Born in 1954, the daughter of Ivan
McMeekin, one of Australia's pottery pioneers, Susie
McMeekin started potting in 1978 with her father at
his Woronora workshop. There she was trained to fire
with wood, as well as in clay and glaze preparation.
She was successful in obtaining two Australia
Council apprentice-ship grants in 1980 and 1981.
In1984 she and her husband Don moved to Katoomba in
the Blue Mountains, NSW, and built a house and a small
workshop. There are has worked until now with a small
gas kiln.
In 1990 Susie began assisting Chester Nealie with his
firings in Gulgong and has since gone on to assist
Janet Mansfield, Owen Rye and Bill Samuels with
firings. This has allowed her to rekindle her
knowledge and fascination with the woodfire process.
Rather than being infatuated with the raw clay finish.
Her passion lies with the effects of the ash and flame
trails on the flazed surface. she continues to be
influenced by the great pots of the Song dynasty
introduced to her by her father.
Susie McMeekin is represented in FuLe Ceramic Art
Museum, Fuping, China; Bendigo Regional Art Gallery,
Victoria; Shepparton Regional Art Gallery, Victoria;
and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales and
Singapore.
This is the second exhibition of Susie's at East &
West Art, Melbourne, which incorporate what she has
felt and learnt at Fuping, China. An experiment
organized for Australian and New Zealand potter
making with Chinese clay, glaze and equipment together
with the Chinese potters for 4 weeks terminating in an
exhibition of the works which toured China.
Susie is still potting her beautifully quiet pieces
based on Chinese Song dynasty (960-1280) of tea dist,
celadon Chun and qingbai, but has now used more wood
firing than gas kilns whenever possible.
Private collection includes the Duke of Edinburgh.
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Featured
Exhibitions
2012 Christmas Show
2011 After Fuping
2004 ARTSingapore
2003 Solo Exhibition