Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection

Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection 1

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Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection

Deakin University Art Gallery 31 October to 14 December 2018 Shepparton Art Museum 7 December 2019 to 15 March 2020

Foreword

It is a pleasure to present the exhibition Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection at the University Art Gallery in 2018, and we thank the Shepparton Art Museum for the opportunity to tour the exhibition to SAM in 2019. Following on from the successful exhibition The Void. Visible in November and December 2017, this exhibition once again explores the world of collecting. Whilst last year’s exhibition focussed on the University collecting the work of artists, this year the focus is artists collecting artists. This is part of an initiative sparked by our talented Curator James Lynch, to explore the work of the Collector from every angle possible.

I am grateful to James who worked tirelessly on the exhibition’s development, from presenting the initial concept, through to seeing it realised in the gallery space. He had willing and invaluable assistance from artist and collector John Nixon, who generously opened his home (and emptied his cupboards) to give life to this very special project. John’s input and valued knowledge of the objects he has spent so many years collecting was crucial to the project’s success.

James spent a great deal of time contacting artists and the friends and relatives of the artists to gain insight into the origins of the ceramics and he presents that careful research within the pages of this catalogue. I trust you will enjoy reading about their histories and celebrating the beautiful objects that they created, and that John so carefully collected, within this publication.

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As David Hurlston, Senior Curator of Australian Painting, Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria so eloquently explained in his opening remarks to launch the exhibition at Deakin, it is rare to find so many examples of domestic ware from this important period in Melbourne’s history that are so well preserved, in one place and in such wonderful condition.

It is truly a testament to the dedication of John Nixon as a collector that he has found and preserved these objects both out of respect for the generation of artists who came before us and for the enjoyment of many generations to come.

Leanne Willis Senior Manager, Art Collection and Galleries Deakin University

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Pottery is the answer

A book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to perpetuate it. The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautifully. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows no one else can say it. He is bound to say it clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events.i So begins The Potter’s Craft by C.F. Binns, with this passage from John Ruskin about writing and the role of the author.ii Following this logic further, so too, could be said for the role of the collector and the curator. For what is the collector so bound to do? Which voices and objects are they propelled to care for and perpetuate? What truth do they hope to reveal? It was this similar line of questioning which began my thinking around this exhibition Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection, the second in a series of exhibitions which focussed on the art of collecting and the Deakin University Art Collection.

As one of Australia’s most high profile artists, John Nixon has lead debates around abstraction, modernism and the Australian context over four decades. Most recently audiences in Melbourne have been fortunate to see regular events curated by Nixon of experimental music, theatre and dance performances. One cannot but admire his enthusiasm and tireless energy in living and practicing the expansive and ambitious role that he has set out for himself as an artist.

Nixon has created an open ended platform inclusive of working with others, teaching, curating, publishing, collecting and art making.

Nixon has indeed pursued this diverse vision and engagement throughout his career, firstly with the establishment of the much referenced Art Projects, Melbourne (1979–84) 6

and followed by his term as director of the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane (1980–82).iii While living in Brisbane, Nixon first began collecting pottery made locally in the 1930s with the guidance of artist and friend Robert Macpherson. From this, an appreciation for the design and craft of pottery began. In the 1990s Nixon went on to collect examples of Italian and German factory made pottery from the 1960s and was inspired by the potters use of hand painted glazes and simplified forms.iv Living abroad and in Sydney for a number of years, Nixon returned to Melbourne with his family in the early 2000s. After completing an artist in residence at Longridge farm in Warrandyte, which was a Parks Victoria residency, the family then settled in Briar Hill.

Around this time Nixon shifted the focus of his wider artistic practice to focus on local Melbourne based projects and endeavours, which he saw as a prism to viewing the larger world.

Inspired by the resourcefulness of the mud brick house movement, Nixon became interested in local potteries and artists who also worked hands-on with the earth.

For Nixon, pottery directly embodied ‘the modernist ideals of simplicity, functionalism and beauty’.v From 2000 onwards Nixon began collecting studio pottery produced in Warrandyte and from other immediate surrounding suburbs. Some eighteen years later Nixon has developed an extensive and comprehensive collection of mid-century hand-made ceramics now comprising over 500 items. This exhibition presents just over 220 pieces from 29 artists and potters who were living and working in and around Melbourne throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

The focus of Nixon’s collection is primarily local and reflects the attitudes of the artists and craftspeople who often formed their own

studios, potteries and artist co-operatives to meet growing commercial demands after the war. Artists associated with the Potters Cottage in Warrandyte were the first potters Nixon collected in-depth. These include works by Sylvia and Artek Halpern, Charles Wilton, Gus and Betty McLaren, Phyl Dunn and Reg Preston, Fritz and Kate Janeba and Elsa Ardern.

Warrandyte, located twenty-four kilometres north-east of Melbourne, was originally home to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation.

The Yarra River and its native bush covered foothills and gullies are symbolically separated from the rest of the city as it lacks access by train. After extensive gold mining in the area declined, large stretches of land became available to purchase inexpensively. In the 1920s and 30s Warrandyte became a popular destination for artists of the Heidelberg School who sought a distinctively Australian subject in the bush landscape. This led to the development of an artist’s camp with a small colony of artists taking up residence there such as Clara Southern, Adrian Lawlor, Penleigh Boyd, Nutter Buzacott, Harry Hudson, Ernest Buckmaster, James Wigley and Danila Vasillieff.vi Warrandyte captured the imagination of many who sought an alternative to the dry flat life of the inner suburbs.

One such example could be a story told by Betty Hipwell, who searched for a new place to live for her growing family in the late 1940s.

She decided to take the bus to Warrandyte not knowing entirely where she would end up and was surprised to find ‘a well-dressed gentleman on the bus reading a book about the brutalist movement in architecture’.vii Betty would befriend the fellow - Fritz Janeba (Austrian architect and potter) and introduced him to her partner, the budding Melbourne architect John Hipwell. The two would work together for a time in architecture and

imparted a love of pottery. Hipwell would go on to design several modern buildings around Warrandyte as well as becoming manager with Betty Hipwell of the Potters Cottage.

In his later years, Hipwell found a new friend and fellow pottery collector in Nixon.

Nixon collected from various other ceramic collectors such as Eric Smith. Both Hipwell and Smith openly shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for pottery. Without a driver’s license, Nixon would spend days collecting pottery by train across the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Nixon would search through opportunity shops and second hand stores guided by Geoff Ford’s 1998 Encyclopedia of Australian Potters Marks. Nixon would come to understand that a whole pottery scene had flourished in Melbourne after the Second World War. Hence, the collection expanded to include works by potters such as Allan Lowe based in Ferntree Gully, Duldig Ceramics in Malvern, Eric Juckert from Phillip Island, Dyson Pottery based in Gembrook, Elke Studios from Clayton, Isobel Pottery in Croydon and the potters based at Cottles Bridge and Dunmoochin, among many more.

As Australian cities like Melbourne expanded quickly, new forms of modern architecture and housing were being built for the first time. In Warrandyte, Eltham and Hurstbridge many of Australia’s leading architects including Romberg, Grounds and Boyd, as well as Hipwell, Weight and Mason, designed and built a number of significant buildings that are much loved today.viii Interestingly, Nixon’s collection features domestic ware and functional items only.

Handmade ceramics were an integral part of the aspiring modern lifestyle of new housing in the suburbs. Part of the domestic home package including Scandinavian furniture, tribal masks and sea grass matting.

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Local manufacturing boomed in this period as tariffs were in place making international trade very difficult.ix Commercial demand for crockery was high, so much so that a shop window selling china in Lithgow New South Wales was said to have been smashed with the robbers making off with the pottery loot.x In Melbourne, many local artists, as well as the artists, engineers and architects who had left Europe, found work in the pottery industry. The large brickwork companies such as Hoffman bricks in Brunswick and the Northcote brickworks had side businesses producing pottery by making use of their access to clay and kilns.

Other potteries were small businesses run from factories, domestic homes and garages.

In Warrandyte the McLaren’s famously had their beginnings sourcing clay from the side of a gravel road. Further east in Cottles Bridge, Alma Shanahan’s property had a number of dams which were a source of clay for many local potters.xi With money in short supply others simply dug up the clay in their backyards or purchased clay cheaply from the brickworks.

Many of the local potteries were either run by women or were significant employers of women and aspiring female artists. Many were also family businesses run by husband and wife teams and welcomed contributions from their children. In Little Collins Street Melbourne, the Primrose Pottery Shop sold work from many of the best local potters.xii Additionally, the large department stores of Myers, David Jones and Georges stocked work from many local potteries and sold a consistently high numbers of wares. For a time, the aesthetic style of the hand built and the uniqueness of pottery was valued commercially.

Curated in collaboration with Nixon, the exhibition tells a story of the development of 8

modernism in Melbourne through pottery.

In 1956, Melbourne hosted the Olympic Games and a new internationalism was celebrated across the city. Café culture had begun with European cooking, eating and drinking influencing the diets and habits of Melbournians. While expresso coffee cups, casserole dishes and ramekins are fairly common today, they are also representative of how individual, family and social life was changing. With women working more hours outside the home, the slow cooking of a casserole, for example, meant less time spent in the kitchen and was popularly marketed ‘as a one pot dinner solution’.xiii And something as simple as carrying a mug of coffee was a break from the old world British tradition and the formality of sitting and drinking tea from a cup and saucer.xiv The Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University) hosted an important exhibition to coincide with the Olympics that showcased local designers and manufacturers, many of whom are included in this exhibition. The Melbourne Technical College played an influential role in the lives of these artists with many studying in the pottery studio under John Barnard Knight and Klytie Pate.

