April 2019

30 MEREDITH and DISTRICT NEWS
A Leap into Rural Life
Marg Cooper
In 2015 Tina Thorburn quit her job at a university based
research institute and threw herself into life as a full time
potter. Despite studying a Bachelor of Biomedicine,
followed by a double Master of Journalism, and
International Development Tina knew academia was not
for her, and instead set up a studio at her father’s 20 ha
farm at Anakie. It was a leap of faith! Starting Clay by
Tina was one thing, it was another to leave behind the city
life and dreams of an academic career. Thankfully a
combination of luck, hard work and the rise in handmade
art has meant Tina’s little business is thriving.
Tina found that living and working in Anakie was great,
she could do her own thing in her own time without any
pretence. She particularly enjoyed the freedom from the
city hustle, and the ability to have a menagerie of animals
to keep her company.
But she knew she couldn’t live at home forever, and after
securing a home loan she moved into her own studio and
house at 43 Staughton Street, Meredith in late 2018. The
shop building recently house Synot’s Sweets but had
previously been a store run by John Cook Synot and later
by his daughter Ada.
Tina’s father, Craig, and a workmate have spent countless
hours insulating the shop and making it suitable to live in
along with fixing up fences and making the studio
workable. The old shed has been converted into a bright
working studio to accompany a comfortable home with
modern amenities.
Balancing country life with the pull of friends in the city,
Tina spends some of her time back in Melbourne teaching
ceramic workshops and co-running the Melbourne
Ceramic Market which runs a couple of times a year.
Landing on ceramics as a career and ending up in the
country have been unexpected surprises for Tina. She
always enjoyed art at school but always thought a
professional career was more suitable. But she didn’t
enjoy working in academia and “on the spur of the
moment” decided to enrol in a eight week pottery course
back in 2014. Luckily it piqued her interest and with the
recent resurgence of ceramics, Tina decided to pursue it as
a career. In an effort to continue to grow her knowledge,
she has just started a Graduate Diploma of Ceramics at
Federation University in Ballarat.
Tina’s pottery is oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.
She uses sandy clay from her birthplace, California, USA
and lots of pastel shades of glazes inspired by the local
environment. The pottery items are bisque fired to
1000ºC, glazed and then fired at 1300ºC. She is forever
trying new techniques and testing new designs, ideas and
glaze applications and is passionate about informing the
public about the ceramic process.
Tina has recently had an exhibition called “A Leg Up: 100
Planter Project” at the Boom Gallery in Geelong. The
exhibit consisted of 100 planters, each with unique legs
with a portion of the sales going to support Diversitat, a
charity based in Geelong and Colac.
Tina Thorburn—an inspiring
artist to welcome to Meredith!