Womb Within
Paula Bowie
Womb Within (detail) 2026
Wheel-thrown Bennetts Stoneware
40 x 26 x 26 cm
About the Artwork
This vessel invites your inward gaze. Don’t resist. Let her pull you in.
These individual and meticulously crafted pieces nestled inside this saggar-fired mother. She speaks of hidden layers, passages of time, the offering of shelter and refuge. She speaks of the Earth, of ancient things yet to be discovered.
This vessel is painted with hand-made slip and fine sapphires collected on my fossicking journeys in northwest Queensland. She offers a universal story that we all know instinctively.
About the Artist
Paula Bowie is a full-time ceramic artist residing in Quandamooka Country, Macleay Island. Following formal art studies, she completed a Diploma of Ceramics at Dapto TAFE, NSW with tutor Steven Harrison and Lawrence Mearing.
Bowie has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions across Queensland and the south coast of New South Wales, with an exhibition history spanning the Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Cleveland, Emerald, the Moreton Bay region, the Granite Belt and Gerringong, where she held her first exhibition.
Her practice explores the sculptural potential of voluminous forms, drawing inspiration from the timeless presence and material language of ancient art.
Bowie is captivated by clay’s tactile responsiveness, using challenging forms, bold textures and intricate mark-making to create vessels of distinctive character.