Hello, I’m Jena Bedson.
I’m a ceramic artist and educator living and working in Wurundjeri country, Warburton, a small village outside Melbourne, Australia.
I make a range of garden sculptures including sacred totems for memorial & meditation gardens, wall art, and layered clay planters.
My home, studio & garden are intricately woven together as extensions of my desire to be continually creative. They also allow me the freedom to live and work true to my intention.
Alongside my artwork, I also offer online workshops for those who desire to advance their knowledge and skills in the pursuit of creating Art with Soul.
My passion for creating tranquil and meditative spaces within my garden has led me to design a range of garden art. These pieces fit harmoniously into the landscape – sometimes whimsical & fun, always calm & serene.
My Creative Life.
For many years I made pots on the wheel with the emphasis on vessels used for eating and drinking. It came as a surprise to me to discover several years ago that I found as much pleasure in hand building my pieces as in wheel throwing.
Through hand building I’ve gained a deeper insight into my practice and the reasons I find so much satisfaction in the process.
The very act of expressing myself through clay awakens my senses and opens me to express myself more honestly and intuitively. When I listen to my heart and allow my intuition to guide me the more effortlessly the work unfolds.
In my studio practice I enjoy creating visual stories within landscapes. As a child my sister and I would would curate tiny vignettes in our garden for our dolls, within these miniature landscapes we would make up stories and play for hours. I often feel my current work reflects this time but on a larger scale.
I create a range of Garden Sculpture as its natural for me to embellish the landscape that surrounds me, to make my mark, this is my connection to “home”.
I find carving designs and creating texture on the clay completely absorbing, it has a meditative quality to it, my attention is totally focused on the work.
My ceramics encompass a range of different styles, my Layered Clay Vessels are a mixture of these textured and carved surfaces, organic & earthy layers of clay, embellished with driftwood and handmade beads.
Other more figurative pieces take on a story book like quality. These figurative works relate to my love of storytelling & my connection to the child within.
Symbolism and metaphor also play a role in my work, particularly with my large Totems. I make a series of shapes often inspired by the lush bush land & wildlife that surrounds my home. I then thread the pieces onto steel rods pressed into the earth. I often decorate my work with oxides, slips and underglazes.
Much of my time these days is spent designing & filming online ceramic workshops. I had been teaching in-house workshops from my home based studio for many years but decided to move my business online following the pandemic.
My interest in ceramics hasn’t waived over the years, inspiration arrives in many forms……the well never seems to run dry.
