EMILY'S UPDATES
About Emily
My pottery has been an essential part of my life for 27 years now, alongside our farming life and my beautiful family. The animals from the farm find their way onto my pots as they saunter past the clear wall that makes up one side of my studio, each new piece reflects their personalities. I have signed my pots with a few names over the years; first Emily Haughton-James and then I was Emily Stackman for many years and now I am Emily Laszuk.
I have not always lived a rural life, I was born in Sydney and then travelled with my family for most of my childhood throughout Europe and Asia. Both beautiful and breathtaking places, with deep cultures that influnce my work on many levels, that I hope add something to the multitude of influences that inspire my work.
My family always had a high appreciation of beauty and the joy of using the handmade. Theres something special about knowing that someones hands have formed the artwork you're drinking your morning tea from.Unlike factory made pottery, you'll never find two pieces that are exactly the same, the human touch makes every one unique. My whole family have always used Emily Laszuk pottery, and we still have pieces from before the children were born ( now 14 and 16), no amount of microwave, dishwasher, oven and stacking has broken them. I'm proud to know that there are still some things that dont adhere to the throw-away generation.
Our farm is north of Bathurst NSW, its a picturesque place with mountains, valleys and a creek full of turtles. The main soul of the place is the river which flows through twice. As we own both sides we have privacy and lots of magic places to camp and picnic. The river is a typical inland one :rocky and lined with she oaks. Lots of wild animals share the place with us, Kangaroos, Possums, Wombats, Water Rats, Playpus, Yabbies and Wallabies. We have only been here a year so there may be more to find over time. We also have a characterful assortment of domestic animals; the farmyard chooks, pet lamb, dogs and cats and the larger groups of cattle and sheep who are all presently having babies. They have their own characters and bring a lot of joy to our lives.
We are very blessed in our lifestyle Steve and I both work part time and spend the rest of our lives in our workshops ; me in the pottery Steve in his small engineering workshop...he has been branching out into sculptures lately so there is no knowing where that is going! The kids are both arty too and spend time in the studio.
I have CRAFTMARK ACCREDITATION awarded by the Crafts Council of Australia to craft workers who produce consistent high quality work .
Education
B.A. Visual Arts, Ceramics, Sydney College of the Arts 1985
Graduate Diploma of Secondary Art Education 1986
Bachelor of Nursing Charles Sturt University 2007
Prizes
2001 First and Special Prizes, Royal Easter Show Sydney
1998 First, Second and Highly Commended Prizes, Royal Easter Show Sydney
1996 Third Prize, Royal Easter Show Sydney
Publicity
The Land -Major Profile Nov 2002 and 1995
Prime News -1999, 1994
Ceramics Monthly USA -A Farm Pottery in Australia 1998
Pottery and Ceramics (Australia) - technical articles and major profile in 1998
CSG Lecture and accompanying articles 2002
Other articles in 'Craft Australia', 'Pastimes', 'Cat Affairs', 'Pottery in Australia', Who's Who of Australian Arts', 'The Bathurst Advocate', 'Ceramics Study Group'