Knight in particular, championed the use of earthenware, based on the teachings of Bernard Leach. The Potters Book by Leach was a reference bible for both the trained and self-taught potter. Similarly, The Potters Craft

by C. F. Binns was an important reference, providing the know-how for many of the artists to build their own kilns and wheels.

A number of reference books from Nixon’s personal library are included in the exhibition.

A museum or institutional collection have a focus on the rare and the most-fine examples of artworks or objects. However, Nixon’s collection is idiosyncratic and reveals an appreciation for the potter’s individual voices.

The collection emphasizes the artist’s singular aesthetic vocabularies and design languages.

These are distinguished though differences in signature, style, materials, processes, glazing and attention to colours, all within a limited set of given shapes and forms of standard domestic ware, such as plates, jugs and vases. In this exhibition works by each of the potters are grouped in clusters and placed in proximity and in contrast to their peers.

The ceramics are displayed simply on trestle tables connecting them to the pottery studio, dinner table, and to their utilitarian origins in family life.

Some sixty years have passed since many of these works were first produced. In their presence you have to acknowledge the great amount of time, resources and energy a collector such as Nixon has dedicated to identifying, accumulating and preserving these pieces for our enjoyment. An image comes to mind of Nixon searching through second hand stores, antique markets and clicking through online catalogues. What is the collector looking for as they carry out their search? Pieces that were once loved and now forgotten, or recognition and validation of their specialist knowledge?

Joseph Rykwert the word ‘hides a capsule of condensed meanings’.xviii From the Latin word collectio derives colligio or con-lego meaning to bring together or collect together.xix This is associated with the earlier Greek definition of Kata legein meaning ‘down to count’ or to write, read or review and the makings of the modern catalogue, such as this one.

These examples of utilitarian pottery have become precious as they have survived through the years and the hazards of domestic life. Under the astute eye of an admirer and expert such as Nixon, the artistic ambitions of these works have appreciated.

Looking at this incredible collection of handmade pottery that was wrenched, moulded and fired from clay sourced from local earth around the suburbs and backyards of Melbourne – the beating heart of creativity itself can almost be grasped. This exhibition is testament to how passion, knowledge and dedication transforms the everyday act of collecting into a cultural treasure.

James Lynch Curator, Art Collection and Galleries Deakin University

There are many reasons why people collect.

For some, they are holding onto the past as a way of making better sense of the present. Freud first articulated the dark side of collecting as a controlling mechanism capturing ‘objects of desire’ from the fear of anxiety.xvi Collecting is also fun, for some it’s an investment and also provides a positive social function.xvii In the university context the work of collecting is intrinsic to the establishment of academia: collecting leads to classification from which scholarship begins. What does it mean for simple things like pottery or stamps to become ‘collectible’? For architecture historian 9

i John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, Weeks Publishing, London, 1904, first published 1865. ii The title is taken from a headline about Christmas shopping from the Adelaide Mail newspaper, Saturday November 22, 1952 pp. 45. iii Carolyn Barnes discussing the work of John Nixon in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney https://www.mca.com.au/ artists-works/artists/john-nixon/ [Accessed 21 November 2018]. iv John Nixon cited in 21st Century Modern: 2006 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Linda Michael ed., Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2006, pp. 48. v

Ibid pp. 48.

vi Grace Cochrane Potters Cottage: A Tribute, Manningham Art Gallery and Manningham Council, 2012, pp. 12. http://whsoc.org.au/artists/ [Accessed 1 November 2018]. vii

Ibid pp. 104.

viii https://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/61493/ Post_war_study_Stage1_Vol2_ResidentialC.pdf [Accessed 27 November 2018]. ix Colin Clark, Timothy Geer and Barry Underhill The Changing Nature of Australian Manufacturing, The Commonwealth of Australia’s Industry Commission, Canberra, 1996, pp. 7. x https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219743672?searchTerm=p ottery shop sydney theft [Accessed 1 November 2018]. xi https://alistairknox.org/chapters/55 [Accessed 21 September 2018]. xii http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Primrose%20Pottery%20 Shop [Accessed 15 July 2018]. xiii The author in conversation with gallerist and ceramic expert Anna Maas. xiv http://allrecipes.com.au/recipes/tag-256/casserole-recipes.aspx [Accessed 4 September 2018]. xv Michael Bogle, The beginning of a design wave, Curve magazine online, issue 19, 2007. http://www.curvelive.com/Magazine/Archives/ nineteen/The-beginning-of-a design-wave [Accessed 4 September 2018]. xvi Werner Muensterberger, Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives, Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York, 1994, pp. 295. xvii Mark B McKinley The Psychology of Collecting, The National Psychologist, 2007 https://nationalpsychologist.com/2007/01/thepsychology-of-collecting/10904.html [Accessed 30 November 2018] xviii Joseph Rykwert Why Collect, History Today, v.51, no.12, 2001 Dec, pp. 32. xix

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Ibid pp. 33.

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List of images

All images are copyright and reproduced courtesy of the artists and their estates.

Photography is by Simon Peter Fox. Titles are for descriptive purposes only and works are listed undated, produced between 1950 and 1970.

Measurements are overall, height x diameter in centimeters.

Cover and back image: ELKE AUSTRALIA Karl and Ellen David Green plate with orange and white interior glazed earthenware 3 x 24. 5 cm © the artist’s estate pp. 3, 9–17, 62 installation views of the exhibition pp. 18 Elsa ARDERN Large wide blue bowl glazed stoneware 9 x 25 cm © Gray Ardern pp. 19 SYHLA Artek HALPERN Orange bowl glazed earthenware 9 x 20 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 20 Allan and Peg LOWE Light blue serving dish with bamboo handle glazed earthenware 14 x 16 cm © Marian Lowe pp. 21 CERES Pottery Phyll DUNN and Reg PRESTON Green irregular shaped salt and pepper shakers glazed earthenware 15 x 9 cm (each) © the artist’s estate and Susan Cordia

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pp. 22 Allan LOWE Set of six ramekin bowls in different colours with handles glazed earthenware 5 x 11.5 cm (each) © Marian Lowe

pp. 29 Allan LOWE Olive green decanter with white lid and bamboo handle glazed earthenware 22 x 11 cm © Marian Lowe

pp. 23 DULDIG Pottery Karl and Slawa DULDIG Small matching expresso cups with cream interiors earthenware with coloured underglaze 6.5 x 11 cm (each) © Eva de Jong-Duldig and the Duldig Studio

pp. 30 Eric JUCKERT Brown patterned thin necked jug glazed earthenware 17 x 12 cm © the artist’s estate

pp. 24 ISOBEL Pottery Helen ILLICH Tall pink and brown speckled coffee pot and mugs glazed earthenware 26 x 17 cm, 10.5 x 11.5 cm (each) © Isobel Pottery and Vijoslav Illich pp. 25 Phyl DUNN Cream and brown jug and cup set glazed earthenware 17 x 11 cm, 5 x 7 cm (each) © the artist’s estate and Susie Cordia pp.26 Elsa Ardern Set of two challis shaped brown cups glazed stoneware 10 x 7.5 cm © Gray Ardern pp.27 Charles WILTON Blue striped cup (no handle) glazed earthenware 10 x 8 cm © Ian WILTON pp. 28 CERES Pottery Phyll DUNN and Reg PRESTON Large blue coffee pot glazed earthenware 22 x 23 cm © the artist’s estate and Susie Cordia

pp. 31 Sylvia HALPERN Small jug with light blue painted rings glazed earthenware 8 x 8 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 32 Phyl DUNN Tall grey jug with lid glazed earthenware 26 x 12 cm © the artist’s estate and Susie Cordia pp. 33 SYLHA Artek and Sylvia HALPERN Tall triangular orange jug glazed earthenware 30 x 13 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 34 SYLHA Artek and Sylvia HALPERN Green striped vase glazed earthenware 21 x 11 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 35 Leon SAPER Large vase with emu motif glazed stoneware 22.5 x 11 cm © Kela Shakahan pp. 36 Eric JUCKERT Tall light blue decanter glazed earthenware 27 x 10.5 cm © the artist’s estate

pp. 37 Stanislaw HALPERN Brown glazed casserole with unglazed lid glazed earthenware 23 x 13.5 cm © the artist’s estate pp. 38 SYLHA Artek and Sylvia HALPERN Low casserole with snake pattern glazed earthenware 13 x 27 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 39 Helen LAYCOCK Mushroom shaped casserole with glazed lid earthenware 17 x 16 cm © Ben Laycock pp. 40 Charles WILTON Brown plate glazed earthenware 2.5 x 20 cm © Ian WILTON pp. 41 Allan LOWE Small blue swirl patterned serving plate glazed earthenware 3 x 17 cm © Marian Lowe pp. 42 Artek HALPERN Large orange bowl with painted duck glazed earthenware 8 x 28 cm © Deborah Halpern pp. 43 Phyl DUNN Brown patterned plate glazed earthenware 3 x 23.5 cm © the artist’s estate and Susie Cordia

List of works

Works are listed as they appeared in the exhibition.

19. Small speckled brown bowl

12 x 7.5 cm

Charles WILTON glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated

20. Dark purple bowl

8 x 17 cm

1. Small brown bowl

8.5 x 11 cm 2. Light blue sided dish

4 x 21 cm 3. Purple vase

12 x 8.5 cm 4. Green plate

2 x 19.5 cm 5. Dark green mug

8.5 x 12.5 cm (irreg.)

