The Four clay Exhibition, 2011 (Depot II Gallery, Waterloo) featured works by four emerging Australian ceramic artists – Anne Braithwaite, Christine MacKinnon, Tann Kennedy and Sam Perks – from the Northern beaches College of TAFE. They are a diverse group of artists who share the love of clay as their primary medium. Mixed in amongst the clay are natural found items, woven fibres and metals, glass and leather to create an intriguing collection of artworks.

Sam Perks had two bodies of work in this exhibition. The first was a group of young teens, still childlike and playful at times and vulnerable, defiant and challenging at others. As she watched her  own children grow up and amuse her  as they demonstrated everything we know as typical of young teenagers, so these little people became a study of these behaviours. The second body of work is the glass/porcelain wall pieces. The textures of the porcelain is at the same time highlighted yet somewhat obscured by the glass making the viewer venture up close to see what is actually there. There is something quite beautiful about a delicate object suspended in glass that you can look at it but never actually touch.

Below is  a selection of images from this exhibition.