Rhianon Rose Ceramics

What is the point of art?

Fri, 01 May 2026 01:35:38 GMT

What is it really all about?

Where does art belong? What is its role in our lives?

I know these are topics that have been extensively written about, thought about, and pontificated upon… I have listened to many podcasts on the subject and have a bookshelf full of creativity books that explore a wide spectrum—from internal fulfilment to broader societal purpose. Yet I find myself asking the question again, as an artist…

It makes sense that everyone needs to find their own individual response, and that this response can—and should—evolve over time.

Our recent show, SPECTIVE, was a wonderful exhibition—a delightful coming together of four completely different people that created a beautiful mutualism. Our work, while diverse, shone together in a way that was deeper and richer than the sum of its parts.

Now that it is over, I find myself reflecting on why I do what I do. Having spent most of my life in careers that had a very clear motivation—to save the world and make people happy—I now, as an artist, have to dig deeper to find my purpose and motivation.

A fellow artist shared a quote with me recently: “Art is not a thing, it is a way.” It’s a quote from Elbert Hubbard—and I must digress to say that Goodreads listed a number of his quotes that resonated. Both “Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not,” and “No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one” seem particularly poignant to me right now.

But to get back to the point… “Art is a way.” Making art is, I believe, a way to live more fully. It is a way to express—to take ideas and make them tangible and touchable—and through that process, to clarify and evolve them. Making art is a way to be present, to be authentic, to know yourself, and to connect with other humans through shared feelings and thoughts.

And none of these things have anything much at all to do with the actual product being made, nor do they have much to do with galleries and the professional art world. Sometimes I feel like my work is too humble and that I ‘should’ be making more sculptural ‘high art’ pieces—but this is when my focus shifts to the ‘thing’ rather than the ‘way’.

Recently, this was brought home to me powerfully. At the same time as I was sweating over putting together the gallery show, a friend reached out to me. She had seen one of my wattle mugs on Instagram, representing resilience and renewal of life, and she shared that she was going through surgery and chemotherapy. She asked if she could have a mug like that one, because she thought that drinking her morning tea from my wattle mug would help her stay connected to her own resilience through this awful time. And really, if a mug can do that, I think that is really special.

And in this, my friends, I remember what I think art is for. Art is to help us feel something we need to feel.

So whether it’s in a gallery or in a mug of tea, I am reminding myself why I do what I do. I don’t do it to look pretty on a gallery wall. I don’t do it to compete with other artists or to be admired. I don’t even really do it to make money (there are much easier ways to make money, believe me!). I do it because I know that if my heart is in what I make, what I make might just touch someone else’s heart at just the time they need it.

So my job is simply to make sure that my heart stays in a good place, and that I create things that mean good things and which might connect with other people’s hearts.

So tell me… what would you like your mug to mean to you?

What would you like to feel?

Spective: Perspective, Introspective, Retrospective...

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:14:44 GMT

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change," Dr. Wayne Dyer

What is SPECTIVE?

Spective is both a fragment and a whole… it is at the core of perspective, introspective, retrospective… On its own it creates a space in which perspectives are formed, examined, grounded in a looking-within and backwards to shape a sense of the present that is richer and deeper than a singular view. Spective evokes a sense of the act of seeing or perceiving being something of far greater significance than what is seen.

Our instinct, habitually, is to believe that there is a stable state of truth that exists in the world and that our job is to be able to see it clearly and therefore to know what is "right". We want to believe what we perceive with our own senses must be true, and that it is the only truth. Now more than ever that is just not the case. We learn from quantum physics that “when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change”. From Buddhist Philosophy we understand that "We do not see things as they are, we see the world as we are" and All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world." One person's truth can directly contradict another's, and herein lies the heart of so many of the problems of our world. It may be the case that we have little capacity to influence the actual world around us, but we have all the power in the world to change the way that we see it. A perspective shift can be profound, or it can be subtle. It can be for a moment or a lifetime. Sometimes it only takes the smallest change in angle, in viewpoint, to reveal something entirely new, or to understand something familiar in a completely different way. Perception creates reality.

And SPECTIVE is, excitingly, our upcoming exhibition. The time is almost upon us! I will be honest, my life has recently been A LOT. I haven't been able to curate a large collection for this show - but I have created a small series of special platters that each have their own message and together tell a story of new beginnings, resilience and looking beyond. I love platters because their very nature is one of sharing and human connection - and because they are round canvases upon which my ideas can dance and, unlike round 3 dimensional forms, the designs be seen from a single perspective as a whole image.