6. Dark large mug

12 x 12.5 cm (irreg.)

7. Large white mixing bowl

12.5 x 23.5 cm 8. Large brown sided dish

7 x 24 cm 9. Small red vase

11 x 10 cm 10. Small yellow dish

3 x 10 cm 11. Red flute shaped vase

15 x 13 cm 12. L arge brown sided dish with brushed interior

6.5 x 27.5 cm 13. O range and red flute shaped vase

15 x 12 cm 14. Cream/blue/brown flute shaped vase

16 x 11 cm

21. Blue speckled jug

12.5 x 14 cm (irreg.)

22. Wide short vase

12 x 12 cm 23. L arge decanter with stopper

30 x 14 cm 24. Blue striped cup

10.5 x 8 cm 25. Small coloured vase

12 x 10.5 cm 26. Large green sided dish

7 x 23.5 cm 27. Ringed green plate

2.5 x 25.5 cm 28. Brown plate

2.5 x 20 cm 29. Large brown and blue plate

3 x 26 cm 30. Large green bowl

9 x 35 cm 31. Striped jar with lid

21 x 14.5 cm Eric JUCKERT glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Small brown patterned vase

12 x 10 cm 2. Green jug

19 x 9.5 cm 3. Small orange bowl

6.5 x 10 cm

15. Small orange and brown vase

10 x 10 cm

4. Acqua blue wide bowl

8 x 15 cm

16. Small green and brown vase

11 x 11 cm

5. Lime green wavy dish

5 x 16.5 cm

17. L arge orange and brown vase

25 x 14 cm

6. Tall blue decanter

27 x 10.5 cm

18. Small green fluted vase

11.5 x 10 cm

7. Small brown vase with gloss interior

13 x 11 cm 8. Royal blue patterned container

9.5 x 11 cm 9. Black canister with lid

23 x 14 cm 10. Acqua blue pattern vase

16 x 9.5 cm 11. Small cream brown pattern vase

15 x 11 cm 12. Cream coloured jug with branch handle

9 x 10.5 cm

13. Small orange/red jug

10 x 8 cm 14. Blue patterned vase

12 x 7.5 cm 15. Blue patterned shallow bowl

5 x 20 cm 16. Blue patterned fluted vase

21 x 15 cm 17. Small brown bowl

6 x 13 cm 18. White glazed vase

18 x 13 cm 19. Brown patterned thin neck jug

17 x 12 cm 20. Blue/grey faded patterned vase

18 x 9 cm 21. Small black vase

9.5 x 8.5 cm 22. Dark blue patterned dish

5 x 20 cm 23. Small wide dark blue short vase

9 x 10 cm 24. Mauve speckled vase

16 x 9 cm 25. Orange/yellow vase

18 x 12 cm

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LOWE Allan and Peg LOWE glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Flat pink interior plate

2.5 x 21 cm 2. Small dark brown milk jug with orange interior

(part of set)

9.5 x 13 cm (irreg.)

3. Dark brown coffee pot with orange interior

(part of set)

19 x 21 cm (irreg.)

Betty McLAREN works glazed stoneware unless otherwise stated

17. Olive green decanter with white lid and bamboo handle

22 x 11 cm

18. Four small brown cups with blue interior

5 x 4.5 cm

1. Large blue bowl with floral painted interior

7.5 x 23.5 cm

DYSON STUDIO POTTERY June DYSON glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated

3. Large green bowl with red floral painted interior

10 x 23 cm

2. Large blue bowl with grapes painted interior

10 x 24 cm

4. White mug with green interior

9 x 12 cm (irreg.)

1. Blue leaf dish porcelain

5 x 13 cm

4. Salt and pepper shakers jug shaped and floral painted

slipcast porcelain

16 x 11 cm (each)

5. Green mug with cream interior

9.5 x 12 cm (irreg.)

2. Tall cream mug

12 x 11 cm (irreg.)

5. Large dark green bowl

9 x 22 cm

6. Cream mug with burgundy interior

10 x 11.5 cm (irreg.)

3. Brown patterned flat plate

2.5 x 23 cm

6. Large blue bowl with fish painted interior

10 x 23 cm

7. Tall white vase with yellow interior

28 x 15 cm 8. Small brown bowl

6 x 13 cm 9. Four small striped brown cups

6 x 5.5 cm (each) 10. L ight blue serving dish with bamboo handle

14 x 16 cm 11. Set of six matching dark brown coffee cups with orange interior

(part of set)

6 x 14 cm (each) 12. Set of four small expresso cups and saucers in different colours

6.5 x 11 cm (each) 13. Set of six ramekin bowls in different colours with handles

5 x 11.5 cm (each) 14. Brown jug with white interior and bamboo handle

19 x 13 cm 15. Small white condiment bowl/ cup with yellow interior

5.5 x 5 cm

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16. Small blue swirl patterned serving plate

3 x 17.5 cm

4. Small brown striped jug

8.5 x 9 cm (irreg.)

5. Brown salt and pepper shakers

10 x 5 cm (each) 6. Small pink cup, porcelain

5 x 5.5 cm 7. Striped grey and brown flat plate

3 x 23.5 cm 8. Brown jug

13.5 x 16 cm (irreg.)

9. Tall brown jug with green and white stripes

21 x 16 cm (irreg.)

10. Dark brown lava style wide vase, stoneware

13 x 12 cm 11. Tall striped mug

12 x 11 cm (irreg.)

12. Small blue bowl

6.5 x 11 cm 13. L arge white with blue and yellow circle vase

14 x 12 cm 14. L arge bowl with interior stripes

10 x 19 cm

7. Large jug

15 x 14 cm (irreg.)

Gus McLAREN works glazed stoneware unless otherwise stated 1. Single handle casserole

11 x 23 cm 2. Dark brown jug

11.5 x 15 cm 3. Salt and pepper shakers painted with daisy flowers

Slipcast porcelain

12.5 x 8 cm (each) 4. Sugar bowl and lid

8 x 12 cm 5. Salt and pepper shakers jug shaped with painted exterior

16 x 11 cm (each) Phyl DUNN glazed earthenware otherwise stated 1. Green casserole

16 x 20 cm 2. Brown unglazed casserole

17 x 24 cm 3. Small green jug

20 x 15 cm

4. Cream decanter with lid

26 x 8 cm 5. Brown speckled jug

10 x 13 cm (irreg.)

6. Large green jug

25 x 14 cm (irreg.)

7. Small cream single handle jug

9 x 13 cm 8. Small marone single handle jug

8.5 x 13 cm 9. Small cream and brown cup

7 x 10 cm 10. Small brown cup

7 x 10 cm 11. Small blue cup

7 x 10 cm 12. Small brown bowl

5.5 x 11 cm 13. L arge green jug with cream interior

23 x 12 cm 14. Orange brown bowl

9 x 16.5 cm 15. Large warm grey bowl

11 x 22 cm 16. Cream and brown jug

(part of set)

17 x 11 cm 17. Cream and brown cups

(part of set)

5 x 7 cm (each)

18. Tall white jug

18 x 10 cm 19. Tall grey jug with lid

26 x 12 cm 20. Grey striped casserole

25 x 26 cm 21. Small green and brown jug

12 x 9 cm 22. S mall grey single handle jug

9 x 13 cm 23. Small wide jug

8 x 13 cm 24. Brown patterned plate

3 x 23.5 cm

Reg PRESTON glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Large green and cream mug 14 x 15 cm 2. Light green mug

10 x 12 cm 3. Pink Tea pot

(part of set) porcelain

16. 5 x 18 cm (irreg.)

4. Pink milk jug

(part of set) porcelain

7 x 13 cm 5. Pink sugar bowl

(part of set) porcelain

5 x 11.5 cm 6. Two pink cup and saucers

(part of set) Porcelain

6 x 14.5 cm (each) 7. Large brown striped mug

11 x 11 cm 8. Large black and brown casserole

26 x 23 cm

CERES Pottery Phyl DUNN and Reg PRESTON glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated

3. Brown plate with orange circle

3 x 25 cm 4. Green vase

20 x 14 cm 5. Tall brown jug with white interior

28 x 11 cm (irreg.)

