FOCUS: MATERIAL EDUCATION
Magpie song with audience; photo: Astrid Wehling
MAGPIES AND MUD THE VALUE OF A GOOD RESIDENCY PROGRAM
by Steve Kelly
Australians will tell you that a particularly moving moment for an expat who has just returned from abroad is the welcome they receive from magpies, whose complicated carol is synonymous with home. Magpies are a familiar part of the natural soundscape on much of the continent, but for me, a new arrival, the unfamiliar ruckus that startled me awake on my first morning at Sturt felt slightly less than welcoming. However, before long, I too developed a daily relationship with the handful of maggies that call the tree-covered hill in Mittagong, New South Wales, their home. I now see the strange pre-dawn crooning as a welcome. They said hello to me and I to them. I learned that a pair of magpies will dedicate their whole lives to one small patch of land, so these were the same birds each day. This was just one of the many surprises I could not have seen coming a year ago.
In 2022, I was home in Wilmington, North Carolina. My wife and I were out to dinner. We were dreaming, as we often do, about future travel. I said, “Someday before I leave this world, I want to go to Australia.” Ever the optimist, Maud said, “Put it out to the universe!” I rolled my eyes, but said, “Universe, I want to go to Australia!” When four months later I received an invitation to do a residency at Sturt, I knew I had to say yes. Thanks universe!
24 | THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS | JULY 2024