This exhibition, SPECTIVE, is about more than me though. It is a chance to share some of my recent perspectives with you, but this will be alongside three marvellous artists who each bring their own lens to viewing the world around us. The collection of works create a space where different viewpoints meet and invite new ways of seeing. Each of us, as artists, has a unique way of seeing and expressing our sense of the natural world and its deeper symbology. And together our work creates a symbiotic mutualism that is beautiful, rich and full of meaning. In other words, together we create an experience that is more than the sum of our perspectives. It is my hope that the show will transport visitors into new and expansive ways of experiencing and appreciating the world around them.

I hope to see you there!

SPECTIVE

A Group Exhibition featuring works by Ren Brazel, Kath McCann, Susan Trimble and, of course me - Rhianon Vichta-Ohlsen.

�� Opening night, Fri 17 April, 5-8pm

☕️Tea & Artist Talks, Sun 19 April, 11am

OPEN 10am-5pm daily

�� 17-21 April 2026

��Field Trip Gallery
1 Latrobe Tce, Paddington

If you can RSVP at Humanitix it will help us plan the catering, but you are also welcome to just come along and bring ALL of your art-loving friends. https://events.humanitix.com/spective-art-exhibition-opening-night/tickets

“Because impermanence is always there, everything is possible.” — Thích Nhất Hạnh

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:46:10 GMT

Oh the times, they are a-changin'... (Bob Dylan)

There are no endings that are not also beginnings. A sunset is not the end of a day; the day simply continues elsewhere. The sun itself does not change—we only move away from it for a time. The sense of ending and beginning is created by our perspective, and from our perspective we make sense of our experiences by labeling them new, old, past, or future. These labels, however, are created by us rather than imposed upon us.

Our calendar has, however, flipped a page. This too is true! And with the flipping of that page, of course my mind turns to all that evolved on the previous pages, and all that I pencil in for the days that lie ahead. A new year is a time to ask ourselves what we are most proud of from the previous year—and what we hope to bring into our lives in the next.

In 2025, I created my first exhibition collection, proudly shown with Kath McCann in the show "The Colour of Joy" . This was indeed a deeply joyful experience and I am so very grateful to all who came to see it. You can find the collection in my website gallery . In 2025, the ending of my e xternal teaching employment allowed me to embrace being a fully self-employed artist . I made thoughtful decisions about priorities, invested in myself as an artist by engaging with a creative mentoring program and community ( Evolve ), and made a choice to step back from frantic in-person selling to allow my family and home to occupy space in my days—a recognition of reaching the point where I no longer feel I have to constantly prove that my artistic life is financially viable.

Perhaps biggest of all, in 2025 I took a big brave step and changed my creative name ( my business name? my brand ? I t feels like so much more than that ) . I stepped shyly out of the shadows and recreated my artistic self under my own name rather than an anonymous brand na me. Happy Heart Ceramics served me well for five years, but I realised it was time to allow myself both the courage to take centre stage and the freedom to go beyond the creative bo undaries that Happy Heart Ceramics represented for me. My work will always be about happiness—but it can also be more broadly about my thoughts on life, the world, self, and how we navigate the intersections of these. I am excited to grow into this new "me" artistic persona, and one of the first experiences of this will be my second ever exhibition.

I am thrilled to say that in April 2026 I will be part of a wonderful collaboration of four women creating a new visual feast. I am delighted to again be exhibiting with the fabulous painter Kath McCann, and so excited to be joining with a richly sumptuous photographer Renee Brazel and the incredibly thoughtful and inspiring ceramic artist Susan Trimble. Together we will be creating:

Perspective

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." (Wayne Dyer)

Field Trip Gallery, Paddington

16-22 April

There will also be big changes happening in my studio in 2026. At the moment I share my ceramics studio with the incredible business that my husband started - CommunArty - doing creatively inspirational work with people who receive NDIS funding. CommunArty has been on a massive growth trajectory, and this little studio ain't big enough for the both of us anymore... So 2026 will see us expanding the business into our new venture - Wattle House - a creative studio and wellbeing work space. I will bring you more news on this over the coming months, but what we do know now is that there will be a big new accessible creative studio space for CommunArty as well as several gorgeous consulting rooms for rent - so do reach out if you are (or know) a wellbeing focussed professional looking for an awesome workspace right in the heart of Paddington, with light bright large rooms in a newly renovated stunning Queenslander with lots of parking and most excellent landlords :-).

