About the game:

Supernatural Share House is a low-stress, low prep, low-time commitment, fast-paced RPG for people who like to bring the fun without being a fundamentalist about mechanics.

You play (or DM) a group of 2- 6 colourful individuals sharing an average Naarm share house. It becomes very apparent very quickly that this home is haunted.

You must (?) work together to ensure that the housewarming at the end of the week goes smoothly. You each have chores to complete and horrors to face.

Quick Start Cheat Sheet:

Set up:

· Choose your house and each player’s rooms

· Create characters (collaboratively or individually) see recommendations

Turn cycle:

Day

· Group breakfast where chores of the day are allocated

· Players have 15 minutes each to perform these chores (or you know – not)

Night

· The DM may set off a supernatural event

· Players work as a team to address the event (no fixed time limit)

· If no event this is a time when players can complete action in private

The party: (Night of 7th day)

· Host guest

· Have fun

· Don’t die

How to Play:

Step 1: Set Up

Location, location, location:

This game was conceived in a COVID lockdown world. Therefore, it is best played with the strangest 3D Virtual tour home you can find on Realestate.com. Unfortunately, these tend to be taken down once a property has been sold.

If you have the time (or someone in your cohort is currently house hunting) you may wish to trawl through various house listings until you find the perfectly cursed accommodation of your RPG dreams. But if you don’t have the time Reddit sourced is fine (/r/RidiculousRealEstate)

When choosing your location, I would recommend keeping in mind everything that you would normally look for when house hunting.

Consider:

· how many rooms?

· how many secret rooms?

· how many uncomfortably long corridors?

· how many poorly done homemade renovations?

· how many windows lead to the bathroom directly from the rumpus room?

· does it look like someone was murdered there?

· Is the carpet ugly? (non-negotiable)

Most homes listed will come with a floor plan. If you cannot all jump on the 3D virtual tour and move through the home on your individual screens, then I suggest circulating a floorplan or even printing it out if you are playing together.

Player location can be vital to how a haunting may play out, so it is recommended that all players have a floorplan on them at all times.

Make sure that each player has been allocated a room (or in the case of individual rooms being too bourgeoises, at the very least a place in which they sleep).

Step 1.5: Rental Application Form

When choosing your characters remember this game is going to be a lot more fun if your characters don’t get along at first (or indeed ever).

Each character will have a special ability and a fatal flaw. While there is a modest selection of pre-prepared characters for you to make your own, it is encouraged that you try your hand at bringing your own unique joke of a human to life. Sources of inspiration can include TV, local suburb stereotypes or that ex-housemate you absolutely hated and want the catharsis of seeing them in crisis.

Characters can be created individually or as a team dynamic. We encourage you to be the Seattle Polycule you want to see in the world or those childhood best friends who secretly hate each other. Teams have a combined turn by default, but we encourage them to take separate turns especially if it leads to a massive row and makes living at the property awkward for everyone. Premade teams are also included below.

Each player starts with one inventory item; however they can collect items as they go. Each character is also allowed as many items as they can physically carry. If the item is on display, they can pick it up but if it is hidden or packed away searching for it will take one d4 in minutes of their allocated play time for that round.

They have 5 base skills:

· Communication – Good at talking through problems & dealing with the landlord.

· Strength – physically strong but emotionally fragile.

· Spirituality – owns a tarot deck

· Organisation – Includes cleanliness and Excell competence

· Observation – When they put a “keen eye for details” on their resume they aren’t even lying.

And one special skill – your choice - be creative!

One dice from your set is allocated to each skill. You will use this dice when completing skills checks. Choose wisely as you are unlikely to be able to level up this skill set in the 7 rounds of play.

Premade Individual Character Sheets:

The Hipster

You’re the cool one – always. You don’t need rules or a plan – you’re better than that. You are an artist. You know all the coolest places to hang out in Brunswick and you will spend $1300 a month on your clothes but only have $700 for rent. Vegan. Quits social media every 6 months but you will come back when you have some poor soul to lead on or something you simply must gloat about on Instagram.