6. Orange bowl

9 x 20 cm 7. large orange bowl with painted duck

8 x 28 cm 8. Green striped vase

21 x 11 cm 9. Orange wide jar

11.5 x 12.5 cm 10. Grey bowl with interior dark brush marks stoneware

7.5 x 16.5 cm 11. Small light grey vessel stoneware

8 x 10.5 cm 12. Small speckled half glazed dish

5.5 x 11 cm 13. Small patterned dish unglazed sides 14. Tall white and green striped fluted vase

28 x 11 cm

1. Large blue coffee pot

22 x 23 cm

15. Tall triangular orange jug

30 x 13 cm

2. Green salt and pepper shakers

15 x 9 cm (each)

16. Green shallow dish with swirl interior

4.5 x 20 cm

3. Blue salt and pepper shakers

14 x 6 cm (each)

17. Dark brown glazed shallow bowl

6 x 21 cm

4. Two green cup and saucers

7.5 x 12 cm (each) SYLHA Artek HALPERN glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Green shallow dish with textured sides

6 x 26 cm 2. Large brown bowl

8.5 x 28 cm

18. Brown and black sided bowl

8 x 17 cm 19. Large cream and blue coffee pot

22 x 23 cm 20. L arge white crackled shallow bowl

7.5 x 25 cm

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21. Low casserole with snake pattern

13 x 27 cm 22. O range flame and turquoise plate

4 x 26 cm

Fritz and Kate JANEBA glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated

Peter LAYCOCK 1. Blue and gold shallow bowl or plate stoneware

5 x 19.5 cm Harold HUGHAN

23. Small yellow bowl

6 x 16 cm

1. Large dark green bowl with aqua interior

10 x 22 cm

24. Black rimmed and green interior plate

2.5 x 27 cm

2. Small light blue tea cup and matching dark blue saucer

6.5 x 10 cm

25. O range with blue painted sun plate

2.5 x 25 cm

3. Single green and orange mug no handle

8.5 x 8 cm

1. large light blue bowl Earthenware

8.5 x 25.5 cm

Sylvia HALPERN glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated

4. Set of four dark green tea cups and saucers set with cream interior

6.5 x 11 cm (each)

Elsa ARDERN glazed stoneware unless otherwise stated

1. Small white and blue salt shaker

13 x 7 cm 2. Small bowl

4.5 x 10 cm 3. Flat plate with brush marks

1.5 x 22.5 cm 4. Small jug light blue painted rings

8 x 8 cm 5. Blue mug cream interior

8.5 x 11 cm Stanislaw HALPERN glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Brown glazed canister with unglazed lid

23 x 13.5 cm 2. Brown jug

11.5 x 9 cm 3. White glazed flat dish

2.5 x 11.5 cm 4. Blue wide vase

16 x 10cm 5. Cream light brown jug stoneware

14 x 9.5 cm 6. Small cream textured vase purple interior stoneware

14.5 x 10 cm 50

7. Small blue candle holder

6.5 x 10 cm

BECK Pottery Lucy and Hatton BECK 1. Set of three coffee cups light orange, brown exterior and white interior

8 x 11 cm (each) 2. Set of three coffee cups, blue exterior

7.5 x 11 cm (each) 3. Single coffee cup green exterior

8.5 x 10 cm Helen LAYCOCK 1. Mushroom shaped casserole glazed lid earthenware

17 x 16 cm

1. Large black and brown plate

glazed stoneware

3 x 25.5 cm Klytie PATE

1. Large wide blue bowl with flower interior

9 x 25 cm 2. Small brown stone bowl with cream interior

5.5 x 12.5 cm 3. Flat shallow brown stone bowl light brown interior

5 x 18 cm 4. Cream sugar bowl or small casserole

9 x 19 cm 5. Large brown vase

26 x 19 cm 6. Small swirl plate

2 x 12 cm

Alma SHANAHAN

7. Cup or small cream vase with blue interior

11 x 6.5 cm

1. Small blue speckled side plate stoneware

2 x 16.5 cm

8. Small light brown casserole

(cracked lid)

16.5 x 19 cm

JANET GRAY STUDIOS John B. KNIGHT

9. Small flute shaped cream mug

9.5 x 10 cm (irreg

1. Light blue wide vase earthenware

15 x 13 cm

10. Aqua interior glazed bowl earthenware

4.5 x 17 cm

Leon SAPER

11. Small side bowl

6.5 x 12 cm

1. Large vase with emu motif stoneware

22.5 x 11 cm

12. Small blue bowl

5 x 10 cm

13. Set of two challis shaped brown cups

10 x 7.5 cm (each) 14. Light stone casserole

18 x 25 cm (irreg.)

ELKE AUSTRALIA Karl and Ellen DAVID glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Olive green flat plate with glazed green interior

3 x 24 cm

2. Large stone canister with lid

29 x 18 cm 3. Purple vase

slip cast porcelain

22 x 11.5 cm 4. Tall green and black jug

21 x 15 cm (irreg.)

5. Tall brown and pink vase

24 x 16 cm 6. Green plate with white and orange interior

3 x 24.5 cm 7. Brown vase

slip cast porcelain

22 x 11.5 cm 8. Short squat green and brown jug

11 x 15 cm (irreg.)

ISOBEL Pottery Helen ILICH glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Small blue cup no handle with white interior

7 x 7.5 cm

5. Tall pink and brown speckled coffee pot

(part of set)

26 x 17 cm (irreg.)

6. Pink and brown speckled coffee mugs (part of set)

10.5 x 11.5 cm (irreg.) (each) 7. Small pink speckled shallow bowl

4 x 12 cm

7. Small rose pink side plate saucer

2 x 10 cm Selected pottery and ceramics publications from the John Nixon Collection

8. Small flat plate mottled green

2.5 x 15 cm

1. Bernard Leach, A Potters Book, Faber and Faber, London, First Edition, 1940.

9. Green and black bowl with curved sides

4.5 x 16.5 cm

2. Charles F. Binns, The Potters Craft, D. Van Nostrand Company, London, First Edition, 1942.

10. Green rimmed bowl with pink interior

6 x 15 cm

3. Research document on Melbourne architect Herbert Edward Tisher (1915–98), collated

by John Nixon, Melbourne, 2004.

11. Short vase

6.5 x 12.5 cm 12. Black tree stump vase

22 x 10.5 (irreg.)

4. Research document on the Potters Cottage, Warrandyte (1958–02), collated by John Nixon, Melbourne, 2004.

13. Tall speckled coffee pot (part of set)

21 x 19 cm (irreg.)

5. A selection of twelve related pottery and ceramics publications dating from 1940–73.

14. Set of six speckled coffee cups and saucers (part of set)

8 x 11.5 cm (each) DULDIG Pottery Karl and Slawa DULDIG works glazed earthenware unless otherwise stated 1. Set of four coloured ramekin bowls with looped handle

4.5 x 16 cm (each) 2. Set of four cream side plates

2 x 14 cm (each)

2. Small light green and white shallow bowl

4 x 15 cm

3. Set of four coloured ramekin bowls with looped handle

5.5 x 15 cm (each)

3. Small short orange and brown vase

6.5 x 14 cm

4. Two very small matching burgundy cup and saucer set cream interior

6 x 9 cm (each)

4. Large green and brown fluted vase

824 x 25 cm

6. Single small blue cup cream interior

6.5 x 9.5 cm

5. Two small blue and brown matching cup and saucer set cream interior

6.5 x 11 cm (each)

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Biographies Notes on the biographies. Information for the artist’s biographies has been compiled from various sources.

The research of Judith Pearce and her colleagues through the database Identifying Australian Pottery 1960s to Date and the Australian Pottery at Bemboka website and art gallery were an important reference. Other sources of information include: discussions with surviving family members; the website and pottery blogger The Rameking, who has contributed significant research around mid-century Australian pottery; Potters Cottage: a tribute the exhibition and publication curated by Grace Cochrane at the Manningham Art Gallery (2012) and Geoff Ford’s Australian Encyclopaedia Potter’s Marks (1998). Information is for reference purposes only and may not be accurate.

Elsa ARDERN born Napier, New Zealand, 1918; arrived Australia, 1942; died Melbourne VIC, 2006 Elsa Ardern née Griffith, originally from New Zealand, came to Melbourne in 1942 to earn money for a trip ‘home’ to England. Instead she married the landscape painter Cyril Ardern whom she met canoeing. A shared love of the Australian bush led the couple to discover the Yarra river on the outskirts of Melbourne. They soon settled in Warrandyte, building their own home in 1942. In 1954, with her two children now at school, Elsa Ardern began studying pottery under John Bernard Knight and Jeffrey Wilkinson at the Melbourne Technical College. She worked from a studio under the family home with a kiln built by her husband Cyril. In 1961 she joined the Potters’ Cottage at Warrandyte with friends Sylvia Halpern and Kate Janeba and regularly exhibited there, as well as keeping her display-shelves stocked throughout the life of ‘The Cottage’. She also had shelf-space at the Victorian Arts and Crafts Society’s shop. From 1969 Elsa Ardern also began exhibiting with the Victorian Ceramics Group. In 1980 Elsa established a studio at her holiday home in Tathra on the far south coast of NSW, sharing her time between Tathra and Warrandyte for the next 25 years.

Her works are signed with an incised ‘Elsa Ardern’ or ‘EA’.

BECK Pottery Henry ‘Hatton’ BECK born Cassilis VIC, 1901; died Melbourne VIC, 1994 Lucy Evelyn Gough BECK born in Melbourne VIC, 1916; died Melbourne VIC, 2009 Hatton Beck grew up near Omeo eastern Victoria where he began making clay animals and sculptures before his family settled in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh. After living and working in far north Queensland, Beck returned to Oakleigh and set up his own pottery studio and kiln not far from Merric Boyd’s ‘Open Country’ house in nearby Murrumbeena. In 1939 Hatton married Merric’s daughter Lucy Boyd, also an accomplished potter.

Lucy Beck née Boyd is the daughter of Merric and Doris Boyd. Her brothers were the artists Arthur, Guy and David Boyd and her sister Mary married artists John Perceval and later Sidney Nolan. The five siblings grew up in the ‘Open Country’ house in Murumbeena, a period when the family was operating a pottery studio and gallery from their home and a space where creativity in all its forms was encouraged.

Together Lucy and Hatton Beck set up the Altamira Pottery Studio in Murrumbeena, in an old butchers shop at 500 Neerim Road making jugs and other functional domestic pottery. In 1943 the pottery studio was sold to Arthur Boyd (Lucy’s brother) and his partners John Perceval and Peter Herbst. In the same premises they established the Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery studio or ‘AMB’ Pottery in honour of Arthur Boyd’s grandfather.

In 1948 Lucy and Hatton Beck moved to Brisbane with their two sons Laurence and Robert, where Hatton taught pottery at the Central Technical College. In the early 70s the Beck family moved back to the Melbourne suburb of Beaumaris where they continued to live, teach and make pottery. Hatton Beck continued working well into his mid-eighties.

