpacker carrying a basket of oranges waits patiently for a coat of paint in preparation for Renae’s next exhibition.
“I think I might put a little road sign on her shoulder with ‘Sydney; 1088 kilometres’. I might even call her 88 days,” she tells me, over the whirr of the pottery wheel.
As she slaps down a fresh mound of clay and fashions a cup before my eyes, we chat about her upcoming April exhibition, to be centred around the production and consumption of food in the region.
“It’s a joint exhibition with a friend of mine. She does quite different work to me – she works on a small scale and does painted tiles that depict scenes of restaurants and things like that,” she says.
“I might be doing some large platters that depict the scenery with the Murray and the red layout with our farms and everything. I’ve got some aerial shots I’m working from.
“I think we’re going to call it ‘Nourish’.
“The whole thing, the whole creative process, even this pottery, is nourishing me.”
Shaping Success
Studying a Diploma of Visual Arts in Cairns, Renae took to the wheel immediately, transfixed by both the practicality and the challenges of the medium.
“I just wanted to make stuff, and I really liked the logical, structural aspect of making pots on a wheel – I really wanted to conquer it,” she recalls.
“To control this as a medium is super challenging, so when you have the success, when all the different things along the way could’ve gone wrong didn’t and you actually have a success – chasing that is addictive because it’s almost like it’s out of your hands.”
A shelf full of seconds and ‘failed’ pieces by the studio door echoes this sentiment, and though it might be enough to discourage the average Joe, the uncertainty around the success of her pieces until they are literally set in stone is what’s kept Renae an inspired potter for nearly two decades.
She now spends her time mastering various techniques through a meticulous method of trial and error, with her current focus on glazing techniques and attempting more complex shapes.
“I made citrus juicers the other day, just because I can,” she says.
“They’re quite complicated to make because they have that pocket inside, but pushing myself on the wheel and making complicated shapes is just a good challenge and real fun.”
Creative license
As we sift through the pieces she’s been “squirrelling” away for future market stalls, Renae explains the importance of staying true to your inner artist and listening to your intuition.
“I do get a little bit torn between what’s ‘in’ and what people like and then what I like to make and what I like,” she says.
“But pottery has never really been something I’ve relied on for income, so I do feel I have a bit more of a creative license.
“As much fun as it would be to just be a potter, I don’t want to lose my passion for it, I don’t want it to become a chore.
“To be a production potter – it’s not really in me.
“Maybe one day when I retire I’ll make the leap.”
But Renae says she does have “definite plans” for the future, including teaching workshops at her Red Cliffs property, and launching a website for selling small batches of her work every month or two.
“I’ve still got work to do on my property with the car park- there’s lots of landscaping to be done before people can come here on a weekly basis,” she says.
“But yeah, workshops and a website are probably my next two things.”
Find Renae on Instagram @penni.q.pottery and her stall at the Sunraysed Twilight Market on November 23.
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