Amanda Shelsher is a ceramic artist from Western Australia who creates figurative assemblages that explore personal notions of  habitat, confinement, memory and desire.  “My sculptural works in clay are simply a means of communicating my physical and mental journeys and are intensely personal voyages.  My current themes reveal my  new experiences of being a first time mother and incorporate many different themes of life.  Fertility, germination, nurturing, the instinct to nest, growth, as well as trying to capture emotions and moments of joy, our strong protective instincts...I have always enjoyed working figuratively and have combined my great love of animals and plant forms to portray this new voyage as my works celebrate the miracle of life”.  Shelsher’s pieces are built by hand through a combination of slab and coil, using her own blend of earthenware and stoneware clay, oxides, stains, slips and glazes.

Graduating with a degree in visual arts (ceramics) from Curtin University of Technology in 1991, Amanda went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Education the following year.  After teaching in Perth, the United Kingdom and France, she travelled extensively for three years before becoming a full time visual artist.  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.  Her work is represented in public and private collections across Australia and overseas.

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