Sassy Park

Sassy Park is a Sydney-based artist interested in the history of ceramics, objects and ideas. Her practice plays with the accepted purposes of domestic ceramics and with historical art genres, including the ceramic vessel and the figure. Through this work she explores and expands the boundaries of what ceramics are and what they can communicate in contemporary times.

*Little Pets* 2026
midfire clay with glaze
31.5 x 28 x 15 cm
Photo credit: Karl Schwerdtfeger

For Sassy the use of clay is a way to “memorialising the intimacies of the everyday." Her apothecary jars, egg cups, spill ware and figurative sculptures employ humour, scale and fine detail. They speak to histories of ancient terracotta statuettes and mass-produced nostalgic figurines but at the same time Sassy draws viewers into questions of vulnerability, representation and the moments that shape ordinary life.

Park's path to clay began with painting. "My parents quite contrarily encouraged me to go to art school from a young age, so making art has always been a part of my life," she says. After studying painting at Sydney College of the Arts, she found a new direction through her daughter. "When I saw my nine-year-old daughter's ceramic works made at her after-school classes, I was truly impressed by the sculptural qualities as well as the painterly surface of her pieces, and it sent me down the clay road for good. I was hooked on the endless possibilities of what clay can do and say." She went on to complete a Masters in Ceramics at the National Art School in 2018.

*PM's Promise* Apothecary Jar 2021
maiolica
17 x 10.5 x 10.5 cm
*From the series: Pots for a pandemic:*

Her work has since won national recognition. Park is a finalist in the 2026 Wynne Prize and was a finalist in the 2025 Archibald Prize. She received the 2024 Keramikkünstlerhaus scholarship in Neumünster, Germany, and the 2022 Onslow Storrier studio residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. Her work is held in public collections including the Powerhouse Museum, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Manly Art Gallery & Museum and the Art Gallery of Ballarat. She is represented by Gallery LNL in Sydney.

Park is hopeful about the future of craft in Australia and the growing value placed on making. "I feel that making with our hands, whether it is experimenting with materials or working with highly skilled techniques, will become an increasingly important part of the human experience in the future," she says. "I hope the boundaries that still divide classifications between craft, art and design are further dissolved so that we can appreciate a broader range of artist-made objects. Australia has amazing makers."

sassypark.com | @sassypark

Linda Sok

Gabbee Stolp

Craft Australia