• Jane trained in Australia and at the Mingei studio in Shussai-Gama, Japan
• She makes gestural vessels from terracotta partially covered in slip
• She teaches her unique method of 'slow clay' in a ceramic school she co-founded

Inspired by a ceramics conference with Michael Cardew, Jane Sawyer took the long path of apprenticeships in Australia and in a Japanese pottery in the 1980s. This gave her a holistic framework to forge her unique style of gestural ceramics. Slowing down the wheel enables her to shape her vessels more spontaneously. To make her pieces, Jane breaks the rules of symmetry to reveal the plasticity of clay. "A cream slip accentuates the rich terracotta colour," she explains. Her vessels have a strong tactile sense, allowing the user to trace the hands of the maker. She shares this approach in the ceramics school she set up, Slow Clay Centre. For Jane, ceramics connect to the deep time of natural forces. She holds an MFA degree by research and is active in a number of collectives that support environmental values and is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.