Bio

Mel Jhey is an artist based on Awabakal/Worimi Country (Newcastle, NSW) working across ceramics, sculpture, drawing and installation. She graduated from National Art School in 2025 with a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in Ceramics, where she was the recipient of the Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. She also holds a Diploma of Visual Arts from Newcastle Art School.

Her practice explores material transformation through clay, drawing and installation, with a particular interest in process-led experimentation and expressive mark-making. Working across wheel-thrown and hand-built forms, experimental glazing and installation-based works, she investigates the relationship between material, process and the body.

Jhey has exhibited in group exhibitions across Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne, including House of Stories at Nobbys Whibayganba (2023), the National Art School Drawing Department Archive Project (2024), Fresh and Found at Scratch Art Space, Marrickville (2025), and Cash / Card / Carry / Claim at The Creator Incubator (2026).

She is a finalist in the 2026 Hunter Emerging Art Prize and won the Claypool Award at the National Art School Awards Night (2025). She received Highly Commended in Ceramics at the Gosford Art Prize (2023), and her work has also been selected as a finalist in the Fisher's Ghost Art Award and the Colin Holden Print Commission.

Alongside her studio practice, Jhey has worked as a ceramics tutor and assistant to Australian and international ceramic artists. Her work is held in private collections throughout Australia.