EIGHT years ago, Nicci Parry-Jones took the bold move to follow her passion.
She sold her house and belongings and moved into a shed on the Sunshine Coast to begin working full time as a potter.
“It was an amazing experience to be immersed in it full-time,” she recalled.
Nicci began making pottery 30 years ago as a young mum when she first lived on the Tamborine Mountain. At the time she was making fantasy pieces, like fairy castles.
She later went on to do more formal study, first at Tafe and then completing a Bachelor of Arts in arts history and communication her 50s.
“It really informed my work. I was studying all the different art eras,” she said.
Studying her BA also allowed her to explore pottery making and its ancient techniques overseas, including a week as artist in residence at Kuala Lumpa’s Islamic Art Museum.
After falling in love with her friend of 25 years, Steve Morgan, following the death of his wife – who was also a close friend of Nicci’s – she moved back to the mountain to be with him.
“When Jo passed away, we kept in contact and fell in love and I am still besotted,” she shared.
“We just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.
“It was both comforting and odd moving back. Comforting because it’s such a beautiful place and like coming home, but odd because of the life I’d had in between. I had different eyes coming back. When I was here in the 80s it was as a young mum.”
From her tranquil home she established her well-known studio and gallery, PJ Pottery, running classes in ceramics.
Her passion is her Steampunk pieces.
“It includes elements of the industrial age and mixes different genres within the same piece which is known as anachronistic,” she explained.
“There’s not many people doing Steampunk ceramics, and for me it was a natural fit because I’m an over decorator, so the style allowed me to really challenge myself. The more eccentric and detailed it is the better it is.
“You’d think the natural environment would come into my pieces but it’s really just the serenity and the wonder of nature that inspires me, rather than translating the trees and natural flora up here.”
Travelling the world and immersing herself in different cultures is Nicci’s other passion and she said she’s travelled a lot around the world.
“It gets you out of your comfort zone and you learn so much visiting different cultures. You realise Australia is such an easy country to live in,” Nicci said.
Nicci said she has a love for the Spanish language and was keen to be able to converse with her Argentinian friends, so she set out to become proficient in the language.
“For ten years I had a goal to go to as many Spanish speaking countries as I could: Spain, Mexico, Los Angeles and Argentina,” she listed.
“Some of them were pottery related. I spent a week with a Spanish potter exchanging skills.”
“I discovered a cheap way of travelling was to book in to do an immersive language course. You got cheap accommodation and stayed with a host family who would speak only Spanish and it was more immersive than just staying in hotels,” she said.
“It’s an awesome way to travel.”
Her wanderlust is far from over and she’s now busy planning a trip to Ubud, in Bali in May to do a masterclass in soda firing.
‘I’m so enthusiastic that four of my students are coming,” Nicci said.
She explained that soda firing is a process where the kiln is fired with combustibles like wood or gas and when it gets to a certain temperature packets of soda are put in, which fumes the inside of the kiln creating a glaze.
“It’s a very extraordinary effect. I’m going to come back and build a soda fire kiln,” she smiled.
Nicci was fortunate to get a grant towards the cost of the trip through the Scenic Rim Regional Council and Queensland Government’s Regional Arts Development Fund.
“My husband doesn’t know this yet but I’m already planning a trip with a former student to go to Korea and do a throwing master class later this year,” Nicci revealed.
When not in her studio or jetting off around the world Nicci takes every opportunity to get out into her garden, which she described as a work in progress.
“We got married in the garden and it had a major makeover. We extended a sub-tropical area so we could get married on it,” she said.
“After living in a very cold climate in New South Wales for 25 years where nothing grows easily, coming to Tamborine Mountain is such a joy. Pretty much everything I plant grows.”
Nicci also sits on the board of Ceramics Arts Queensland and is involved with Tamborine Mountain Arts Collective, showcasing her work each year at their Arts Trail.
This year she will be in Bali, so won’t be able to open her studio but she hopes to have sculptures in Main Street and at a sculpture walk.
