Amelia Black collects shadows in clay. Working with Australian terracotta, she projects shadows from the surrounding landscape onto burnished surfaces, then etches away layers with water — inscribing echoes of light onto material shaped by deep geological time.
Her practice sits at the intersection of poetic making and rigorous inquiry. After more than a decade in design research and sustainability innovation, including work with IDEO and other mission-driven organisations, Black brings systems thinking and qualitative research methods to questions of material ethics in contemporary ceramics.
As part of Clay Matters, she co-leads the Material Provenance Project — collaborating with artists, community studios, and industry partners to map Australian clay sources and build greater transparency across the supply chain. She works with local clays and reclaimed waste materials, tracing where they come from and how they move through cultural, environmental, and industrial networks.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria and Princessehof Keramiekmuseum, Netherlands. She has written for the Journal of Australian Ceramics and Garland Magazine, teaches at Slow Clay Centre, and serves on the Board of Directors of The Australian Ceramics Association.
ameliablack@gmail.com
@ameliablackceramics