And 2026 will also see the evolution of my new website and the inception of this happiness musings newsletter. I cannot promise it will regularly hit your inbox, in fact I promise that it will not add significantly to the tally of unread emails that greet you (or is that just me?) when you hover over that little blue digital envelope. I can promise that it will contain authentic reflections on life that hold, as a priority, bringing moments of happiness into your days. I will also share news on new artistic endeavours - new designs, new ceramic projects, online sales, markets, special events and all the fun stuff from the creative adventure that is Rhianon Rose Ceramics. Welcome aboard the journey and thank you so much for joining me!

What are you proud of as you farewell 2025?

What brings you hope for 2026?

Smiles

Rhianon Rose

A happy new era

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 11:18:49 GMT

“If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.”

Gail Sheehy

Hello friends!

Welcome to the new era of Happy Heart Ceramics! Happy Heart Ceramics has evolved and become Rhianon Rose Ceramics. As the news has been shared many people have asked me why I changed. To begin with a felt like I had outgrown Happy Heart Ceramics. It suited me well when I was just starting out in markets, but it started to feel limiting. Choosing a new name, however has been quite a roadmap journey of deliberation, discovery and detours.

For a short time I considered a different name - one that included the word "Sukha". Sukha is the Sanskrit word for happiness - the type that is a deep and lasting contentment - so it captured the spirit of my work and paid homage to my Buddhist upbringing. In testing the name Sukha-rhi Ceramics, however, I found that many people struggled to remember and pronounce this strange foreign word. And it was too closely related to the Hindi word for a female pig or "dry"... and a range of other strange meanings in other languages.... And so... I decided it was time to step out of the shadows as an artist, and reinvent myself in my own image :)

My name is very special to me. I chose it myself! In my teen years I chose Rhianon as the name that fit me, much better than the one chosen for me at birth. Choosing it felt like coming into myself, celebrating the adult I was aiming to become. And Rose I added more recently as an honouring of my family - past and future - as it represents both of my maternal grandmothers and is the middle name I gave my daughter. So through Rose I feel connected to a lineage of strong admirable women.

It feels a lot like a coming of age as an artist that I feel able to choose this name now. I present myself to the world with the confidence that it takes to not hide behind an anonymous brand. And that makes me happy!

I hope you like it!

Last Orders Please!

Imagine giving someone you love a special piece of ceramic art that was uniquely designed just for them! Does your special person need some happiness inspiration? Do you want them to have something that fits perfectly into their home or day?

Now is your last chance to order something custom made before Christmas... Last orders need to be in by the second week of November if there is to be any hope of having them by Christmas... Please get in touch and let me know what would bring joy to your people this year!

Where to find me this Christmas...

This year I am going to be attending fewer Christmas markets than normal as I support my mini-me into her final year of school...

You can find me at:

Oct 31-Nov 1 The Ceramics Makers Market

Nov 14 King George Square Twilight Market

Nov 15-16 The Made Local Market

Nov 22 The Milton Christmas Market

Nov 23 The Slowly Made Local Market

Dec 5 The West End Christmas Market

Dec 19 King George Square Twilight Market

As always, get in touch if you would like something special made just for you... or to pop under your loved one's Christmas Trees! You can make a Custom Order up until the 14th November for postage and up until the 5th December for local pick up.

Latest updates newsletter Sept 2025

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 08:17:04 GMT

Hello Friends!

I am back from my travels to Japan and Cambodia and now I have two pieces of very exciting news to share!

First of all... If you have not yet met Doug the Travelling Jug please do go to my instagram and check out Doug's Adventures in the Dougs Days story highlights... Doug came all over Cambodia with us, and he was so moved by the beauty and challenges faced by the Khmer people that he really wants to help - and to do that - he needs your help.

YOU CAN WIN DOUG!

By a ticket, or several, below to go in the draw to win DOUG for your very own, and all proceeds will be sent to "Wings of the Future" to pay for the health and education of a Khmer child impacted by abuse and violence.

Tell all your friends! The winner will be drawn at the end of August (or when we have raised enough money) and five runner-ups will win a beautiful image of Cambodia from renowned Humanitarian Photographer Joseba Etxebarria.

AND the second piece of news?

Well.... you will just have to wait and see!

As always, please do join my mailing list or follow my Instagram to be the first to know all my news.