Inspire: Albany potters Bruce and Suzanne Shale to open ceramics studio as part of nationwide weekend

Having spent most of their lives behind the potter’s wheel, travelling creatives Bruce and Suzanne Shale will soon open their studio to the public as part of the Australian Ceramics Open Studios weekend. “We’re both potters,” Mr Shale said. “We went to college in Bendigo over 43 years ago which is where we met and trained before working in the industry. “At the time, there were probably a dozen cottage industry potters around the area selling huge amounts of pottery. It was very popular a bit like it is now, it’s come of age again.” Before calling Albany home in 1991, Bruce spent many years as a production manager working alongside Suzanne who was engaged as a glaze researcher. “We’ve always loved pottery and found it fascinating,” he said. “I started off as a decorator and I’d have a brush and pigments and decorate 300 to 400 coffee mugs a day — gum leaves in the 80s were very popular. “It was all handcrafted, a cottage industry.” The pair took a break from the industry in the early 90s, spending their time travelling overseas. Upon their return to Australia, they continued to travel until they came across Albany. “It was in November, we were here for five days and it rained for four,” Mr Shale said. “We decided we liked the feel of Albany. We went to the Vancouver Art Centre and we had a think about it, then we went back home and told our family, ‘hi we’re back for Christmas but we’re going to save some money and move to Albany’, and that’s what we did.” On November 11-12, Bruce and Suzanne will open up their studio at 9 Mokare Road from 10am-4pm for the first time as part of the nationwide Australian Ceramics Open Studios weekend. “It gives potters a chance to join up together on one day to open up their studios to give people a demonstration,” Mr Shale said. “People will be able to see me on the wheel and we’ll have work on sale as well.” In the meantime, the pair will keep the wheel spinning, producing pieces in the traditional Japanese style of wabi-sabi. “It means from nature, or mistakes from nature, naturally happening,” Mr Shale said. “We’re making pottery with ancient medieval Japanese glazes on them. “They react to different atmospheres in the kiln – you never quite know what you’re going to get.” An interest in history and the ubiquitous nature of pottery has been a guide Mr Shale’s creative journey since he was a child. “The first time I can ever remember playing around with clay was on my grandparents’ farm in central Victoria,” he said. “I remember once years ago seeing in my grandmother’s Women’s Weekly an article about how to make a sawdust kiln and it totally fascinated me.” The fascination developed into a deep and long-lasting interest for Mr Shale. “They think that the first pot could have been a wicker basket that was lined with clay to keep fish fresh on the way back to camp,” he said. “There is a train of thought that maybe a village caught fire once, there was a fire and the cane burnt away and left a pot. “A lot of early pottery looks like it was pressed into woven rushes, it goes way back.” Mr Shale experienced the curious power of clay firsthand about 15 years ago at a market in Walpole. “We used to make these little bilby figurines for Easter and for many years there was a lady in Perth who would order two dozen of them each year,” he said. “She would take them back to a village in Sweden where she originally came from as gifts. “I had some of them in my stall and a backpacker walked past and said ‘oh my god, I’ve got one of these’. The backpacker from Sweden told Mr Shale that she had been gifted one as a child from her grandmother whose best friend lived in Perth. “It’s a small world,” Mr Shale said. “I joked with her that one day in another ten thousand years they’ll dig up all these little Australian bilbies and wonder what on each they’re doing there.”