Hatton Beck painted or incised his post-war work ‘Beck’. Lucy Beck painted or incised her works ‘Lucy Beck’ or ‘Lucy’

http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=32 Grey Ardern in email conversation 26 August 2018

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https://www.flickr.com/groups/austpots/ discuss/72157631870207947/ http://www.members.optushome.com.au/jssp/hattonbeck/index https://www.heide.com.au/exhibitions/making-history-boyd-family https://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=93037

ELKE AUSTRALIA Karl Heinz DAVID born Berlin, Germany, unknown; died Melbourne VIC, 1979 Ellen Anne DAVID born Germany, 1927; died Melbourne VIC, 2009 Elke Australia was a commercial pottery studio set up by Karl-Heinz and his wife Ellen Anne David, immigrants from Germany who arrived in Australia, 1951. After working in Tasmania they moved to Melbourne around the middle of the 1950s. KarlHeinz worked as an engineer, then independently he worked building and installing kilns throughout rural New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

In 1960 Karl and Ellen bought an inexpensive block of land in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton where they built a house and pottery studio. Ellen designed the range of slipcast functional and decorative domestic ware, while Karl completed the firing. Despite the humble location Elke Pottery was a major commercial venture and they made considerable quantities of ceramics sold through the large department stores in Melbourne and across Australia. Elke continued as a major manufacturer until the late 1970s, when Karl-Heinz became ill and died in 1979.

Ellen continued to make mainly small sculptural decorative items during the 1980s and 90s.

Works by Karl Heinz and Ellen David are incised ‘Elke Aus’ or stamped ‘Handpainted Elke Australia’.

Karol ‘Karl’ DULDIG born Przemysl Austria, 1902; died Melbourne VIC, 1986 Slawa DULDIG born Horucko Poland, 1902; died Melbourne VIC, 1975 Karl Duldig was an influential Australian sculptor, potter, painter and teacher. In 1914 the family moved to Vienna, where Duldig’s interest in sculpture emerged. In 1921, he began his studies at the University of Applied Arts with further studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

Duldig became one of the Academy’s prestigious Masters in the School of Sculpture. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Duldig also gained prominence as an international sportsman.

Karl Duldig married Slawa Horowitz, herself an artist and inventor in 1931. Their only child, Eva, was born in 1938, shortly before the German troops entered Austria. The Duldigs fled to Switzerland and then travelled to Singapore where they lived for the next two years. Duldig established a sculpture studio but in 1940 the family was deported to Australia. They were held in internment at the Tatura camp near Shepparton and were released in 1942.

Working from their home in Malvern Karl and Slawa set up their own pottery studio using the name ‘Slawa’ and made a large number of domestic pottery and functional items which were in high demand. They sold their first stock through local outlets and the Primrose Pottery Shop. In 1945 Slawa attained registration as a teacher of Art and German language and was employed by Korowa Girls Grammar School and at St Catherine’s Girls School in Toorak, she remained in teaching for over sixteen years. Karl Duldig gained recognition as a sculptor and exhibited regularly throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. The Duldig studio at East Malvern is preserved as a house museum and public gallery.

Works by Karl and Slawa Duldig are inscribed ‘Duldig’, ‘Slawa’ and ‘KD’ with ‘K’ inside ‘D’.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=101112 http://rameking.blogspot.com/2013/08/designer-makerelke-marks-incised.html

Eva de Jong-Duldig Driftwood: Escape and survival through art, Arcadia Publishing, Melbourne, 2017. https://www.duldig.org.au/about-us/

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Phyllis ‘Phyl’ DUNN born Melbourne VIC, 1915; died Wonthaggi VIC, 1999 Phyl Dunn first became interested in ceramics when she was inspired by the work of Allan Lowe on display in the windows of the Primrose Pottery Shop (1929-70) in Little Collins Street Melbourne.

Whilst attending painting classes with Danila Vassilieff, Dunn visited Reg Preston at his studio in Warrandyte and began working with him part-time as an apprentice. From 1954–55 Dunn completed formal studies in London attending classes with Dora Billington at the Central School of Arts.

Returning to Australia in 1956 she became Reg Preston’s assistant. In 1958 they were married and both became founding members of the Potters’ Cottage, Warrandyte.

Dunn decorated some of Preston’s pots, as well as making her own range of domestic wares and one-off pieces. Dunn was known for her fresh experimental approach to the use of colour, pattern and calligraphic designs and the use of wax resist technique in glazing. Dunn had an exhibition in the Argus Gallery in 1962, and both she and Preston exhibited regularly in Craft Association shows. Preston and Dunn saw that these kinds of exhibitions gave them new opportunities to raise their profiles and show their work in relation with others.

During the 1960s Preston and Dunn produced a line under the name ‘Ceres’ after the Roman God of agriculture and in 1967 they began working in stoneware. In 1982 Preston and Dunn set up a studio at Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island, where Dunn continued to work until 1987.

DYSON STUDIO POTTERY June DYSON born Melbourne VIC, 1919; died Melbourne VIC, 2004 Potter June Dyson trained at the Melbourne Technical College in the late 1930s under the influential potters John Bernard Knight and Klytie Pate. After World War II she started the Dyson Studio in her home in the bayside suburb of Black Rock, as a single mother with two children.

Dyson successfully sold her pottery to the large department stores in Melbourne. A few years later she married scientist Colin Gordon who took on the role of manager, and then assisted in the production of Dyson Studio Pottery. In 1959 they moved to the town of Gembrook on the outskirts of metropolitan Melbourne. They re-opened the Dyson Studio with the addition of a retail shop and continued in business at Gembrook until Dyson suffered a stroke in 1986.

Dyson’s son Robert ‘Andy’ Gordon also began working at Gembrook for the Dyson studio before going on to set up his own successful ceramics studio in Pakenham, Victoria which continues to the present day.

Early works by June Dyson are incised with ‘Lorrant Studio’. Dyson Studio Pottery is painted or incised ‘J Dyson’, ‘Dyson Studio’ or ‘Dyson Aust’.

Her works are incised, signed or painted ‘Phil Dunn’ or ‘P.D’.

http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=105 http://rameking.blogspot.com/2012/08/dunn-phyl-dunn.html

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Geoff Ford Encylopedia of Australian Potters’ Marks, Salt Glaze Press, Wodonga Victoria, 1998, pp. 62–63 http://rameking.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-dyson.html http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=428

SYLHA Artur ‘Artek or Art’ HALPERN born in Lwow, Poland, 1908; arrived Melbourne VIC, 1945; died Melbourne VIC, 1976 Artek Halpern was born in Poland and trained as a civil engineer in Czechoslovakia. World War II violently interrupted his life, with the Halpern family losing their property during Nazi occupation.

After serving in the Polish military Artek migrated to Melbourne via Fremantle in 1947, following his brother Stanislaw ‘Stacha’ Halpern who had arrived 8 years earlier.

Artek was greatly influenced by his wife Sylvia whom he married at the end of the 40s. Sylvia Pauline Black had trained as a potter at the Melbourne Technical College. Artek and Sylvia set up a workshop under the name SYLHA a combination of both names ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Halpern’.

The Sylha Ceramics Studio was originally located in their backyard in Murrumbeena before moving to South Oakleigh in 1950. As Artek had training as an engineer he constructed his own electrical kilns.

In a relatively short time both Artek and Sylvia were earning a living as potters selling directly to both department stores and through the Primrose Pottery shop.

In 1958 Artek started exploring different means of exhibiting and selling their wares. With Gus McLaren, Reg Preston, Phil Dunn and Charles Wilton, they set up the Potters’ Cottage at Warrandyte with Sylvia Halpern, Elsa Ardern and Kate Janeba joining the group in 1961. The work of Artek Halpern can be distinguished by the strong use of colour, bold brush markings and modern design.

Sylvia HALPERN born Japan, 1918; arrived Australia 1940; died Melbourne VIC, 2008 Sylvia Pauline Halpern née Black was born in Kobe, Japan and started her schooling in China. At 14, she was sent to study in England and worked in London as a stenographer. She arrived in Australia in 1940 and trained as a potter at the Melbourne Technical College where she met and subsequently married Stanislaw ‘Stacha’ Halpern in 1943. Sylvia introduced Stanislaw to clay while living together in Black Rock.

Their marriage however was short lived after the premature death of their daughter.

Later Sylvia married Stanislaw’s brother Artur ‘Artek’ Halpern, who had migrated to Australia in 1945.

Sylvia also introduced Artek to clay, mould making and casting techniques. In 1950, the couple set up a workshop under the name SYLHA, a combination of both names ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Halpern’. The SYLHA Ceramics Studio was run by Artek and Sylvia and was originally located in a backyard in Murumbeena before moving to South Oakleigh in 1950.

They later would move to Warrandyte, with Artek becoming one of the founding members of the Potters’ Cottage in 1958 and Sylvia joining in 1961.

From 1961 she began making and signing works in her own name. Her later work was more sculptural and abstract including figures and animal forms. In 1968 she moved to a new pottery studio in North Warrandyte with partner Graeme Witt. Sylvia Halpern continued making ceramic pieces until her retirement in the early 2000s.

Her works are marked with a painted or incised ‘Sylvia Halpern’ or ‘Sylvia H’.

