Tanya Jaceglav is a multidisciplinary artist who was born in Kalgoorlie, grew up in New Zealand, and now calls Walyalup/Fremantle home. Out of her backyard studio, Tanya runs Forrest Road Studios, a place where she can connect with creativity, nature, and curiosity. Predominantly creating hand painted, slip cast ceramics, Tanya is drawn to colour, fun, and play.
Growing up in New Zealand, Tanya spent much of her school holidays with her grandparents, exploring their backyard wonderland full of flowers and vegetables with her sister. Her Nana didn’t drive and loved to walk and so they walked everywhere, noticing the trees and plants along the way, their unique patterns, colours, and shapes.
“My childhood was full of imagination, often sparked by time in their garden. I’d get lost for hours, talking to the flowers and making up stories.”
When Tanya and her sister weren’t playing outside, they would sit and draw for hours on their grandad’s old notepads. As a former journalist and writer, Tanya’s grandad was surrounded by pens and fountain ink, the girls mesmerised by his handwriting: a neat slant of italics across the page. Tanya’s Nana was also a talented sewer, handmaking clothes, toys, and Wombles for their church fete. In a granny flat at the back of her grandparent’s property lived Tanya’s Aunty Liz, a children’s librarian and travelling storyteller. Aunty Liz would collect dolls and curiosities from around the world to share with the children.
“Between them – my grandparents and Aunty Liz – I was surrounded by stories, making, growing, and noticing. They gave me a love of creativity and a deep connection to nature that still shapes my work today.”
After graduating with a Fine Art degree from Southern Cross University in New South Wales, Tanya rented a studio space for her painting practice inside a ceramic studio. There, three of the resident potters were trained under Patsy Healy, an artist renowned for her slip casting work. Transfixed by the beauty of their pieces and process, Tanya’s love for porcelain began.
“I was drawn to slip casting because of the fineness of the form and the freedom it gives me to explore shapes that would be more difficult to achieve with hand building or wheel throwing.”
Speaking on her creative process, Tanya detailed that her days begin with early mornings in her vegetable garden, tending to her plants, chickens, and ducks. From there, she heads to her studio at the back of her home, its large north facing window overlooking her garden and chicken pen. Typically spending six or more hours in the studio, Tanya aims to start working each day at around 9am and wraps up for the day in the late afternoon. Tanya’s process begins with shaping an initial form.
“It’s always exciting. I love making organic shapes, usually whacking the clay around on my bench and seeing what starts to emerge.”
From this playful chaos, Tanya then responds to the shapes she has created and begins to refine the form.
“It’s important that I really love the form at this stage, since I’ll be making many of them from the mould.”
After a plaster mould is made from this original form, it must dry out for one month before Tanya can begin to use it in her casting process.
Each morning, Tanya aims to set up and pour clay slip into at least twenty pieces. When dry, a second pour is done using coloured slip, the whole process typically taking two to three hours, soundtracked by ABC Radio National. After lunch, Tanya shifts her focus and starts trimming, polishing, and painting her pieces with underglaze. Drawing inspiration right from the world outside her studio, Tanya often paints native birds and Western Australian native plants.
“Willamina, my resident Djiti-Djiti (Willy Wagtail) visits me in the studio, flittering about cleaning the insects from studio corners, standing nearby to watch me work, often suddenly finding herself immortalised in clay.”
Combining her two loves – ceramics and painting – allows Tanya to capture the beauty of the natural world with intimate detail.
“I worked as a painter for many years, and now I ger to bring that part of myself into my ceramics, combining the two mediums I care about the most.”
The meditative state that comes with the repetition of casting multiples brings Tanya a sense of quiet focus and rhythm. Slip casting paired with painting allows precision and play to combine; she creates a form with slip, then brings it to life with brushwork.
On Fridays, Tanya shares her studio with two of her students, Cecilia and Bridget. The three women trade skills and time; Cecilia, a musician and music teacher, spends her Fridays in the studio in exchange for a weekly music lesson teaching Tanya, and Bridget assists Tanya at exhibitions where she sells her work in exchange for time in the studio.
“These quiet rituals, shared moments and messy bits of making are what keep me coming back to the studio each day. It’s a rhythm I love, shaped by clay, birdsong, and the occasional Lucinda Williams ballad.”
Tanya hopes that her works spark a moment of curiosity, enough to make someone stop, take a look, and spend a moment with her pieces.
“There’s something special about seeing that kind of connection in a person… I often witness the joy on people’s faces as they engage with my pieces and that is such a rewarding feeling.”
Tanya further spoke about how she wants her work to resonate with people who care deeply about the natural world: birds, plants, and the environment around them. Tanya hopes her pieces can create a sense of community and connection, thoughtful moments that can be cherished and shared.
Images courtesy of Cecilia Brandolini and Tanya Jaceglav.