Meet LeShaye Swan | 2026 Shelley Simpson Ceramics Prize Recipient
In partnership with Craft Victoria, we’re delighted to share that LeShaye Swan is the recipient of the 2026 Shelley Simpson Ceramics Prize.
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LeShaye paints the Native flora that surrounds Mimili community. She began her ceramics practice in early 2024 and has a natural affinity for the medium, and quickly developed her hand building skills, adapting them to large scale forms. Her ceramics encompass motifs of wildflowers and the native scrublands that surrounds Mimili, notably Bucket Well, a place where her family spent lots of time sharing culture.
LeShaye was taught about the dreamtime stories around Mimili which these experiences would also later inform her ceramics. LeShaye now resides in Adelaide and works at the APY Art Centre Collective Studio. She is an exceptional emerging ceramicist and is part of the Blak Manta First Nations ceramics collective.
“My works take me back home to Mimili and to all the beautiful things I learnt during my upbringing” — LeShaye Swan
“This year’s recipient creates work that is bold, dynamic and colourful. Her work tells stories of history, community and place in a way that feels incredibly joyful, vibrant and fresh.
There’s something both completely new and strangely familiar about her work — it carries a sense of nostalgia while feeling entirely her own. She translates place, memory and culture into clay with such optimism, character and confidence. I’ve loved watching her practice develop, and I’m very excited to see where it goes next.” — Shelley Simpson
Congratulations to LeShaye and to the talented fourteen finalists.
Now in its sixth year, the SSCP celebrates exceptional creative practice, awarding a $10,000 grant to help support and advance the winner’s work.
