Day: July 2, 2020

Raised by a family of creative women who used craft as an avenue for creative and financial independence, Ebony Russell is fascinated with the feminist agency her ceramics practice holds.

‘Looking back now, I can see how my love of art was shaped by the craft practices of my mother, aunts and grandmothers,’ she explains. ‘The skills that were passed down through the traditions from both sides of my immigrant family, shaped my love of craft and art from an early age. I was always surrounded by women making things for love and for family.’

Surrounded by this web of artistic maternal influences, Ebony knew she wanted to be an artist from an early age. After 15 years of full time teaching (and raising two daughters!), Ebony finally returned to study in her late thirties. She graduated from a Master’s of Fine Arts from the National Art School in Sydney

Keryn Nossal and her partner found this oddly-shaped slice of bushland perched atop a sand dune in St Andrews Beach in 2000. Though Keryn was drawn to the wild ocean and rugged coastline, neighbours thought they were mad for purchasing the difficult, sloping block which had become a staple vacancy on the local real estate market.

But there is, as they say, a fine line between insanity and genius.

In the two decades since purchasing the site, the Nossals have added a four-bedroom private retreat to the half-acre property. The pair engaged architect Aidan Halloran from ITN Architects to realise their vision of a modernist-inspired seaside haven. It took eight years to complete the landscaping, and the couple added a basic beach shack to the site two years later. The impressive main house that now sits beside that shack was eventually built in 2006.

‘I was inspired to build a