Artek Halpern’s individual work is marked with a painted ‘A.H.’ ‘AH’ (in two forms) or ‘Halpern’.

http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Sylha http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=94

Grace Cochrane Potters Cottage: a tribute, Manningham Art Gallery and City Council, 2012, pp 114-115. http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Sylha

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Stanislaw ‘Stacha’ HALPERN born 1919 Zolochev, Poland; arrived Australia 1939; died Melbourne VIC, 1969.

Harold Randolf HUGHAN born Mildura VIC, 1893; died 1987

Stanislaw Halpern was a painter, potter, printmaker and sculptor who trained briefly as an artist in Poland before migrating to Australia via England in 1939 and settling in Melbourne. He began working as a fitter and turner and was introduced to pottery through Sylvia Pauline Black whom he met at the Melbourne Technical College and married in 1943.

Their marriage however was short lived after the premature death of their daughter.

Harold Randolf Hughan was born in Mildura and attended schooling in Hamilton in the Western District of Victoria. Hughan joined the Australian Infantry Forces at the beginning of World War I and worked as an apprentice engineer and was posted with the troops in France from 1916–18. Hughan completed training in England as an engineer at the end of the war and returned to Australia in 1920.

Stanislaw became further interested in pottery while working as a mould maker in a commercial pottery company in 1944–45. At this time he befriended Arthur Boyd who, with John Perceval, had established the Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery at Murrumbeena. In 1946–47 Stacha Halpern set up a home studio, with the aim of becoming a full-time potter. He successfully sold his work through the Primrose Pottery Shop and in 1947 he was naturalized. In 1951, he travelled to England and Europe for 15 years, leading a semi-nomadic life as a painter. He achieved significant success with his painting through frequent solo and group exhibitions in Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Basel and Milan. In 1961 he married Betty Anne Hamilton in England and they returned to Australia in 1966.

Stanislaw Halpern exhibited work at the Potters’ Cottage at Warrandyte in the late 1960s, but he died suddenly of heart disease in 1969. In 1970 the National Gallery of Victoria held a retrospective exhibition of his work.

He signed his works ‘SHalpern’ or ‘SH’ with the ‘S’ over and forming the crossbar of the ‘H’.

Peter Timms the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne University Press, Volume 14, 1996 http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=95 http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/halpern-stanislawstacha-10400

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In the early 1940s, Hughan, who was previously interested in the crafts of weaving and woodworking, became involved in his family’s attempts at pottery.

His knowledge as an engineer enabled him to improve the firing process and kilns they were using.

Hughan’s early pottery was influenced by the advice of fellow local Melbourne potter F.E. Cox ‘Jolliffe’ and the collection of Chinese Sung and T’ang ceramics in the National Gallery of Victoria.

In 1941 Hughan set up his own studio in Glen Iris, Melbourne and began making lead-glazed earthenware. His technical research was aided by his son Robert who was a ceramic technologist with the CSIRO. Hughan’s first one-man exhibition was held at Georges Gallery in 1950 and over the next decade he became a high profile studio potter strongly influenced by Chinese ceramics traditions and aesthetics. In 1978 he was awarded an MBE for his service to pottery. He continued making pottery well into his nineties.

His early works are marked or impressed ‘H GI’ (for Glen Iris) in oxide.

Kenneth Hood, The pottery of Harold Hughan from 1944 to the present : a monograph of the life and work of Australia’s most celebrated potter, Crafts ouncil of Australia, Sydney, 1983.

Grace Cochrane, “Harold Hughan,” cited in Australian Art Pottery 1900-1950, editors Kevin Fahey et al., Casuarina Press, Sydney, 2004, pp. 189–91. https://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/index/226-hughanharold-ceramics/ http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=117

ISOBEL POTTERY Jelena ‘Helen’ ILICH born Osijic, Croatia, 1914; died Melbourne VIC, 2002 Helen Ilich née Popovic was first introduced to painting and ceramics by a visiting Russian artist to her small village in Croatia. Discouraged from study she married Bodizar Ilic in 1934. Bodizar joined the army and Helen continued painting from their home whilst their son Vojislav and daughter Nina were born. After the war, Bodizar travelled to Switzerland and studied architecture, while Helen remained in Yugoslavia becoming a high school teacher. Bodizar migrated to Melbourne from Croatia in 1949 finding work on the docks and Helen followed in 1953 with their two children.

Helen found work as a kindergarten assistant before working at Ellis pottery where she met fellow potter and friend Isobel Joy Fraser. After several years Bodizar became an architect for the Public Works department and Helen left Ellis to work at Guy Boyd’s pottery studio in Bentleigh. Helen Ilich went to work for Isobel Pottery joining her friend who had set up a studio in their Croydon backyard completing a number of slip cast works and works inspired by her love of the Australian bush.

In the 60s the Ilichs moved to Ivanhoe and Helen set up a painting studio where she sometimes taught. She joined the Heidelberg Districts Artists Society and continued to teach and paint landscapes of the Australian bush until her death in 2002.

Works by Helen Ilich are painted ’Isobel Australia painted by Helen’, ‘Isobel Art Pottery by H.Illich’ or ‘Hilda Ilich’.

Katherina ‘Kate’ JANEBA date of birth unknown; arrived Melbourne VIC, 1939; died Vienna Austria, 1985 Kate Janeba née Pollack was trained in ceramics in Vienna, Austria before migrating to Melbourne in 1939. Her partner, architect Frederick Alois ‘Fritz’ Janeba (1905–83) followed a month later and the pair soon married. Kate described herself as a pottery designer and found work in these early years in a commercial pottery in Maribyrnong.

Fritz Janeba also found work quickly as an architect working on the design of the experimental Koornong School (1939–47) established by educators Clive and Janet Neild at Warrandyte.

Kate Janeba would go on to teach at the school after it opened. Kate and Fritz rented Penleigh Boyd’s miners cottage and studio before designing and building their own home and studio in Warrandyte.

Kate Janeba made delicate functional earthenware and sold them initially through the Primrose Pottery Shop. Both Kate and Fritz Janeba became part of the Warrandyte art scene and their European modernist approach had a strong influence. Kate Janeba became close friends with Sylvia Halpern and Elsa Ardern, with all three artists joining the Potters’ Cottage at Warrandyte in 1961.

In 1964 Kate Janeba left Australia as Fritz took up a professorship position at Ankara University in Turkey. When Kate Janeba died in 1985 she bequeathed her ‘residuary estate’ to the University of Melbourne to set up a Fritz Janeba Travelling Scholarship to assist architecture and design students to advance their knowledge in the international context.

The works of Kate Janeba are incised ‘FKJ’ implying the close involvement or influence of Fritz Janeba.

Email conversation with Vijoslav Ilic 2 October 2018 rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Isobel https://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=89090

Grace Cochrane Potters Cottage: a tribute, Manningham Art Gallery and City Council, 2012, pp 126–27. http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=102 http://whsoc.org.au/artists/

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Eric Carl JUCKERT born Melbourne VIC, 1918; died Cowes VIC, 2004

Helen LAYCOCK born Sydney NSW, 1931; died Melbourne VIC, 2011

Eric Juckert began his pottery career studying with Una Deerbon at her studio and pottery school in Melbourne in 1936. Between 1937–40 Juckert set up his own pottery business at his parents home in Balaclava selling to Myers and David Jones stores under the name ‘Jacqueline’. For a time potter Charles Wilton worked with Juckert out of the Balaclava studio. At the beginning of the second world war Juckert joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an aircraftsman.

Helen Laycock became interested in pottery in the 1950s working with her husband Ben Laycock as a hobby. In 1960 artist Clifton Pugh encouraged the couple from South Australia to his artist colony Dunmoochin at Cottles Bridge in the outskirts of Melbourne. Clifton Pugh encouraged the Laycocks to buy a piece of land on the proviso of beginning a pottery studio. The arrival of the Laycocks was part of the expansion of the activities of the Dunmoochin artists community from painting to other artistic endeavours. After building a modest adobe style out of the earth, the Laycock’s began a studio pottery business.

After discharge he returned to Melbourne and for a time was the owner and operator of a weekend retreat in Healesville, Victoria. Juckert continued to advance his pottery exhibiting at the prestigious Kozminsky Gallery in Melbourne in 1947. He moved to Caulfield and taught pottery from his home for some years before relocating to Riddells Creek, near Mount Macedon in 1954. He lived alone, managed the farm and worked on his pottery exclusively.

It is said he travelled for a time to England and to Mexico before setting up a new home and studio on Phillip Island in 1959 where he continued to work until 1992. His friend, Charles Wilton and many other potters often visited Juckert for knowledge and advice. Juckert did not marry and is not survived by any children but became a popular part of the local community. In 2011 the Bass Shire named the beachfront grassland reserve adjacent to his former home in his honour.

In 1965, the couple built their own studio at Dunmoochin not far from fellow potter Alma Shanahan. The Potters Cottage approached Peter Laycock to join them as a member and to teach at the Potters Cottage School. In 1970, Sue Ford published a photographic book of the Laycocks at work called Fire and clay: the craft of Helen and Peter Laycock.

In the 1970s the couple separated, with Helen Laycock continuing to work as a studio potter at the Dunmoochin property until 1987, and living there until 2001.

The work of Helen Laycock are painted or incised ‘Helen’ or ‘Helen Laycock’.

Works by Eric Juckert are incised ‘Jacqueline’, ‘Juckert’ or ‘Eric Juckert’.

http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Eric%20Juckert http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=87 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eric+Juckert+Reserve ,+Ventnor+VIC+3922

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Sue Ford, Fire and Clay: the Craft of Peter and Helen Laycock, Heinemann Educational Australia, South Yarra, 1970. https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009/ december/1295829300/john-van-tiggelen/wild-colonial-boy http://alistairknox.org/chapters/55 http://www.dunmoochin.org/

Peter LAYCOCK born Glenelg SA, 1927; died Castlemaine VIC, 2009 Peter Laycock was born in Glenelg, South Australia.

