Anne Sherman
Anne Sherman
(she/her)
Anne is a ceramic artist and educator committed to contributing to the ceramics community in her adopted community of Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, and abroad. Her lifelong passion for ceramics started at age 7 in her hometown on Cape Cod and has developed through formal and informal learning. In 2002, she accepted a scholarship to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics at the School for the American Craft at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Anne’s professional experience in architecture, sustainable design, and social and environmental impact management heavily influence her ceramics practice and engagement with the community. These influences are evident in her focus on problem-solving, creative thinking, and group facilitation with an awareness of diverse lived experiences.
In her personal practice, Anne employs improvisational techniques that embrace clay's dynamic material characteristics—working from liquid to solid states. With abstracted organic patterns and undulating forms, her open-work structures explore new possibilities of form and evoke a sense of wonder and possibility.
In 2022, Anne founded Home. Clay Studio in Footscray to offer an intimate and nurturing environment that imparts students with skills, knowledge, and confidence to push the boundaries of their practice through classes, workshops and studio access. Leveraging her interdisciplinary training, Anne's teaching and making practices emphasise knowledge of materials and creative problem-solving.
Dedicated to applying her diverse skills to benefit the ceramics community in Australia and abroad, Anne is currently undertaking a research project responding to a persistent question since integrating into the Australian clay community: “What’s going on in Australian Ceramics?” This project aims to provide insight into the challenges and opportunities for Australian Ceramics. It is inspired by a recent research tour of more than a dozen prominent US ceramics facilities and is informed by her experience conducting program evaluations for not-for profit, government, and for-profit organisations.
CV
Education
2019: Accredited SDG Impact Standards Trainer, SDG Impact and Social Value International, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2012 - 2013: Graduate Concentrations in Managing for Sustainability and Sustainable Design, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA
2012: Summer intensive - Corporate Social Responsibility, Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), Copenhagen, Denmark
2010 - 2012: Master of Science, Sustainable Design (MSSD)Master of Science, Sustainable Design (MSSD). Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2002-2006: Bachelor of Arts, Interior Design, Minor in Ceramics, merit scholarship, Rochester Institute of Technology, College of Art and Design & School for the American Crafts, Rochester, NY, USA
Exhibitions
2025 Korowa Ceramic Art Prize and Exhibition, Glen Iris, VIC, Australia
2024 HOLD III, Belco Arts Centre Incorporated, Belconnen ACT, Australia
2023 Victorian Forest Alliance, Art Room, Footscray, VIC, Australia
Awards
2025 Finalist, Korowa Ceramic Art Prize, Glen Iris, VIC, Australia
2022 Overall Excellence for Integrated Impact Measurement Framework, Social Impact Measurement Network of Australia Awards, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Residencies
1999-2000 Blossom Hill Crafts, Los Gatos, California USA
Professional Experience
2025 - Current: Member, Editorial Advisory Committee, Journal of Australian Ceramics, Australia
2022 - Current: Founder, Resident Artist & Educator, Home. Clay Studio Footscray, Footscray, VIC, Australia
2022 - Current: Instructor - wheel-throwing classes & workshops, Neo Ceramics, North Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2022 - Current: Independent Social & Environmental Impact Specialist, Remote/Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2021-2022: Volunteer Board Observer: Abbotsford Convent Foundation, Abbotsford, VIC, Australia
2019-2022: Senior Consultant, Think Impact, North Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2021 - 2022: Instructor - Wheel-throwing and hand-building, Bisque Studios, Northcote, VIC, Australia
2017-2019 - Director of Sustainability and Operations, Staach, Rochester, NY, USA
2016-2017: Adjunct Professor, Design Thinking & Innovation, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA
2012 - 2014: Project Assistant, Invisible Capital Mapping Experience, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2005 - 2006: Teaching Assistant, wheel throwing, School for the American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA
2000-2001: Production and Sales Assistant, Ron Dean Pottery, Marstons Mills, MA, USA
1999-2000: Studio Assistant, Blossom Hill Crafts, Los Gatos, California, USA
Publications
2025 April (anticipated): Journal of Australian Ceramics, “What’s Happening in Australian Ceramics? - Part 1: Coming to Australia”
2020 September, Journal of Environmental Sustainability, Co-Author, “The Evolution of Research on Sustainable Business Models: Implications for Management Scholars”
Professional Memberships
Social Value International
Australian Ceramics Association
Craft Victoria
Member of the RIT Ceramics Guild, 2003-2006