About the Program

Ceramic artist Mandi Thorpe was Artist in Residence in 2017, supporting a whole-school project in which students created 650 individual three-dimensional red-glazed terracotta poppies for a Remembrance Day display. Inspired by the installation at the Tower of London commemorating those who died at Flanders Fields, the poppies were mounted on metal rods and installed on the bank of the small oval for a whole-school Remembrance Assembly. In addition, Mandi worked with Year 6 students to produce a series of large ceramic flowers.

About the Artist

Mandi Thorpe is an Australian ceramicist whose practice focuses on contemporary ceramics, working across sculptural and functional forms. Her work explores the material qualities of clay, with an emphasis on surface texture, form, and the balance between utility and artistic expression.

Thorpe’s ceramics are grounded in a studio-based approach, often reflecting a sensitivity to natural processes and hand-built techniques. Her practice sits within the broader field of contemporary craft, where traditional methods are reinterpreted through a modern aesthetic lens.

She has contributed to exhibitions and craft-focused contexts where contemporary ceramics are presented as both functional objects and sculptural works, highlighting the evolving place of ceramics within Australian art practice.