Amanda’s ceramic practice explores her interest in the nature around her home in South West Sydney and decorative elements from European architecture and design. She works in her home studio using porcelain or stoneware clays, creating colourful vessels and wall works using slab and coil techniques with sprig moulds to create textured, patterned surfaces. She mixes powdered stains into clay to develop her own colours, but never truly knows what a piece looks like until it has been fired.

Amanda is particularly drawn to the Australian birds seen in her urban landscape, such as Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Magpies and Lorikeets. Occasionally she sees a King Parrot or Eastern Rosella, but her favourite is the Yellow Tailed Cockatoo. She is influenced by European decorative traditions: stained glass, medieval manuscripts, heraldry, Gothic architecture and the richness of patterns in the wallpaper and fabrics of William Morris. She enjoys bringing these elements together to create contemporary Australian imagery and ceramics.