Special Ability: Interior Design

Fatal Flaw: Is always right (especially when they aren’t)

Inventory: Vintage camera

• Communication: d8

• Strength: d6

• Spirituality: d20

• Organisation: d4

• Local Knowledge: d10

• Observation: d12

The Young Professional

Let’s be real most people your age are entitled – they just don’t get it. Look at you, you worked hard all your life and now you have a very important job (that no one quite understands including you) and you’re the only one of your friends on a salary.

You’re only in a sharehouse because you’re saving up to buy your own two-and-a-half bed, one-bathroom white picket townhouse in a suburb you think is ripe for gentrification. You would still be living with your parents but after they stopped paying for your university, and car (don’t worry your phone bills and health insurance are still covered by them) they decided to move out to their second home/winery in Mornington and that’s too much of a commute.

Special Ability: Can drive

Fatal Flaw: thinks trickledown economics works

Inventory: Car keys

• Communication: d10

• Strength: d8

• Spirituality: d6

• Organisation: d20

• Observation: d4

• Cleanliness: d12

The Fitness Junkie

You do one thing and one thing only – work out. You’re so ripped that doctors have mistaken you for a walking muscle diagram. You wake up at 4 every morning for your half marathon run and then work out at the gym for the next 3 hours. Then you run your small business – a protein shake company and make TikTok thirst traps for your thousands of fans.

Special Ability: understands football

Fatal Flaw: no flexibility (metaphorically and physically)

Inventory: 5L water bottle

• Communication: d8

• Strength: d20

• Spirituality: d6

• Organisation: d10

• Observation: d4

• Self-control: d12

The Student

They say that university is the best time of your life. You wonder now if life is worth living. You chose to do something you love, something you are passionate about. But the more you learn about your field the less you want to. You don’t have a sleep schedule – just a study schedule. You’re hoping to make friends with your housemates so traveling to social events doesn’t cut into your study time.

Special Ability: functional insomnia

Fatal Flaw: chronic depression

Inventory: Monster energy drink

• Communication: d10

• Strength: d6

• Spirituality: d8

• Organisation: d4

• Observation: d20

• Book smarts: d12

The Witch

You are one with nature – your deep connection with your gods has led to you being democratically priest/ess/en of your coven – well once you get a coven. You may spend your days working at Aldi but once you save up enough money you’re going to build your own yoga studio/future reading/crystal store that will be nothing like anything Melbourne has ever seen.

Special Ability: Knowing how to properly recycle

Fatal Flaw: Monologues

Inventory: Culturally appropriative sage stick

• Communication: d6

• Strength: d4

• Spirituality: d20

• Organisation: d10

• Observation: d8

• Magic: d12

The Veteran

You’ve done this all before. You don’t even bother remembering the names anymore. You are a master of the shared fridge and the chores roster. You don’t own anything that you can’t get out of the house in a trailer. You can build IKEA furniture in your sleep. You have. This is only a moment – there will be another house and another.

Special Ability: can perform household maintenance tasks (hole in wall, stain on carpet etc.)

Fatal Flaw: doesn’t contribute unless prompted

Inventory: Swiss Army knife

• Communication: d12

• Strength: d8

• Spirituality: d4

• Organisation: d10

• Observation: d6

• Insight: d20

Premade Groups:

Premade groups have the added benefit of being able to share their turns and combine their rolls when it would be logical for the players to work together to achieve a goal. They have 5 extra minutes total of play during their turns but they have to pay more of the rent.

Note: All of the above individual archetypes can be incorporated as members of the below teams.

The Toxic Polycule:

Polyamory/non-monogamy is fine and cool – But not the way you do it!

Not a single one of you have read “The Ethical Slut”. Ethical is just a fun word that makes it sound like you have considered the social, economic or political ramifications of bringing people into your relationship. But you have considered the power dynamics at play and put systems in place to prevent abuse right… right? Well at the very least you have considered all party’s feelings and boundaries…? Oh, oh no.

