Melody Brunton
Melody Brunton is a Sydney-based ceramic artist whose process-led practice explores gesture, movement, and material response through functional vessels. Working primarily on the wheel, she challenges the precise geometry of throwing through carving, alteration, and distortion. Layered slips, oxides, and glazes are central to her work, capturing the fluid transformation of materials at their melting point, while alternative firing techniques produce surfaces that can never be repeated.
Her practice is increasingly centred on local materials and glaze chemistry, investigating how clay, ash, minerals, and geological materials can embody a sense of place. Working on Dharawal Land, Melody draws on the surrounding landscape alongside her Japanese cultural heritage, which informs her approach to craftsmanship, material sensitivity, and everyday ritual.
Working with clay for over eleven years, Melody is represented by HAKE Gallery and has been a finalist in the Fisher's Ghost Art Award and the Little Things Art Prize. Alongside her studio practice, she works as a Technical Assistant at UNSW Art & Design and teaches through her own practice, Emi Ceramics. She is also the co-founder of the Sydney Ceramics Market, reflecting her ongoing commitment to supporting and strengthening Australia's ceramics community.
