Meet the Makers: Shannon Garson Porcelain
After graduating from high school, ceramicist Shannon Garson left her Sunshine Coast hinterland home to explore the world. Now, there’s nowhere she’d rather be.
In the mornings, from her pottery studio on the ground floor of the Queenslander she shares with her husband and children, Shannon Garson can hear a chorus of birdsong. Honeyeaters swoop and dart among the grevilleas and macadamia trees in her backyard as the artist plans her day’s creation.
A painter and potter who grew up in Maleny, Shannon appreciates the idyll all the more, having left it for art college in Brisbane, an apprenticeship, of sorts, with the ceramic artist, Clairy Laurence, and overseas travel. “I came back because Maleny is special,” she says. “Subtropical climates are quite rare. Because it’s high, the temperatures are cooler and the colours are different.”
Image credit, above and top: Hannah Puechmarin.
Shannon set herself up as a ceramicist, hand-throwing elegant shapes in porcelain and covering them with drawings inspired by the natural world. Now an established artist, she opens her studio by appointment and gives others the chance to experience the bucolic lifestyle of a Sunshine Coast hinterland artist through workshops at her home. “My work and my life are the same thing,” she says.
Her top small business tips
Stick together: Shannon Garson says the local community is vital. “I exhibit work in shops and hold pop-ups and events. If you give the community love, they give it right back.”
Social media matters: Use social media to get your work out into the world, she advises. “You can connect to anyone through the internet. I get asked to go to conferences and talks and do workshops in other countries. It’s amazing.”