You don’t actually have time for people unless you think they are going to become your 16th partner. You spend your weekends at coked-up house parties where everyone hates each other and sex clubs that only have inflatable mattresses. You say you are poly because it de-colonises your relationships, but you only sleep with white people. At least one of you is deeply uncomfortable with this relationship type but doesn’t have enough of a spine to leave so instead you pick fights with their meta’s constantly.

*Note: Other players may have or may be experiencing family violence so please discuss all player’s boundaries before play.

Special Abilities:

· Calander organisation

· Anime knowledge

Fatal Flaws:

· Inability to understand other people want monogamy

· There will always be an Ex they can’t stand at the party

· Thinks that everyone they talk to is autistic (if they have no symptoms, they are just really good at masking).

Inventory:

· Invite to cool party they will not share with anyone but their partners

· Cat ears

· Vegan condoms (it is hard to find condoms that aren’t vegan, but it is hard to find condoms branded as vegan)

Recommended high number skills: Communication & Spirituality.

The Highschool Sweethearts:

Monogamy is fine and cool – but not the way you do it!

You have been together hand in un-loveable hand for 10 years now. You are each other’s souls, each other emergency contact & each other’s worst fucking nightmare.

Everything must be done together, eating, sleeping - hell sometimes even pooping. No choice can be made without consultation. No location can be visited without explanation (and your location is always shared). Your friends are exclusively non-threatening in any sexual or romantic way. This will not stop you from accusing each other of cheating. You bicker constantly and publicly. Everyone hates having you at parties.

*Note: Other players may have or may be experiencing family violence so please discuss all player’s boundaries before play.

Special Abilities:

· Secret communication with your partner through passive-aggressive body language

· Can hide fast food in every circumstance

Fatal Flaws:

· Deathly afraid of being alone

· Gives incredibly patronising and bad dating advice

Inventory:

· Engagement ring (ready to pop the question)

· The old ball and chain (literally a ball and chain – ya’ll are a little kinky)

· Pregnancy test

Recommended high number skills: Observation & Organisation.

Siblings:

Everyone thinks it’s weird that you live together. People wonder if there is some Game of Thrones bullshit going on. But you guys are just chill. You enjoy each other’s company and if it isn’t broken why fix it? Sometimes people are disconcerted by how well you guys know each other. And sometimes very very old grudges crop up – and that’s when all hell breaks loose.

Special Abilities:

· Parents on call for assistance

· Knows where the other person’s stuff is (hidden and lost)

Fatal Flaws:

· Inability to share anything equally between you

· Know what will trigger rage in the other persona and are not afraid to let it rip

Inventory:

· Incriminating photos of the other teammates

Recommended high number skills: Strength & Communication

Step 2: Play

Each day starting Monday there will be a meeting over breakfast to allocate tasks. Each player will then have 15 real-world minutes to complete their tasks. At the end of each day, players can choose how they are going to spend their night. The DM will break this cycle up occasionally with a random event. On the day of the party (Sunday) the group will have 30 minutes to set up the party and welcome the guests. This set-up time will determine how well the party goes.

Actions require dice rolls to be successful and you are encouraged to be creative in your solutions.

The To-Do List:

Your DM may add to this as the days go by)

· Decide who gets what room

· Plan invitation list

· Organise cleaning schedule

· Plan how Meals will be run

· Move in furniture (Revivalists Arrive Wednesday)

· Decide how the space in the garage is going to be spread

· Identify where the weird smell is coming from

· Agree on the layout for the living room

· Set a theme for the housewarming

· Shop for the party (by Thursday)

· Friday *Cook and clean for the party

For the DM’s eyes only:

Dungeon master, Game master, Rental provider, Leach – whatever name you would like to give yourself you are the owner of this stage. As you know, in a traditional RPG your role is to be the master of rules and to guide the experience but to ultimately let the players take the lead.

Put that all aside Brennan Lee Mulligan, in this game, you really do make the rules. This is a game about building a story not sticking close to mechanics. Remember to stay consistent if you make a mechanics rules, choose outcomes based off narrative pay-off and don’t be a dick about it.

