Judy is our new Regional Council member for the Central North Island – this includes Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay.

Aside from high school art class, I first touched clay relatively late in life, in late 2019, at one of Laurie Steer’s Saturday workshops, and loved it! The Bethlehem Pottery Club’s handbuilding workshop (with the incredible Suzanne Sturrock) was a natural progression from there and I’ve been a hobby handbuilder since then, working from my dining table at first then moving to the spare bedroom with a small kiln in my garage.  My work has developed from standard utilitarian shapes to more sculptural, organic pieces, experimenting with rule-breaking techniques, and I felt so honoured to have a piece accepted for UKU Clay in 2024 (pictured). Not a prolific artist, or what you might call ‘professional’ by any means, but there are days when I get so engrossed I forget the time and “just need to get this bit done” before I eat!  I’m thrilled to be an RCM for Ceramics NZ, and hope to see us grow even more in 2025!