Linda Bretherton

Linda Bretherton is a ceramic artist based in Sydney and the South Coast of New South Wales. She worked for many years in international marketing & communications and visual arts teaching, before returning to her passion for ceramics. She received a Bachelor of Education in Visual Arts from UNSW’s College of Fine Arts, studying ceramics under acclaimed artist Peter Travis. She also holds a Master of Arts (University of Sydney) and is completing a Master of Curatorial and Cultural Leadership at UNSW. Her hand-built objects are functional works of art, celebrating the raw materials with which they are created. 

Linda has travelled over a dozen times to Japan and is studying the Japanese language, which has become a major influence in her work. In particular, she is inspired by the concept of shibusa, a term which encompasses qualities such as simplicity, naturalness, modesty and silence, and which resonates with the natural beauty, colours and textures of the NSW South Coast and surrounding bush. She is also inspired by the aesthetic philosophy of wabi-sabi, which celebrates transience and imperfection. Her forms are elegant and unpretentious. She says of her process, “clay has a way in and of itself which often dictates the form, taking me on a path that rarely complies precisely with my vision.”

Every one of Linda’s pieces is unique. She works primarily with stoneware clays, using pinch, coil, slab and wheel-throwing techniques. The textured, natural clay finish of many of her pieces provides a warm, earthy aesthetic, whilst the use of hand-applied glazes, fired at high-temperature, increases durability. She enjoys experimenting with slips, oxides, natural ochres and firing techniques, embracing unexpected outcomes and material reactions.