Your Role in this game:

1. Narrate the story

2. Keep track of monsters in play

3. Keep track of the to-do list and add to it

4. Keep track of secret rooms

5. Keep track of monster relationship metrics

6. Scare the shit out of your players/make them laugh

How to run a game:

Each day the players must explore the space and complete tasks on their “to-do” list. They can add tasks to their “to-do” list as things appear and challenges arise. Each night roll for both monsters and hidden locations. Players can try to befriend monsters or fight them – If they want to cancel the party and hold an exorcism instead, they can do so. Try to keep players entertained and spooked. If players make it to the housewarming party all previously appearing monsters are brought into play and mingle with guests.

For ‘easy’ roles to succeed they must be an 8 or higher. For ‘difficult’ rolls to succeed it must be a 15 or higher.

Players tend to enjoy a structured game with a clear theme for the monsters. Be strict with your timer but allow your players to be creative in their successes and failures.

Monsters:

Every night roll a d10 to see what creature of the night appears, if their number is rolled again they disappear (unless it is a disease in which case a second player contracts the disease). Sometimes nothing happens at night. But the players don’t need to know that. They just need to know that they didn’t notice anything…

Here are some monster suggestions categorised by themes. Choose 7 you like best or make up some of your own and number them.

Social commentary:

· The landlord: He appears uninvited and unwanted. He watches. He judges. He takes your money and then serves you with a notice to vacate.

· The ghost of housemate’s past: Their ability to cook mac and cheese was unprecedented. They will never be forgotten. Sometimes it feels like they never left.

· Anti-vaxxer: Someone in the home is not vaccinated, is Spooky-COVID positive and is not social distancing.

· Pet snake – someone has a pet snake. This is normally chill but this one keeps eating bigger and bigger things.

Classic movie monster:

· Player contracts lycanthropy: full moon is on Sunday

· Vampire Bat (only if someone is up at night): A sexy vampire tries to get into the house. Players must have high strength or low communication to resist their charms.

· Little Victorian Girl: she will try and rip you apart.

· Demon possession: A demon possesses a character (choose by having all characters roll a spirituality score).

The house is the villain:

· The exits disappear

· The walls close in

· The floor starts to sink under players’ feet

· The hot water is still not working – what the fuck!

· TikTok influencer home – the house turns into Big Brother

· Shifty WI-FI – why does it keep redirecting you to the same empty website?

Silly/referential monsters:

· The ghost of Jackson Pollock – the walls get covered in ectoplasm (but, like, artistically)

· The ghost of David Bowie: That second-hand Bowie vinyl the hipster found is great but at night the ghost of Bowie emerges from the record player dressed as Ziggy Stardust and ready to try and force a golden disk into the forehead of his victims.

· The ghosts of Christmas past, present and future - but evil.

· Static TV – nothing good will come from this, tv’s don’t even do that any more!

Hidden locations:

Every night role a d6 for locations. If a location’s number is rolled and it is in play then the location disappears and any player inside of it disappears as well. They can still communicate with players via text messages until their phone runs out of battery in 3 days. Players can try and get out of their predicament via creative means and high spirituality rolls.

1. Secret room – super cool at first. Pity about the smell… and all the runes carved into the floor.

2. Endless stairs – The stairs go down forever, the stairs go up forever. There are occasionally doors. Players must roll a d20 higher than 15 to escape.

3. The Portal – it is up to you where the portal goes. The portal moves every player’s turn when in play roll a d10 at the end of each player convo to see where it has landed.

4. The Garage – The garage is infinite the garage contains everything. It is very easy to get lost in the garage. It is very easy to find something one should not in the garage. Optional monster – giant huntsman.

Random events:

Roll a d6 if the game is getting slow

1. Gossiping neighbour – Neighbour introduces themselves and then tells you the house is haunted.

2. Anxious priest – A priest arrives saying he feels a negative energy in the house and wishes to exorcise the inhabitants.

3. Murdered door-to-door salesman – They hear the doorbell ring and by the time they get there the salesman has been murdered by one of the ghosts.

4. Rouge policeman – A policeman is convinced that there is evidence for a missing person inside that house and they are determined to find it no matter what their superior officer says.

