Under My Skin III
Moraig McKenna
Under My Skin III (detail) 2026
Stoneware
Wood-fired salt glazed with underglaze transfers, porcelain slip and ash glaze
31 x 15 x 24 cm
About the Artwork
This work explores how our life experiences and accumulated knowledge are internalised, embodied, and ultimately expressed through creative practice. Over the past 10 years, I have travelled frequently to China, and the incredible diversity, deep history, and contemporary expression of Chinese ceramics have had a profound influence on my work. You could say that these experiences have truly seeped in ‘under my skin’.
Hand-built from large slabs of stoneware clay, Under My Skin III has been decorated with layers of surface texture, cobalt underglaze, and porcelain slip, then wood-fired and salt-glazed. The making and firing processes alternately reveal and obscure these layers, creating an interplay between presence and absence. The clay surface records experience and the passage of time, much like human skin or a landscape reveals the traces of what has been endured. Each mark and surface variation writes a unique narrative, reflecting the object’s journey and my experience as the maker.
About the Artist
Moraig McKenna is an accomplished ceramic artist currently based in Gundaroo, NSW. She has been working with clay since 1991, specialising in wood-fired and salt-glazed porcelain and stoneware. Moraig holds a Bachelor of Education from Melbourne University and a Master of Arts by Research from Southern Cross University.
Her contributions to the field have been acknowledged through her recent acceptance as a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and Accredited Professional Membership with Craft + Design Canberra. Moraig has earned several prestigious awards, including the Janet Mansfield Merit Award for Wood Fired Ceramics (2026), the Doug Alexander Award (2024), and the Art Unlimited Ceramics Award (2019).
She exhibits her work regularly, both in Australia and internationally. Her pieces are featured in public collections of the Canberra Museum and Gallery and Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue, China, and held in private collections in the USA, Singapore, and Australia.