As artist Rosanagh May paints her ceramic pieces with song lyrics, she listens to the tunes they came from over and over.
One recent artwork took 45 hours to decorate, and featured a line from the 1970s country classic Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys from Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
"I had that song on repeat the entire time; it's a little bit pedantic, drives my partner and kid absolutely mad but I like having it embedded in my brain," said the artist.
The piece inspired a whole series dedicated to country music, which forms the basis of May's first solo exhibition titled Good Luck, Babe, at Hobart's Despard Gallery opening Wednesday.
Artworks include a cowboy hat, lucky horseshoes, giant charm bracelets, and hanging bridle ornaments complete with snaffle bits.
Featuring lines from Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, The Chicks and Orville Peck, the exhibition ranges across the genre, which May feels is underrated.
"Country music has always said things simply: you're in love, you're out of love, your dog's gone, your truck's broken, your heart's in pieces ... whiskey. I am drawn to that storytelling," May's exhibition statement reads.
The path to an inaugural solo show has been something of a winding country road for the 40-year-old, who finished a fine arts degree in 2006.
Willie Nelson might recommend being a doctor or a lawyer rather than a cowboy but in May's case she spent years as a cheesemaker on remote King and Bruny Islands before working as an art technician.
After trying a ceramics class and learning to use underglaze as a base for intricate decorations, she quit her job in 2023 and bought a kiln.
These days May creates pieces and does initial firing at the Artosaurus studio in the Hobart suburb of Goodwood, before long hours of painting at her Sandy Bay home studio.
The lines she needs for intricate writing and cross hatching are so fine she uses a nail art brush, with half the bristles removed.
When people stop to look at her finished works on display, May loves to watch for the moment a lyric inscription triggers a recollection.
"I can pick the exact moment where they go, 'Oh my God, I know this song'," she said.
"It's so interesting, our memory's ability to instantly recall lyrics that maybe you haven't heard for 20 years, somewhere tucked away there's every single word in your head."
Ceramics and music are not art forms that usually intersect and May owes her distinctive style to yet another unexpected medium.
When an ex-partner bought her a tattoo kit, she started using her own skin as a sketchbook and the body art aesthetic became part of her approach.
After five years in ceramics, about a third of May's work is on commission and at previous Despard group shows most of her pieces have sold before opening.
But that hasn't stopped the nerves ahead of her exhibition launch.
"I'm very nervous, it's really scary, but I feel proud and I feel very lucky," she said.
Good Luck, Babe runs until May 2.
