Quiet Assembly
Jude Muduioa
Quiet Assembly (detail) 2025
LGH stoneware
Celadon, oribe, wood ash from a 75-hour wood firing
50 x 50 x 7 cm
About the Artwork
Quiet Assembly began with observations of reef systems in North Queensland and the complex structures that emerge through accumulation. Built from many small vessel forms joined into a circular arrangement, the work balances on a single point of support. Individually, each element appears modest; together, they create a structure that is both stable and precarious
As the work developed, I became interested in the relationships between the forms. No single vessel dominates. Instead, the piece relies on the contribution of each part, with meaning emerging through their interdependence. While informed by systems in nature, Quiet Assembly also reflects those between humans. Families, friendships, and communities are sustained through countless small acts that often go unnoticed. Like the forms within the work, their strength depends less on individual elements than on the connections between them.
What appears stable is rarely independent; the balance appears effortless until it isn’t.
About the Artist
Jude Muduioa is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based contemporary ceramic sculptor whose practice engages clay and material processes to examine themes of belonging, memory, care and collective experience.
Through repetition, accumulation and the transformation of ceramic forms, she produces sculptural works that reflect on how individual lives are shaped by and remain entangled with broader social and environmental contexts. Her practice considers the often-unseen structures that sustain communities, and the capacity of material to hold and communicate narratives of connection, resilience, and change.
Jude Muduioa has exhibited throughout Australia and in the USA. In 2026, she presented the solo exhibition Correspondence at Canberra Design and Craft, was selected as a finalist for the UNLEASHED exhibition at HOTA, undertook the Ipswich Artist Residency, and was a mentee in The SCCA Path Mentorship Program with Kellie O’Dempsey. In 2025, she presented the solo exhibition Fragments That Hold at Artisan and exhibited in ARTificial Intelligence at Webb Gallery, Griffith University. She was awarded the Emerging Artist Prize at the North Coast Ceramic Awards (2025), and was also a finalist in the SWELL Small Sculpture Prize (2025), the Siliceous Award for Ceramic Excellence (2025), and the North Queensland Ceramic Awards (2024).