5. Damn kids – Kids try and break in to see if the house is haunted

6. Wall of spiders – There is a wall of spiders.

I live alone but this is my sixth rodeo, so I am something of an expert. I poured my spare time into my hobbies, audio books and a (slightly illegal) 3-hour midday walks.

In a mutual effort to keep sane, a new friend and I have weekly zoom meetings where we craft together. I embroider, and crochet, and knit, and draw and – well she just knits.

As new friendships do we tend to cover all topics. One that has been on my mind for a few months now comes up. For I have reached that very special age where AFAB people become disgusting, horrible crones incapable of receiving love or bearing children. 27 is the magical number that places a very special label on you – Spinster.

As crafters we know what this term actually means. The bit evolves. I begin to google. An Etsy listing comes across my screen. I accidently buy out an entire listing of a special edition colour way.

Two weeks later, I am the proud owner of a spindle and several rolags of fine merino.

I really am a spinster now.

When I tell people I spin yarn the first response for those under 60 is that of confusion. They have no idea what spinning is.

Most people do not know what their clothes are made of, let alone the process of making the threads that then contribute to their clothing.

Unlike most of human history, they do not know anything about different sheep breeds, if their pants are knit or woven or the huge negative impact the fashion industry has on the environment.

A bit of pressing will remind them of Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin. Confusion leads to deeper confusion and some level of concern.

“People still do that? Like … people who are alive?”

Most interestingly, I have watched dates get the ick in real time as they mentally reallocate me from sexy or cool to grandma-esque. To be fair to them, in Naarm there The Spinning and Weaving Guild in Carlton mostly consisting of lovely older women.

But this makes sense right, after we have all been taught that spinster is a word which means old, unloved and unlovable.

Then in 2024 I went to Europe.

Europe is connected to history in a way that Australia is not. You’re walking on tombs as you inspect a random church, you’re looking at century’s old art at the pub and you see in the day-to-day art forms that have long since begun to vanish in the colonies.

So naturally – I saw a lot of spinning and weaving in the museums and galleries I almost lived in for three weeks.

And a lot of these representations of spinsters - antiquated, libido killing, grandma worker – was looking

… Well

it was looking little sexy…

Turns out spinning was not always perceived as an utterly repulsive unsexy act.

Tits out spinning in Jeune Fille de Megasre
by Ernest Barrias
currently located at Musee De Orrasy

Spinning used to be ubiquitous. Everyone of all genders needed to spin for there to be enough fibres for clothes. This is why spinning terminology is so deeply woven into our language. And at one point – it became women’s work. Then everything went tits up.

That spinning was integral to daily life is a double-edged sword historically. It means there are plenty of information and artifacts related to spinning that have survived, sometimes for thousands of years, however it is significantly harder to pinpoint what spinning represented in art or what cultures sprung up around the practise.

When it comes to spinning and romance, I have heard rumours that:

- To propose in some Nordic cultures, a man would carve his beloved a distaff

- That young men would steal dropped spindles and only return them after receiving a kiss from its owner

- That young women spinning together in public was a prime flirting ground

- That spinning was a symbol of virtue but a niddy noddy (a yarn winder) was a symbol of temptation

- That sex workers were often spinners by day as the two industries were the only real means of financial independence a woman could earn

Unfortunately, all of these fabulous stories are hard to find reliable sources on.

Any area of industry with the misfortune to be deemed women’s work will always be doomed to the darkest crevasses of the archives.

But through the surviving art we see there must have been some connection to salaciousness,

Fresco on the ceiling of Le Louvre depicting the Fates spinning the thread of a man’s life inclusive of some sapphic adjacent full frontal nudity. Unknown artist.

romance,

The ideal domestic life showing in La Famille
by Luc Olivier Merson
Currently located at Musee D’Orsay

and the dance between temptation and virtue.

A will they won’t they of the ages
Man and Woman at Spinning Wheel
by Pieter Pietersz
currently located in The Rijksmuseum

Why the connection between spinning and sexiness (or lack of sexiness)?

