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Residencies

Our artist-in-residence program is open to Australian and international potters and ceramic artists. 

Please note applications are currently closed.

About

Artist-in-Residence applications are currently closed. Please check back later to apply for our 2025 program or onwards.

Our artist-in-residence program is open to Australian and international potters and ceramic artists. It provides an opportunity for a short-term change of environment to develop new work, change direction or simply re-invigorate through engagement with a different community.

Canberra Potters’ objectives are to promote excellence and innovation in ceramics, foster an appreciation of handcrafted ceramics in the broader community and encourage the professional development of its members. The residency program is an important part of its overall program, which incorporates teaching, professional development, exhibition and retail activities. Artists-in-residence are encouraged to interact with society members and the public through various aspects of these activities.

The society, a not-for-profit arts organisation, is an ACT Government Key Arts Organisation. As such it receives some funding from the ACT Government and manages Watson Arts Centre, an ACT Government arts facility. It runs an extensive education program of classes and workshops for members and the public.

The Canberra Potters premises include two large teaching workshops, a members-only workshop, spacious gallery, retail shop for the work of a selected group of members, library, administration areas, kiln room, glazing room and clay storage. There are four individual studios for rent to ceramic artists and a studio with adjacent self-contained furnished residential accommodation for the artist-in-residence program. The artist-in-residence studio is wheelchair accessible, as is the residential unit and most areas of the premises. (The residential unit and studios were purpose built in 2011.)

The artist-in-residence studio is equipped with a potter’s wheel, table, large ware trolley, clay trap, built-in under-bench cupboards, built-in shelving, wedging slab and a sink with running water. Wheelthrowing and handbuilding tools can be supplied if artists are unable to bring their preferred tools. There is access in the teaching workshops to slab rollers and a pugmill in the kiln/glazing shed.

In the kiln room there are a number of electric kilns of various capacities and two gas kilns. Outside there is a soda kiln and a gas raku kiln, and capacity to build small pit kilns. It is important to note that there are no kilns specifically set aside for the use of artists-in-residence; kiln use has to be booked and fit in with other use. Facilities for wood firing are available at Strathnairn Arts Association in Holt, Canberra, with which CPS has a close relationship. Strathnairn is approximately half an hour’s drive from Watson Arts Centre.

Watson Arts Centre is on the north side of Canberra, approximately 15 minutes drive or bike ride from Canberra’s CBD.

Types of Residencies 

Two categories of residency are available via application: Professional and Self-Directed. Click on the toggle menus below to find out more about each.

Professional Residency (click to expand)

This category is aimed at high-profile experienced potters and ceramic artists who are looking to spend time developing new work in a new environment. To be considered for this program applicants are expected to have considerable experience as a maker and/or exhibitor and to have achieved recognition for their technical and artistic work. Professional residencies are reliant on available annual funding. Residencies may be for up to three months.
 
Residents in this category will receive:
  • A stipend of up to AU$1000 per month;
  • A studio and access to the society’s kilns and equipment;
  • Free accommodation in the residential unit;
  • There is currently no assistance with travel costs or material and firing costs. (Depending on funding, we are sometimes in a position to offer assistance with these costs – when this is possible it will be notified here.)
Residents in this category are required to:
  • Conduct a 2-day masterclass;
  • Give a presentation/slide show about their work and practice;
  • Pay for their own materials and firings over and above any allowance given (there is currently no allowance);
  • Develop and make a body of work for an exhibition in the society’s gallery (subject to the availability of exhibition space; if gallery space is not available then a small exhibition can be held in the artist-in-residence studio);
  • Donate one piece of work to the society’s artist-in-residence collection.
  • For longer residencies, there may also be an opportunity to undertake paid teaching or presentations over and above the teaching required as part of this category.

Self-Directed Residencies (click to expand)

This category is aimed at potters and ceramic artists seeking an opportunity to develop their work in the Canberra Potters environment. To be considered for this program, applicants must be experienced potters able to work safely and independently and must provide two professional references with their application. Residencies may be for up to three months.
For a weekly service charge of just $225 (inc. GST), residents in this category receive:
–  A studio and access to the society’s kilns and equipment;
–  Accommodation in the self-catering residential unit.
Self-directed residencies do not attract a stipend.
 
Residents in this category are required to:
–  Pay for all their materials and firings;
–  Give a presentation/slide show about their work and practice at one of our monthly members’ meetings;
–  Donate one piece of work to the society’s artist-in-residence collection

Application Process 

Artist-in-Residence applications are currently closed. Please check back later to apply for our 2025 program or onwards.

 

Applications should be submitted on the residency application form and should include an outline of what you want to do creatively and technically, what you hope to get out of the residency, a current CV, up to 10 images of recent work or work relating to your proposal.

 
Selection will be made by considering the merits of the proposal, artistic reputation of the applicant, availability of time in the residency program, perceived value to the society’s program of activities, the examples of work and professional references.