Matthew Blakely was born in the UK and emigrated to Australia in 1988.

“I am interested in exploring the unique property of clay to capture and fix instantaneous characteristics of plasticity, such as fingermarks, billowing curves and impressions, in a hard and durable form. I develop and use glazes to help recover the qualities of wet clay and am exploring the interaction between form and glazes in the firing. The resulting pooling, runs and drips of glaze make the pot seem like a moment in time - captured and frozen.

My work is wheel thrown in porcelain. The forms I make are soft and organic and display a sense of the energy of the making processes and the qualities of plastic clay showing in the final piece. They are often distorted to add tension and movement. The purity and translucency of porcelain perfectly complement the fresh, clean, vibrant glazes I have developed. These are applied quite thickly to give depth to the colour and a rich quality that reminds me of the sea in Australia.”