The artist Auguste Rodin once said, “Where did I learn to understand sculpture? In the woods by looking at the trees, along roads by observing the formation of clouds, in the studio by studying the model, everywhere except in the schools.”

From her hands to the wheel and into the kiln, the work of local ceramicist Bridget Bodenham traces a similar ethos.

“I am inspired by friends, people doing interesting things, visiting nurseries and just looking at the plant world,” says Bridget. “I've been in this region, pretty much 30 years. Moved down from the Sunshine Coast. So I was very much a beach child on the sand and now very much immersed in the forest.“

“Daylesford’s got such a rich, goldmining, quartz and clay area. I don't use a lot of natural surrounding materials, but it definitely informs my work in terms of its textures and tones.” 

Bridget takes inspiration from the interactions she shares with the world that is closest to her, “My latest love is my garden. There's so many plants that are growing at the moment. I do love the full roundness of the succulent genus and how that has an amazing protruding flower at certain times of the year, but it's a kind of plump, round shape.”

Clay making, like gardening, flourishes at the mercy of the elements. Bridget adds, “And then I've got lots of grasses that are sort of wispy and that's in my work too, I guess that delicate kind of nature.”

Bridget works full time making ceramic serving ware, tableware, utensils and jewellery as well as planter pots and flower vases. The objects are functional, handmade and thoughtful. On her website, she offers a foraged vase in a milky matte glaze, a clear glaze goblet with gold pearls dressed around its base and a petal plate with moss-like speckle drops. 

She describes her style as natural elegance. “There's so many different strains to my work, it’s got a very natural feeling about it; raw surfaces and textures, but then elegance comes from the refined shape or the bits of lustre and gold that I use over different areas.”

Bridget’s work draws on her past, a life moulded by the art world. “My dad was a sculptor, he’s passed away. He sculpted in bronze and clay. My mum's an art restorer.” She was always fascinated with the raw materials and its ability to transform into something personal and everlasting. 

While formally studying art in Ballarat, Bridget became interested in sculptors from the 40s, the likes of Giacometti and Henry Moore, for their attentive observations of the way form grows in nature.

“I love the idea that you can interact with a scale that you can lift up. I guess the natural world in that sense is like picking up a shell, or a rock, or something that's been created in nature. I’ve tried to emulate that in a formal piece that could be either used or admired.”

For Bridget, the fateful interaction completes the cycle. “When someone actually is served something warm and nourishing, like a hot drink of something in one of my cups. That brings me a lot of joy - to have something shared from one hand to another.”