Once a year, the Mud Trail invites the rest of us into the potters’ world. On entering the artists’ studios, we catch a glimpse of the way conceptual ideas become form. There’s something magical about artists’ studios that fires our imagination. Mud Trail enthusiasts, Susan and Peter Jacobson, feel privileged to enter these spaces. “Being a visual artist, I’m curious to see how other artists set things up, how they work and how they practise,” says Susan. “In a gallery, we see the finished piece – but on the Mud Trail there’s the chance to talk to the person who made the object, to see the journey behind the product and to hear its story.”
The growing success of this year’s Mud Trail reflects the move towards hand-crafted goods where ceramics are taking centre stage. The Mud Trail also taps into our long-held fascination with artists’ studios. But, aside from being about artists and studios, the Mud Trail is a model of small businesses coming together to promote their individual stories under one banner.
(Article appeared in Verandah Magazine
www.verandahmagazine.com.au/mud-trail-model-merrier/