Chris McHugh - Journey II: Clarity and Purpose
Chris McHugh - Journey II: Clarity and Purpose
Chris McHugh, Journey II: Clarity and Purpose
Ceramic, 12cm high x 24cm wide
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Originally from Scotland and based in Sydney, Chris McHugh works from his studio at Claypool on Bidjigal land (Botany, Sydney). His relationship with clay began in 2018 and continues to evolve – grounded and supported by the Claypool community.
McHugh’s wheel-thrown forms explore structure and presence. His work is influenced by Japanese, South Korean, and Australian ceramic traditions, and guided by the mentorship of artists including Brett Stone and Kaz Davis. His vessels reflect a philosophy that embraces process over perfection, finding beauty in truth and vulnerability. For McHugh, clay, like life, resists control, invites attention, and reveals its form over time. Making on the potter’s wheel offers McHugh a different way of being - a space to be present, to remove the mask, and to connect with himself without judgement. Each form becomes a quiet rejection of performance, and a celebration of authenticity and depth.
This is McHugh’s first public exhibition - marking both a personal milestone and an invitation to reflect on life’s journey through the vessel.
“Boys Don’t Cry” explores the paradox of modern masculinity: the external pressure to embody strength, control, and success alongside the internal yearning for softness, presence, and emotional truth. I often carry the weight of roles shaped by expectation - provider, leader, father, husband. These roles, while deeply meaningful, are often performed under the watchful gaze of judgement and the quiet fear of failure. There is a quiet ache that lives in the gap between who a man is, and who he is expected to be… and in that gap, identity becomes blurred, shaped more by performance than truth.
At the wheel, that pressure dissolves. The clay doesn’t care who I am supposed to be. It invites me to be exactly as I am. In the act of making, I am allowed to fail. I am allowed to feel. I am allowed to begin again. There is no scoreboard - only presence. The wheel becomes a space where fragility is not something to hide, but something to honour. Each form is born from a place of tension - between collapse and strength, between instinct and control. I work slowly, letting the clay guide the process. The ridges, the warps, the irregularities: they are not corrected. They are kept. They speak to life lived honestly.
This practice gives me access to a part of myself that doesn’t need to perform. A place where vulnerability becomes strength, mistakes are embraced, and identity is not assumed but revealed. The work is personal. It is not a solution or a statement of certainty, but rather a response to the complexity of being a man in transition. In the studio, I let go of who I think I need to be, and I make space for who I actually am.
Shipping:
Artwork is available for collection or shipping after the closing date of the exhibition, August 17th 2025.
This piece can be shipped for $35 anywhere within Australia, with an additional $5 added for each extra product purchased through our online store - select shipping option > SMALL ARTWORK AUSTRALIA WIDE FLAT RATE at the checkout.
All online artwork sales are final and no refunds or returns will be accepted.