Discounting the obvious fact that artists just love drawing boobs, and that distaffs, spindles and rolags can be rather phallically shaped… (above is what my first attempt at spinning looked like). There is something to be said about the actions of women simply never existing outside of male eroticisation. Once spinning became the domain or women it was doomed to become the kink of men.

Whether adoration, repulsion or judgement the actions of a woman will always be put through a filter of judgement in a patriarchal society. As spinning became something young women did less and older women did more it became desexualised. And as the craft has faded from memory so too has many of our associations.

Until spinster is just a word that means unwanted.

What are we left with? A world where spinning contains multitudes, but only when multitudes participate. Spinning is out of favour now but how fickle the tastes of society can be.

In the 70’s there was a spinning revival, flat pack wheels were sent out and everyone was making their own yarn again. Part of me wonders if it was sexy then but I am not going to bring the topic up with 80-year-old Carmel next time I see her at the Guild.

Every year the guild seems to get younger and busier. While I do not long to be the object of lust, it would be nice not to be considered as freak when I pull out my drop spindle in class.

Spinning is meditative, portable, and cheap. It makes something lovely and you can get reasonably good at it in a few hours. It is the perfect hobby for a generation who were addicted to fidget spinners not that long ago.

Hell, we are already seeing a uptake of 20-30 somethings who delved too deep like me. With more people exploring the craft, maybe spinning will bloom again.

If we get really lucky, maybe one day it will once again be de rigueur to spin tit’s out together.

I was dragged out of the classes where basic grammar was being taught and I was given phonics “lessons”. I was cloistered in a tiny dark room leaving me alone only with a VHS tape on a buzzy CRT Television …

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I like to stop by and say hello to them from time to time, as if they are my old friends. En route, I spied a striking pot out of the corner of my eye. Last time I visited, I didn’t know much about ceramics and had no memory of the works on display.

After an embarrassing conversation with a pottery collector (in which I could not name a single ceramicist off the top of my head who hadn’t moonlighted on The Great Pottery Throw Down) I have committed this year to researching the styles and techniques of at least 16 ceramists. Out of pure happenstance, I stumbled upon the first 6 that day at the NGV.

1. Greg Daly

Website: http://www.gregdaly.com.au/

Key Techniques: Incredible use of glazes, most specifically lustre glazes. Each work is a smorgasbord of bright vibrant colours seamlessly flowing into each other with strong streaks and splashes of metallic or bold hues. Sometimes a perfect gradient and sometimes incredibly defined, Daly exemplifies his mastery despite the fluid nature of the materials. He has very helpfully listed the pots on his website by technique and glaze, which allows for an appreciation for the multitude of techniques he utilises.

Summary of style: Unafraid and striking. Each pot is a showstopper with its bold use of colour, lustre and form. He is a classic potter in that he lets only one aspect of the work take the spotlight, often leading to a final work that somehow manages to be both simple and extravagant. The result is mesmerising.

Why this artist: It was Daly’s work which drew me through several rooms to view it closer - having seen it in the distance from the foyer of the 2nd floor. The NGV has acquired several of his works but the one currently on display is Morning Mist. The skilled use of lustre glaze dripping towards the off centre but beautifully compressed opening gives one the impression of a meteor in flight.

Favourite work: Morning Mist - 2015

2. Kohl Tyler

Website: https://www.kohltyler.com.au/

Key Techniques: Tyler describes her technique as a combination of coiling and slab building. The results are these larger-than-life organic forms that take advantage of the strengths of both techniques, specifically the fluidity and asymmetry they allow for. She does this while presenting a remarkable feeling of lightness.

Summary of style: Tyler’s work is frilly and alive, almost mimicking the shape of floating, scrunched up fabric frozen in time. The folds are meticulous and emphasized by a careful and consistent off-white glazing.

Why this artist: These truly entrancing forms are made even more spectacular by their size. Not only are they technically impressive, the choice of stark bleached-coral white is a beautiful example of exactly what art should be – a cohesive message without words. Before you read Tyler’s artist statement you understand her vision.

Favourite work: Esse II – Vessels for the By and By series - 2025

3. The Hermannsburg Potters

Website: https://www.hermannsburgpotters.com.au/ (My favourite website!)

