Bettina Willner

Bettina Willner is a visual artist working primarily with clay. Based between Naarm (Melbourne) and Gunaikurnai Country (South Gippsland), she has been practising for over two decades. Her work explores transformation, intuition, and the subconscious. Drawing from feminist interpretations of surrealism, her sculptures inhabit a space between the human and organic—part shell, part plant, part body. Through clay, Willner evokes emotional and psychological landscapes, treating the material as a vessel for memory and metamorphosis. Her practice explores the fluidity of identity and the shifting boundaries between inner and outer worlds, tracing the tactile processes that connect materiality with emotion. Ornamentation also plays a recurring role in her work, informed by Baroque architecture and art historical references. 

Willner studied at Monash University completing a Bachelor of Fine Art (1988-1991), and Wangaratta TAFE completing a Certificate in Art (1987). She has exhibited widely in Victoria and NSW; Gippsland Art Gallery, Gippsland, Lennox St. Gallery, Melbourne, Caves Gallery, Melbourne, Saint Cloche, Sydney, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne and Bundoora Homestead, Melbourne. Willner has also exhibited in design and art events in Melbourne and Sydney including Spring 1883, Melbourne, NGV Design Fair, Melbourne, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne and Art Fair Sydney Contemporary, Sydney. Recently she was a finalist in the prestigious Ceramic award Fondazione Officine Saffi, Milan Italy. Willner’s work is in private collections in Australia, Europe, USA, United Kingdom, Asia..