Canberra Potters latest exhibition Not the Only Clay in the Village showcases the LGBTQIA+ community

Seven local artists, Alex Thatcher, Bella Insch, Georgie Bryant, James Collier, Maddie Tranter, Tahlia Duncan Kring and Tim Bisaro, are showing pieces that explore the idea of community. They all proudly identify as LGBTQIA+.

James Collier has been working with clay for about 20 years. It was clay that helped him through a deep depression in the decades before he transitioned about five years ago.

"Clay is a companion that doesn't give a shit about your labels or your pronouns, or whether you're a good feminist or whether you're betraying the sisterhood by changing to the other side," he said.

"It's just you and the clay and the clay is utterly forgiving, you can't make an irreparable mistake, you just recycle the clay and try again tomorrow. It's not going to hate you for it."

He has three different projects in the exhibit.

Intersectionality mixes two clay bodies together. It developed during his own transition as he came to terms with his new whole self.

Diversi-tea is a collection of teapots, jugs and cups.

"The right cup for one person feels very different to the right cup for another person," he says.

Eat, gay, love is a selection of celebratory platters and bowls.

Bella Insch studied visual arts, majoring in sculpture and drawing, and turned to clay during the pandemic.

"It has been an interesting couple of years," she says. "In some ways, I have never felt a stronger need to stay connected to my queer community and form new connections in the LGBTQIA+ space.

"My artistic practice has been influenced by the isolation of lockdown and personal narratives of loss and belonging."

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Her collection of works include a series of porcelain crucifixes and a set of hearts, all intricately detailed and expressive.

She's inspired by gothic and religious iconography.

"I don't identify with a Christian faith, but I have developed a deep appreciation for ornate and elaborate depictions of the feminine and sacredness," she says.

"My queerness is an important part of who I am, my identity, my sense of pride, I feel like it's hard earned in some ways and it comes into lots of things that I do."

Madelaine Tranter's work is inspired by Spoon Theory, developed by Christine Miserandino, as a way of explaining chronic illness.

"As a 'spoonie' myself, I find a lot of satisfaction in creating these spoons," she says.

Her collection of spoons can be used in a functional way, but she prefers to use them as tactile, calming fidgets to soothe herself.

"The depth and fluidity of glazes is an intriguing thing that reflects the journey myself and most LGBTQIA+ people go through as we find out about ourselves."