Amanda Shelsher is a ceramic artist from Western Australia who creates figurative assemblages that explore personal notions of  habitat, confinement, memory, desire and the symbiotic relationship between mother and child.  “My sculptural works in clay are simply a means of communicating my physical and mental journeys and are intensely personal voyages.”  Brimming with life, her figures often cradle germinating plant and animal forms and have an organic, nurturing presence that speaks of Amanda’s experience of motherhood and growth, both physical and mental.  By combining the human body with motifs lifted from the natural world she reminds us that humanity and the natural environment are eternally linked.  Amanda’s pieces are built by hand through a combination of slab and coil, using her own blend of earthenware and stoneware and paperware clay, porcelain, oxides, stains, slips and glazes.  Often she uses the sgraffito technique, layering a thin layer of dark clay over a paler foundation and then using an incision tool to create surface patterns and drawings.

Graduating in visual arts (ceramics) from Curtin University of Technology in 1991, Amanda went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Education the following year.  She has been selected for many awards including the Sydney Myer Fund International Ceramics Award in 2002 and the Gold Coast International Ceramic Award in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2005.  Internationally, her work has been represented at prestigious events such as Collect (UK), Art Taipei (Taiwan) and SOFA Chicago (USA).  Her work is represented in public and private collections across Australia and overseas, including the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

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