Moving between her tiny spare room that doubles as a studio and store room and the electric wheel set up in a corner of her lounge room {and thankful for a “long-suffering and extremely supportive husband who tends to turn a blind eye to my creative endeavours as they devour the house”}, Catherine Keany of Sas and Fez creates wonderfully organic ceramics that have the  exuberant colour of Antoni Gaudi and the gentle stillness of a Giorgio Morandi painting.

 

sas and fez - stripe and spot ceramic collection

sas and fez – stripe and spot ceramic collection

 

“I have been lucky enough to do a lot of travelling so I am constantly influenced by the things I see. I recently saw Gaudi’s work in Barcelona and was absolutely blown away. The colour and creativity gave me the confidence to keep going with my current mindset. Ceramicists I am influenced by are Gwyn Hanssen Pigott and Pippin Drysdale. Their modern simple forms and clean colour palettes are stunningly elegant.”

 

sas and fez - sunny multi-coloured ceramic bottle

sas and fez – sunny multi-coloured ceramic bottle

 

Always busy making and drawing since she was small, Catherine first pursued studies in fashion design when she left school, but soon changed over to graphic design. She still works in this field, and enjoys the contrast of working in 2D on-screen, and coming home to work in the tactile 3D of clay. Whatever outlet she chooses, she thrives on being in ‘the zone’; “When I’m in the throes of a creative flow I get butterflies and an adrenalin rush and hours can pass by unnoticed – I love that feeling.”

 

sas and fez - multicolour 3 bottle collection

sas and fez – multicolour 3 bottle collection

 

Her foray into ceramics started a little while back when she was looking for a hands-on creative outlet and thought she’d give it a go at her local TAFE. “Once I was there I was hooked, I met great people and it is such an inexact science that it’s always interesting. I was making so much stuff that I was running out of people to give it to or places to store it so I had a market stall at work and sold most of my table which gave me the confidence to ask for money for my creations, so I started my Etsy store, SasAndFez {named for her two dalmations}. I wish I had more time to dedicate to it!”

sas and fez - cream oatmeal and black trim bottle

sas and fez – cream oatmeal and black trim bottle

 

It’s not just the making that has drawn her into ceramics. It’s the camaraderie that’s been built over time with other makers as well – “of celebrating the pieces that work or sympathising when a piece fails. Or standing around a hot fire waiting to see the treasures come out of the kiln after 12 hours of chatting and stoking the fire.”

 

sas and fez - black smoke fired saga ornamental bottles

sas and fez – black smoke fired saga ornamental bottles

 

She has two favourite pieces of advice that she interweaves ~

‘Don’t give up’

and

‘Life is for living’.

“I can’t give up being creative, I don’t know how!”

 

You can find more of Catherine’s ceramics, as well as some gorgeously chunky and colourful resin jewellery in her shop, SasAndFez.