Ceramic artist to showcase new work on mud trail

CERAMIC artist Lauren Hotson will be one of the new creatives featured in this year’s North Coast Mud Trail, with hundreds expected to attend the region’s biggest ceramics event.

The Ballina-based artist has been honing her craft for more than 20 years and will be part of the two-day event on August 16 to 17.

Hotson has lived and worked around the world before moving to the Northern Rivers three years ago. She will showcase her work at Studio Suvira in Mullumbimby during the trail.

“It’s a rich and vibrant group of makers up here and I joined North Coast Ceramics to network and get involved in the community,” she said.

“I’ve had my hands in clay for a few decades now, but I’ve never really pushed myself to do markets or anything like that.”

Her work includes hand-built sculptural botanical assemblages and vessel-based forms that blur the line between artefact and living object.

She has been a finalist for awards across the state and won at the Byron Bay Art Fair last year.

This month, she will also exhibit at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina, featuring pieces inspired by the ocean and coastal formations.

“I’m heavily influenced by the world around me and that coastal rock formation is part of that,” she said.

“I spent a lot of time on the south coast during the pandemic and that’s where that influence originated.

“I also have a lot of botanical and floral embellishments coming out in my work at the moment.

“The sculptural decorative work will be part of my stall at the mud trail, and I’ll also have the functional bowls, cups and mugs people might want to take home.”

The North Coast Mud Trail will feature 33 artists at 22 studio locations, with pop-up workshops and demonstrations.