Shifting Shoreline 2 - Froth
Therese McMahon
Stoneware clay
40cm long x 16cm wide x 3cm high
$385
Shifting Shoreline 2 Froth
This work is part of a series inspired by the quiet complexity of rock pools — places where water pauses, life gathers, and change is constant. Hand-built using a lattice-like technique, the form captures a sense of organic erosion and growth, echoing the natural patterns found along the shoreline.
The warm yellow glaze and heavily textured clay reflects sun-bleached lichen, salt traces, and tidal stillness. The whitish flashes of glaze represent sea froth that remains from the incessant pounding waves that flow over the rocks.
Made to invite reflection, the work balances structure and openness, solidity and fragility — much like the coastal environments that inspired it.
Stoneware clay fired to 1240
Measures approximately 40cm long x 16cm wide x 3cm high
ARTIST STATEMENT
Inspired by the shifting textures of the sea and the intricate forms of the Australian landscape, for many years Therese created ceramic works that merge technical precision with an organic, tactile beauty. Mainly using the wheel she has made her forms using Stoneware clay due to its durability when fired. Therese often draws and carves into the surface before layering glazes, oxides and coloured slips in translucent veils, allowing colour and texture to create unique visual surfaces on the finished work.
During 2025 Therese’s work has taken a new direction primarily exploring forms that express her journey and passion as a clay artist. Primarily designing and making forms by hand building, she is enjoying this technique because it slows down the creative process of building form.
She is exhibiting at Gallery NWC in Katoomba during October 2025. ‘Clay-My Personal Dialogue’ will showcase exciting new works and will be the official launch of the next stage in Therese’s ongoing practice of over 40 years. These works explore the interplay between structure and spontaneity, form and space. A personal expression of the enduring rhythms of nature found where the ocean meets the shoreline.
Therese’s ceramic journey began with a Fine Arts degree, majoring in Ceramics, at Wagga Wagga CAE in 1981. The following year, she honed her throwing skills at Bronwyn Clarke’s Studio in Terrey Hills, Sydney. Over the last 30 years, she has established studios in Dee Why, Tuggerawong, Newcastle, and Sanctuary Point, steadily refining her practice. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she expanded her knowledge through workshops and lectures with leading ceramic artists including Greg Daly, Jeff Mincham, Mitsu Shoji, Ivan Englund, Peter Lane, and more recently, Juz Kitson.
A dedicated teacher and mentor, Therese has run workshops and taught at various Potters’ Societies on the East Coast, as well as in high school and from her own studio. She has been a member of The Australian Ceramics Association for over 20 years.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous group shows and is held in collections both nationally and internationally — including in New Zealand, the Daikin Head Office in Osaka, and private collections in Texas and Canada. Notable achievements include being selected as a finalist in the Siliceous Award for Ceramic Excellence (2021), the Urunga Small Sculpture Prize (2021), and participation in the Sydney Ceramics Market in 2023 and 2024.
Therese is a regional Ceramic artist from Wollongong, NSW. Rooted in an intimate connection to place, Therese’s ceramics invite close attention — revealing layers of texture, colour, and memory, and offering the viewer a quiet space in which to linger.
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