Australian Wood Firers' United

EVENTS

In 2023, AWFU has established and sponsored an award for best wood fired work, in conjunction with one of Australia’s leading ceramic art prizes, the Siliceous award for excellence in ceramic arts, held Ceramic Arts Queensland

We are delighted that the family of renowned ceramic artist and wood firer, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, has given us permission to present the wood fired award in her name. We are pleased to honor one of Australia’s most significant artists and perhaps most internationally recognised ceramic artist in this way.

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The inaugural Gwyn Hanssen Pigott Wood Fired Award was presented in Ipswich in October 2023. To learn more about Gwyn Hanssen Pigott click here, and to see the work by finalists and the winner, click here.

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In previous years, AWFU has sponsored a number of events to promote wood fired ceramics in Australia. These include :

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• In 2017, the Ceramic Centre of Excellence (CCE), which was the forerunner of Australian Wood Firers United (AWFU), organised the 9th Australian International Woodfire Ceramics Conference in Cooroy, on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. This was is a four day international event for woodfired and other ceramic arts, featuring clay, music, food and fire. Activities included presentations, panel discussions, artist projects, demonstrations, artist talks, local wood firings and multiple exhibitions. This event was attended by over two hundred delegates and twenty national and international presenters. To learn more, read about it in this European publication, New Ceramics, here.
   

• In 2021, AWFU instigated a wood fired ceramics exhibition, "Flame Path", at Noosa Regional Gallery in Queensland. This featured a curated selection of wood fired ceramic art by 19 local, national and international ceramic artists who had significant engagement with the Sunshine Coast wood firing community. Wood fired works in the exhibition came from artists in Queensland,  Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, Korea, Japan, Singapore, NZ and USA. The exhibition was well received with strong visitor numbers to the gallery, and was promoted in several publications and on ABC radio. There was also a discussion panel convened with a number of the wood firing exhibitors at the gallery. To learn more, see further information here.
   

• In 2022, AWFU created and funded the Janet Mansfield Wood Fired Award at Gulgong . This award was established to encourage technical and artistic excellence of wood fired ceramic art at Clay Gulgong, a long running  biennial event that takes place in north-western New South Wales, Australia. It attracts hundreds of clay devotees and delegates and is globally recognised for its strong links with the field of ceramics. The inaugural JM wood fire award was jointly won by Su Hanna and Steve Williams for their significant bodies of wood fired work, strong examples of which were exhibited at Clay Gulgong in 2022.  For more information about Janet Mansfield and the work of the winners, click here.