This September, West End will host a deeply personal and moving exhibition that blends artistry with memory. Her Flame My Hands marks the first solo show for Brisbane/Meanjin-based ceramic artist Jenna Catchpole (née Thompson), a showcase of vessels shaped not just by clay and fire, but by love, loss, and resilience.
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For Jenna, the exhibition represents a poignant milestone. She was 19 when her mother, Jennene, a talented potter herself, passed away. Now, at 38, Jenna finds herself at the midpoint, 19 years with her mother, 19 years without her. Through ceramics, she honours that bond, holding memory in her hands as tangibly as she holds the clay she shapes.
After her mother’s passing, Jenna stepped away from pottery, but the pull of the wheel eventually brought her back. In 2013 she began studying with Ray Cavill at Clayschool Brisbane, rediscovering her love for the medium. That return sparked a new chapter in her practice, one that soon expanded into woodfiring, a technique that has since become central to her creative life.
Woodfiring, with its long hours and unpredictable results, became a way for her to explore both grief and growth. Over days of stoking kilns, fire and ash leave markings that can never be replicated. Each piece in the exhibition has passed through this process in three different kilns, carrying within it traces of time, labour, and elemental transformation.
The vessels are not just objects. They represent conversations between mother and daughter, memory and presence, permanence and impermanence. Textured carvings and dynamic glaze patterns carry the rhythm of both heritage and discovery, reflecting Jenna’s journey of finding beauty in unpredictability.
Hosted at Vacant Assembly on Montague Road, Her Flame My Hands invites visitors to step into an intimate space of remembrance and creativity. More than an exhibition, it is a meditation on connection — how art allows us to hold on, even as time moves forward.
The exhibition runs from 1st – 14th September 2025, with the opening event on Saturday 6th September from 2:000–5:00 p.m. (official speeches at 3:00 p.m). Visitors can explore the works during gallery hours or by appointment.
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For Jenna Catchpole, every vessel is a way of keeping the flame alive. For audiences, it is a chance to witness how art can transform grief into something enduringly beautiful.
📍 Vacant Assembly, 266 Montague Road, West End
🗓 1–14 September 2025
🔗 vacantassembly.com/events/her-flame-my-hands-september
Published 25-August-2025
