The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 51 No 2 July 2012

Humpybong panel in Situ
at Charfish Park, RedchHe
Photographer:
Tony Webdale
everyone comes in saying "we embrace your philosophy Stephanie". My bread and butter are largescale
collaborations, and they're not the icing on the cake, because I haven't had the icing on the cake
yet. Well, emotionally I may have, but financially I haven't gotten to the soft, sugary, delicious, let-meroll-around-in-cream
joy of the giant superannuation payout stuff yet.
It's true that Stephanie has an optimistic approach to the whole process, and one cannot help but
resort to cliches when describing how she talks about the project. It's the sparkle in her eye, the big
beaming smile, that makes it more than obvious that she simply loves working with clay and people.
For Stephanie, using her experience and technical knowledge to assist others who have conceptual
goals but are not sure of how to get there, is "the icing on the cake" .
SOF: I think collaborations can be better than the efforts of the individuals. There is a power in a
collaboration that's beyond me making work or Megan making work or every single person in the
community making work. The sum of the parts is greater than the parts in isolation. I think it's really
worth it when you do something that's important to people's hearts and emotions. I thought years
ago when I was training that we were becoming dehumanised; we were being identified by a lot of
numbers and getting more PINs and were increasingly not able to speak to humans face-to-face. This is
the opposite of that. This is about the heart and soul and beliefs and trusts and efforts of real people, in
real places.
Stephanie Outridge Field: ceramicist, curator and writer, 0417 886 185
Megan Cope: artist and curator, 0405 543 787; http://nutmegandhoney.blogspot.com.au
Hamish Swain: freelance writer, 0418 455 101
Tony Webdale: freelance photographer, 0401 816912
THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 2012 35