A singer and teacher, he first began pottery as a hobby. In 1960 he and his wife Helen Laycock, also a distinguished potter, began selling ceramics at Dunmoochin, Cottles Bridge just outside Hurstbridge, north east of Melbourne.

Dunmoochin was an artists colony set up by Clifton Pugh in the early 1950s and became an incredibly vital and creative place during the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Dunmoochin was populated at times by prominent artists, musicians, potters and even political figures such as Gough Whitlam. Artists such as Mirka Mora, John Olsen, John Perceval and Albert Tucker who would live and work at Dunmoochin in this time. In 1962 Peter Laycock started potting full-time and a few years later Helen and Peter set up their own studio.

In 1969 Laycock was invited by the Potters Cottage artists to help set up the Potters Cottage School in a building to be designed by architect and Potters Cottage president John Hippwell. Laycock was distinguished by becoming the first president of the Craft Association of Victoria when it was formed in 1970. In the same year, the photographer Sue Ford published a photographic book of the Laycocks at work titled Fire and Clay. By 1981, Peter Laycock had separated from Helen and moved to Nimbin in northern NSW, then travelled further, to far North Queensland. Returning to Victoria in 1991 he based himself in Castlemaine, where he lived and worked making ceramics until his death in 2009.

JANET GRAY STUDIO John Arthur Barnard KNIGHT born Warracknabeal VIC, 1910; died Melbourne VIC, 1993 John Arthur Barnard Knight was born in Warracknabeal, Victoria. He moved to Melbourne and studied art at the Melbourne Technical School (now Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology).

Knight also worked for the Hoffmann and Maribyrnong Potteries, as well as, the studio of Napier Waller. He joined the staff of Melbourne Technical School in 1934 and taught pottery, modelling and drawing. In 1939 Knight became head of the Pottery Department and worked with Klytie Pate for over fifteen years.

In 1940 he married Isabel Grose and together they established the Janet Gray Studio at their South Yarra home. Knight served in the RAAF from 1942–45. Upon leaving the airforce Knight continued to expand the Janet Gray Studio based in Malvern. Knight would remain teaching at RMIT until 1975 and had a significant influence on several generations of Melbourne potters, championing the use of earthenware ceramics.

Works by John Knight are painted or incised ‘Janet Gray’, ‘Janet Gray Studio’, ‘Janet Gray Australia’ or ‘J. A. Barnard Knight.

Peter Laycock’s works are incised ‘Laycock’ or ‘Peter Laycock’ from 1962 he also used an impressed ‘PL’ seal.

Sue Ford, Fire and Clay: the Craft of Peter and Helen Laycock, Heinemann Educational Australia, South Yarra, 1970. https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009/ december/1295829300/john-van-tiggelen/wild-colonial-boy http://alistairknox.org/chapters/55 http://www.dunmoochin.org/

http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=82 http://rameking.blogspot.com/2009/07/john-barringtonknight.html

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Allan LOWE born Collingwood VIC, 1907; died Melbourne VIC, 2001

Elizabeth ‘Betty’ McLAREN born Melbourne VIC, 1929; lives and works Merimbula NSW

Kathleen ‘Peg’ LOWE born Collingwood VIC, 1911; died Melbourne VIC, 1997

In the early 50s Gus and Betty McLaren moved to Warrandyte, a small village home to many artists of the period that attracted creative people from far and wide. Betty McLaren was taught to slip cast by Reg Preston. Gus and Reg had started designing and making whimsical earthenware animals and domestic ware under the name ‘Regus’ and Betty soon joined the team.

Allan Lowe was born in Melbourne in 1907 and trained as a painter before setting up a pottery studio at Merlynston, a suburb north of Coburg Melbourne, in 1929. Lowe was self-taught; he studied from books at the State Library of Victoria and built his own kiln with the help of a friend from the Hoffman Potteries in Brunswick.

Lowe took pottery classes with Gladys Kelly at the Working Men’s College (later Melbourne Technical College). He moved to Eaglemont in 1932 and continued his pottery after having been greatly influenced by the Chinese ceramics he saw in the exhibition of the K.W. Kent Collection at the National Gallery of Victoria. Lowe made minimal earthenware forms with sophisticated glazes which he sold through the Primrose Pottery shop in Little Collins Street, Melbourne. During World War II he worked at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation at Fisherman’s Bend as he was ineligible to serve in the armed forces. After the war Lowe turned to pottery full time working from his home in Ferntree Gully.

After becoming friends with the Indigenous artist Bill Onus, Lowe became interested in Aboriginal art and began featuring Aboriginal inspired designs on some of his forms. They worked together on numerous pieces based at ‘The Hut’ an artist’s co-operative in Ferntree Gully. Lowe made several trips to central Australia to draw inspiration.

Allan’s wife Kathleen ‘Peg’ Lowe née Delahory (1911–97) also worked closely with her husband, collaborating on pottery as well as making her own pieces from the Ferntree Gully studio. Their sons, John Lowe (1934–2017) and Peter Lowe (1944–94) and Peter’s wife Marian Lowe also produced pottery from the family studio during the 70s.

In 1958 Gus and Betty McLaren became founding members of the Potters Cottage. The couple lived with Preston for a time whilst also setting up their own studio and home at Yarraridge Pottery in Bradleys Lane. Together and separately, the McLaren pottery produced an extensive body of work, this included wheel-thrown and handbuilt pieces, as well as a range of slip-cast figures designed by Gus and decorated by Betty.

In the 60s and 70s Gus moved into working in film and television, leaving Betty to run the pottery business. Betty took over operation of the slip casting and decorating process, as well as working on her own hand-painted pieces, supplying the Potters Cottage and other galleries in Victoria.

In the late 70s Gus and Betty built a mud brick house in Merimbula, moving there to live and work.

In the early 80s Gus and Betty separated with Gus returning to Melbourne and leaving their daughter Kirsty to run the pottery business at Warrandyte.

After Kirsty travelled to London in the 80s, Betty moved the pottery production to Merimbula where she is still producing slip cast animals under the name McLaren Pottery.

Betty’s works are signed ‘B McLaren’ or ‘Betty McLaren’. McLaren Pottery works are signed ‘MCL’ or ‘McLaren’.

Works by Allan Lowe are signed with an incised or painted ‘Allan Lowe’. Peg Lowe pottery are signed ‘Peg Lowe’. http://warrandytehallarts.asn.au/wmiaa/history https://www.flickr.com/photos/131676125@N02/22527044539/ http://rameking.blogspot.com/2009/07/arthur-peg-lowe.html

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http://www.mclaren-pottery.com/home.html

William George ‘Gus’ MCLAREN born Melbourne VIC, 1923; died Merimbula MSW, 2008

Klytie PATE born Melbourne VIC, 1912; died Melbourne VIC, 2010

Gus McLaren was a celebrated studio potter, cartoonist and animator. After studying cartooning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, McLaren enlisted for the war and served in the Pacific. In 1946 as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces Press Unit, McLaren travelled to Japan to teach art. There he met the young cartoonist Les Tanner and together they produced political cartoons about the war for various newspapers. After discharge in 1949, McLaren briefly moved to Sydney where he worked as an illustrator and cartoonist. Returning to Melbourne he worked at The Argus newspaper as the cartoonist ‘Just Gus’. In the early 50s McLaren and his wife Betty settled in Warrandyte, an outer suburb of Melbourne popular with artists and potters at the time because of the low cost of land. When work at The Argus began to decline McLaren turned his attentions to pottery. He began by making sculptural pieces for a chess set from terracotta clay dug up from the side of a gravel road.

Klytie Winifred Wingfield Pate née Sclater was born in Melbourne in 1912. At age 13 Klytie went to live with her aunt Christian Waller and her husband Napier Waller, artists who would go on to adopt her three years later. The Wallers greatly encouraged Klytie’s interests in art and arranged for her to study modelling with sculptor Ola Cohn (1892–1964).

Klytie took drawing classes at the National Gallery School before transferring to the Melbourne Technical College in 1932. She joined the staff there in 1937 and ran the Pottery School from 1942–45 becoming a highly influential figure.

In 1955 Gus and Betty met local potter Reg Preston who offered to fire their pieces, beginning a lifelong friendship. In 1958 they became founding members of the Potters Cottage. Gus McLaren was the main innovator in expanding the Potters Cottage to include a Pottery School and the Potters Restaurant. Later Gus would also open ‘The Hot Pot Shop’ in South Melbourne, which specialised in provincial cooking and casseroles served in rugged stoneware plates and dishes.

In 1946 Klytie set up a studio in her home in South Yarra, making mainly wheel-thrown vases, bowls and lidded jars, carved and modelled often in an art deco style. In 1947, Pate together with Allan Lowe, became the first ceramicists to have their studio pottery purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. Her distinctive style led her to become one of Australia’s most significant studio potters. In 1964 she and her husband, William Pate, whom she had married in 1937, moved to a larger house in Kew where she continued to work as a potter until 1998.

In 1991 she received the Order of Australia for her contribution to the arts.

Her works are incised ‘Klytie Pate’.

Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s Gus interspersed his love of ceramics with working in film and television as an animator. He directed the first animation series made for Australian television and for a long period worked for Hanna & Barbera Productions. As Gus became more involved with animation Betty continued to operate the Yarraridge pottery business. Gus continued a successful career as a potter, moving into larger pieces in stoneware.

