An inquisitive, inventive approach and a unique ability to explore outside the usual expectations of clay as a material are characteristic of the work of Amy Kennedy. These forms are ingenious and original, extremely risky and very exciting. A meticulous scientific approach has led to the development of unique materials facilitating experiments with the lifting of traditional thin covering glaze layers - transforming them from an external surface into the building material itself. Extensive testing and development has produced bodies strong enough to form fine, paper-thin filaments of ceramic material to be slowly and laboriously built up into compacted, intimate and tightly layered objects. References to other media abound in this work with intriguing hints to paper, silken fabric, delicate undercarriages of mushrooms and even delicious mille-feuille pastries. Survival of these pieces in the kiln is clearly miraculous, a feat of courage, determination and great persistence.  There is a quiet energy and flowing movement in this work, hints of a gentle wind over grassland, a swirling whirlpool, the passing of seasons, human growth and change.

Written by Prue Venables, Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft. Written in 2014 to accompany the exhibition Important Exhibition of Australia Ceramics, a tribute to Janet Mansfield OAM (1934-2013), Mossgreen Gallery, Melbourne

Photography by Christopher Sanders, Deb Garrett, Jeremy Dillon, Andrew Barcham.