Key Techniques: These beautiful hand build jars and all topped with a thematic sculpture. The pots themselves and painstakingly decorated with a fantastically opaque underglaze that spares no detail. The NGV has created a wonderful set of resources for schools which shows the potters hand building process step by step. (https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/school_resource/hermansburg-potters-indigenous-art-football-and-community-education-resource/)

Summary of style: This collective of artists have such mastery of under glazing, applying it in a way that completely covers the pot in even and bold tones. The paintings are seamless (see the website for a full 360 highlighting this) which is an artistic challenge well worth the resulting immersive (almost POV) experience for the viewer.

Why this collective: The jars epitomise a movement currently growing in Australian Art of the enshrinement of the domestic and routine unique to the artists country. While Naarm and other urban hubs are producing incredibly talented artists reflecting city living, The Hermannsburg Potters reflect their own life and country holistically. This work brings the viewer viscerally into the perspective of the individual potter and their relationship to their home, history and culture. The works range from joyful, calm, melancholy and funny. The paintings do not feel like an afterthought (as is so often the case in pottery) but an integral aspect to the work.

Favourite work: I’m black (Nicky Winmar) – By Rona Panangka Rubuntja - 2015

4. Amy Kennedy

Website: https://www.amykennedyceramics.com/artworks

Key Techniques: Hand building with paper thin ‘slabs’ that have been bent, layered and glazed in such a way that every layer is perfectly connected. Gaps are not only clear and intentional but folded in a manner that makes the whole work feel organic and alive in the comparatively uncanny way that anemones and plants experience life.

Summary of style: Kennedy uses this paper-thin layered technique to create these organic coral-like shapes. The style is also reminiscent of tree bark – specifically paper bark in or scribbly gums from its layering and strong curved shapes respectively. Occasionally she will juxtapose this technique with a flat surface. This works to further drawing in further comparison to sea creatures cloistered in their shells as she surrounds the layered organic mass with a clean finish.

Why this artist: I am entranced by the organic fragility of her work. The mastery on display in the delicate use of the clay and ensuring that it is not drowned in the glaze. Each work has such a strong form and texture that one can almost feel the sculpture under your fingers just as you trace your eyes around the work.

Favourite work: Dissolving Cloud - 2019

5. Naomi Eller

Website: https://www.naomieller.com/

Key Techniques: Eller excels in the creation of sculptures roughly finished and delicately painted with oils, wax and shellac to emphasise it’s bodily fleshy form.

Summary of style: Sometimes figurative but primarily abstract, Eller is not afraid of the grotesqueness of nature and the human condition. She delicately finds the haunting appeal in the unformed and unsymmetrical. Her work is reminiscent of the rusted and deformed and evidence of why both a deserving of your attention.

Why this artist: Challenging and engaging work and if nothing else - I’ve never seen ceramics look like meat before.

Favourite work: If not stones, then bones - 2015

6. Karen Black

Website: https://www.karenblack.com.au/

Key Techniques: Large handbuilt sculptures and pots which explore the movement and life ceramics can embody through rough finishing and strikingly bold glazes and oxides.

Summary of style: Black understands and plays with form, abstracting the human body and also traditional pottery forms (which in the ancient Greek tradition were often inspired by the shapes of the body). Through this she effectively marries ancient pottery techniques to her modern artistic expression.

Why this artist: A multidisciplinary artist Black tends to work in larger than life oil paintings that abstract the figure in bold colours. Shown together, the scale and impact of her ceramic work seems demure. However, taken alone there is a fantastic scale, variety, mastery of glazes and hand building techniques used to explore figurative expression. It is clear how her experience with both art forms intertwines to enhance her expertise in both mediums.

Favourite work(s): Wild,Kind - 2024. Unsurprisingly this point this work is organic and grotesque inspired by an nature and sat in a relaxed pose while covered in a pink glossy glaze that makes it look like a skinned body. Honourable mention goes to Rooftop at Night - 2016 as I cannot stop thinking about how Black applied the glaze and lustre to create faces that only appear as you draw close.