His later work became increasingly abstract, less decorative and more sculptural in form.

Gus McLaren’s ceramic work is signed ‘Gus McLaren’. http://www.mclaren-pottery.com/home.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_McLaren http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=68

Geoffery Edwards, Klytie Pate : Klytie Pate ceramics, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1983. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klytie_Pate https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/613639 http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=62

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CERES POTTERY Reginald ‘Reg’ PRESTON born Sydney NSW, 1917; died Melbourne VIC, 2000 In 1938, after meeting the Melbourne sculptor Ola Cohn, Reg Preston travelled to London studying sculpture at the Westminster School of Art. The beginning of World War II forced Preston to return to Melbourne. He took pottery classes at the Melbourne Technical College (now the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in 1944 with John A Barnard Knight and Kyltie Pate. He worked for a number of commercial potteries before setting up his own studio at Warrandyte in 1947. In 1953 he and his first wife Joan together with Kate Janeba and Alex Goyda opened the Parsons Gully Gallery in Warrandyte to showcase the work of local artists.

In 1958 he married Phyl Dunn and they both became founding members of the Potters Cottage.

Throughout this time Preston worked in earthenware and was also interested in working with the English slipware tradition. Preston was known for using Aboriginal in-style motifs and was influenced by Indigenous designs. During the 60s, Preston and Dunn produced a line under the name ‘Ceres’ after the god of agriculture, and with Gus McLaren, Preston also produced a line of ceramics under the name ‘Regus’ a combination of ‘Reg’ and ‘Gus’.

In 1967 Preston began working in stoneware for which he is perhaps best known. Preston often created large pieces with bold and abstract decorations and rich vitreous glazes over-poured or brushed with other metallic glazes. In 1982 Preston and Dunn set up studio at Cape Woolamai, Phillip Island in Victoria where Preston continued to work until retirement in 1995.

Leon SAPER born Poland, 1928; died Melbourne VIC, 2005 Leon Saper was born in Poland to Jewish parents.

After surviving the holocaust, the Saper family came to Melbourne from France in 1949. Leon was trained as a fitter and turner in Europe and became a tradesman in Melbourne working as a maintenance man at General Motors Holden. In 1955 Leon gained eligibility to become a member of Clifton Pugh’s Dunmoochin Artists’ Collective at Cottles Bridge as his first wife Stella was a painter.

After this marriage ended Saper bought a bush block and in 1967 built a house that was designed by renowned architect Maurice Shaw. This modernist house is now heritage listed for its innovative use of mud brick and recycled materials.

Saper attempted a musical career as a guitarist and also studied painting for a time. After immersing himself with the community at Dunmoochin in the 60s, Saper turned his attentions to making pottery full time in the early 1970s. Potters such as Buster Hogan helped teach Saper and he had a short potter’s apprentice relationship with Robert Mair.

Saper had a landmark stall at the St. Andrew’s Market and became known as the Dunmoochin potter through his striking colourful work on hessian bags. A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Nillumbik Council Offices after his death in April 2005.

Works by Leon Saper are incised ‘L.Sper’.

His works are either incised or painted ‘RP’, ‘.P.’ also ‘Ceres’ with Phyl Dunn and ‘Regus’ with Gus McLaren.

https://australianpottersmarks.wordpress.com/p/ http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Preston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Preston

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http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=416 https://alistairknox.org/chapters/55 https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/ data/904580821

Alma SHANAHAN born unknown, 1924; died Melbourne VIC, 2015

Charles ‘Charlie’ WILTON born Glasgow, 1916; arrived Australia 1922; died Australia 2000

Alma Shanahan was a Victorian potter who lived at Clifton Pugh’s Dunmoochin art colony at Cottles Bridge, on Melbourne’s outskirts in 1953. Unable to join the co-operative she built her own house at the top of a neighbouring hill that is still standing today. This house is historically, aesthetically and architecturally significant as a fine example of the design and ethos of mud brick dwellings in the Eltham area. Shanahan was later joined by Dunmoochin potters Peter and Helen Laycock.

She trained for a term with Peter Laycock but was otherwise self-taught, basing her practice on the teachings of Bernard Leach. After Pugh’s death in 1991 she became the longest standing Dunmoochin resident.

Charles Wilton was born in Glasgow, Scotland and came to Melbourne as a boy in 1922. He, along with his brother and two sisters grew up in Melbourne through the Depression. Leaving the Northcote High school at just 14, Wilton went to work at Fowlers Pottery in Thomastown before briefly studying ceramics at the Melbourne Technical College, now the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. From 1938–40 he worked with Eric Juckert in his studio in Caulfield making homewares for Melbourne’s department stores.

Around this time he is said to have also worked with Kate Janeeba in a ceramics factory in Maribyrnong.

Works by Alma Shanahan are painted or incised with her full name ‘Alma Shanahan’.

Wilton joined the Australian Army in 1940 and then served in the Air Force from 1942–46. After discharge he leased space from a business making ceramic agricultural pipes in Lilydale. He set up shop and made ceramic insulators. After a time he lived and worked in Ringwood running a hardware shop with his wife Jean and two children Pamela and Ian. While continuing to live in Ringwood, Wilton set up a studio in the disused tearoom in Taroona Avenue Warrandyte next to the Uniting Church that would later be redesigned by John Hipwell.

In 1958 he was one of the founding members of the Potters’ Cottage with Artur Halpern, Reg Preston, Phyl Dunn and Gus McLaren. Wilton’s business and financial skills were instrumental in the formation and success of the Potters Cottage.

Wilton was a prolific producer of earthenware and was known for his refined forms and pieces.

He continued producing ceramics until retirement in 1992.

His work is incised ‘Charles Wilton’ or ‘C. Wilton’

http://www.australianpotteryatbemboka.com.au/shop/ index.php?manufacturers_id=256 https://www.flickr.com/groups/1281707@N21/ discuss/72157630524812340/ https://alistairknox.org/chapters/55 https://victoriancollections.net.au/ items/563c04112162f10e3c260e93

Grace Cochrane Potters Cottage: a tribute, Manningham Art Gallery and City Council, 2012, pp 98-99 http://rameking.blogspot.com/search/label/Wilton Virginia Lang, Poppa Charlie cited in New Work 3 curated projects by Danny Lacy, Ocular Lab Inc., Melbourne, 2006, pp. 9. http://studiomasatotectures.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ newwork2.pdf

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge John Nixon for his generosity, trust, openness and tireless efforts in the development of the exhibition.

Thank you for loaning these incredible works for display and our enjoyment. Thank you also to your family, Sue Cramer and Emma Nixon for supporting the project.

Thanks also to a number of individuals and the surviving family of the artists who helped in the planning and development of this exhibition including Betty McLaren, Grey Ardern, Susie Cordia, John Dermer, Eva de Jong-Duldig, Robert Gordon, Deborah Halpern, Vijolsav Ilich, Prue Lang, Ben Laycock, Marian Lowe, Anna Maas, Tony Trembath and Ian Wilton for your assistance. Thanks also to David Hurlston, Senior Curator of Australian Painting, Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the NGV for his wonderful remarks to open the exhibition.

I wish to thank James Lynch and Leanne Willis for their interest, initiation and enthusiasm for this project. I would also like to thank and acknowledge John Hipwell and Eric Smith for their generosity and their guidance in the research of the collection.

John Nixon Artist and Collector

We are also immensely grateful for the support of our faculty colleagues at Deakin University including the late Scott Allan, Bradley Axiak and Victoria Holessis from the School of Communication and Creative Arts.

Also a special thanks to designer Jasmin Tulk, Transart (Matt and Ben Foster) and Deakin Photographer Simon Peter Fox for their contributions to the exhibition development.

Thanks also to Brian Scales for his expert carpentry and to the Art Collection and Galleries team including Julian Di Martino, Julie Nolan, Claire Muir, Vanja Radisic and Vanessa Shia who assisted greatly with this project and to Senior Manager, Leanne Willis for your ongoing encouragement and support.

Finally, I wish to thank Rebecca Coates Director of the Shepparton Art Museum for her enthusiasm and for supporting the presentation of the exhibition at SAM in 2019.

James Lynch 65

Studio Pottery from the John Nixon Collection Exhibition dates Deakin University Art Gallery 31 October to 14 December 2018 Shepparton Art Museum 7 December 2019 to 15 March 2020

© 2018 the artist, the authors and publisher. Copyright to the works is retained by the artist and his/her descendants. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher and the individual copyright holder(s).

The views expressed within are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views held by Deakin University. Unless otherwise indicated all images are reproduced courtesy the artists.

Published by Deakin University 978-0-6483226-5-8 500 copies Catalogue design: Jasmin Tulk Deakin University Art Gallery Deakin University Melbourne Campus at Burwood 221 Burwood Highway Burwood 3125 T +61 3 9244 5344 E artgallery@deakin.edu.au www.deakin.edu.au/art-collection Gallery hours Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 4 pm Free Entry Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B

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Photography is by Simon Peter Fox.

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Image measurements are height x width x depth.

izi.travel - Deakin Art Collection and sculpture walk guides

Exhibition Curator: James Lynch, Art Collection and Galleries.

Cover and back image: ELKE AUSTRALIA Karl and Ellen David Green plate with orange and white interior glazed earthenware 3 x 24. 5 cm © the artist’s estate

Deakin University acknowledges the Wadawurrung and the Wurrunderji people of the Kulin nation and the Gunditjmara people, who are the traditional custodians of the lands on which our campuses are based. We pay our respects to them for their care of the land.

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