Maryke is a practicing ceramic artist, potter and arts educator with over 38 years of experience. 

Before moving to Canberra in 2002 to complete a Bachelor of Arts (Visual) degree with Honours, she taught ceramics at the New England Institute of TAFE (Tamworth Campus), during which time she attended many workshops, conferences and courses around the state to improve her skills and knowledge. 

“I have always been interested in surface and the ability to create a finish that speaks of layering and aging. In my exploration of soda glazing I have achieved surfaces that resemble lichens and weathered walls. The works provide a formal canvas to explore the surface and to set up conditions for effects that can never be precisely repeated. The unpredictable painting with fire on the clay over the controlled mark making and construction develops a dimension of tension between the organic and contrived, of nature and man. Like the forces of nature, unpredictability plays an important part in the process and the final outcome of the surface.” Maryke Henderson