Walter Auer (b. 1957, Campo Tures, Italy) studied ceramics at the State Institute of Arts in Faenza, Italy. After graduating with an Advanced Diploma, Auer worked with Chin Jukan in Miyama, Japan for one year as well as studying traditional wheel-forming with Ahmed Berktash, in Avanos,Turkey. Auer set up 2 ceramic training centres in leper colonies in Asmara and Mai Habar in Eritrea. In 1997 he settled in Sydney. He has been teaching ceramics at TAFE between 2002 and 2020 as a part-time teacher at Northern Beaches, Gymea and Hornsby TAFE. Auer has been a teacher and mentor of the Bankstown Koori Elders Group since 2011. Auer has shown in many solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, most notable, Earth to Form, Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney – 2009, Hyperclay 2011, a touring exhibition organized by Object Australian Centre for Craft and Design, Drawn to Form, Blacktown Arts Centre – 2015. Auer has also participated in many international competitions and workshops since 1982.

The Bears
After 17 years I’m still obsessed by the idea to petrify discarded objects with Terra Sigillata and other ceramic materials.
My current body of work still focuses on the useless, the overseen, things thrown away, that nobody wants anymore.
The idea of transformation, transition and rebirth are all encapsulated in these latest works.