PERC TUCKER REGIONAL GALLERY
3 MAY - 7 JULY 2019
Publisher
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Galleries, Townsville City Council PO Box 1268
Townsville Queensland, 4810 Australia
ptrg@townsville.qld.gov.au
©Galleries, Townsville City Council and the authors 2019
ISBN: 978 0 949461 33 9
Contributing Authors
Jonathan McBurnie
Anneke Silver
Ross Searle
Publication Design and Development
Rob Donaldson
Photography
Carl Warner
Natasha Harth, QAGOMA
Typeface
Alda
Nexta
Cover image
Microcosm 1985
Porcelain
wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 18.4 x 18.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.34
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Cnr. Denham and Flinders St
Townsville QLD 4810
Mon - Fri: 10am - 5pm
Sat - Sun: 10am - 2pm
(07) 4727 9011
ptrg@townsville.qld.gov.au whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au PercTuckerTCC
CONTENTS FOREWORD 6 Jonathan McBurnie ADVENTUROUS BY NATURE 10 Anneke Silver FROM MICROCOSM TO DELFT BLUE 22 Ross Searle
FOREWORD
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue is one of the most anticipated Perc Tucker Regional Gallery exhibitions in a series which reexamines legacy artists of our region in a contemporary context. Hoedt’s work is synonymous with Townsville’s rich history of pottery and ceramics, particularly to a generation of artists and patrons of the 1970s, right through the turn of the century. Any collector or lover of North Queensland art worth their salt are very much aware of Hoedt’s ceramics; whether functional or artistic, her work is infused with care, warmth and attention to detail. Her work, therefore, has found itself in many homes, whether as treasured works of art, or in continuous active use, perhaps even more treasured still. This is a special project for many at the gallery, and I am sure, to the North Queensland artistic community also.
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery would also like to thank our friend and collective mentor, Ross Searle, for curating this exhibition with as much care attention to detail as Hoedt’s works themselves. Ross, despite leaving the gallery some years ago, has continued to support Townsville and North Queensland art in a variety of capacities ever since, and has searched far and wide to assemble the very choicest cuts of Connie’s expansive artistic career. Thank you also to Emily Donaldson, who has gone above and beyond the usual scope of her role for this project, liaising with many of the collectors.
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery has been privileged to work with many collectors of Hoedt’s work, some of whom have requested to remain anonymous.
Jar [detail] 1978-79
Nevertheless, we offer a sincere thank you to all of those who have lent their treasured works for this exhibition, including Dr and Mrs. Blomberg, Robert and Jocelyn Clayton, Therese Duff, Don and Mary Gallagher, Richard and Virginia Keyes, Gayle Kirkwood, the North Queensland Potters Association, Hilary Martin, Ralph and Margaret Martin, Maxine and Petrus Smith, Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack, Paul and June Tonnoir, John Walters and Paul Smith, Syd and Lorraine Brischetto and Barry and Gay Woodworth. Thank you also to the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art and the North Queensland Potters Association for lending collection works for this exhibition. We are incredibly grateful that you have loaned us these precious works of your friend and colleague, Connie. We hope we have done her memory justice.
Finally, we would also like to offer heartfelt thank you to Beer Hoedt and the Hoedt family. For those that don’t know him personally, Beer is Connie’s husband, and the custodian of many of her most precious items. Beer has been very gracious with his time and collection, and helped out on countless aspects of this exhibition. Just as important as preserving these beautiful works is preserving Connie’s legacy, and building on the public record is a crucial part of this; Beer has helped us iron out many details, including questionable dates and records which might otherwise be lost. Thank you so much for your efforts and assistance.
Jonathan McBurnie Creative Director, Galleries
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Stoneware wheel-thrown, slip decorated; gas fired to 1280°C 26 x 27.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Petrus and Maxine Smith
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Counter clockwise
Fossil pot 5 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
9 x 13 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 4 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12.5 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 3 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 9 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
7 x 12 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 7 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12.5 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Private Collection
Fossil pot 2 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
7.5 x 11.5 cm diameter
incised on base: CH
Collection of Ralph and Margaret Martin
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C
14.5 x 23 cm
incised on base: CH
10
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C
13 x 22 cm
incised on base: CH / 1975
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Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
ADVENTUROUS BY NATURE
In an interview on ABC Open, potter Connie Hoedt comments: ‘I am an immigrant, so adventurous by nature!’ 1 There is a lot of truth in this statement because many Europeans came not out of economic necessity or for political reasons but simply because they wanted a challenge, a different pathway. Those who knew Connie well saw her sense of adventure in her art and in her attitude to life, but they could also add many other characteristics. As a person she was generous, and loved sharing ideas and skills. She gave classes to children, as well as her TAFE classes for adults all over North Queensland. She was excited about exploring new ideas, and published an informative book about teaching children and beginners.
She had largesse of spirit about her, always prepared to expect the best and to make the best. She was caring when there was someone in need, looking after others’ children when there were problems. A perfectionist, and highly critical of her own work, she discarded works not up to her standard. She heeded Bernard Leach’s advice that a potter’s best friend is a hammer—after someone she met casually remarked that he had a large number of her pots; he used to collect the rubbish in her street.
As a potter ‘she worked day in, day out; though slender in build she had tough arm muscles from kneading huge lumps of clay and throwing large pots. And she could work with infinite patience.’ 2 Her sons Adriaan and Frank agree that their mother had the gift of enthusing them. They were as excited as she was when a kiln was ready to be opened: ‘She always involved us, because we had little pieces of our own in it as well’. 3
Microcosm 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 18.4 x 18.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.34
Kiln openings, the culmination of months of wedging clay, hand building or wheel throwing, and glazing, were highly charged emotional moments; the anticipation palpable and the joy immense when successful. On the flipside the disappointment of a bad outcome was so acute that Connie would be in tears. She was an excellent cook too, keeping a card index of exotic recipes. I remember wonderful dinners on the veranda of the lovely old Queenslander on the foot of Castle Hill, where she and her family lived. It was her way of showing her love for friends whom she referred to as family, because there were no blood relatives around.
It was there that I recently met up with two of her sons and her husband to reminisce about her life and work. We walked down the terraced garden to her potting shed, nestled in tropical vegetation overlooking the bay with Magnetic Island in the distance, a view that inspired her. Her wheel was there still; also the large gas kiln she built herself. Handling the carcinogenic insulation may have contributed to her later health problems. Carl McConnell in 1977— the date still scribbled on the wall— fired the products of a workshop in that kiln. English potter Seth Cardew worked with her too, with much cross-fertilisation of ideas.
As a woman she was strong and independent, articulate and methodical. She also had a great feeling for clothes, pursuing the Italian taste on clothing expeditions to Ingham with women friends, and searching promising op-shops. She had style, charm and elegance, not only in appearance but also in spirit. And yet ‘it was not about ego’.4
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Two forms 1974
Stoneware
hand-built, altered form; gas fired to 1280°C
20.5 x 22 cm diameter (a)
13 x 16.5 cm diameter (b)
incised on bases: CH City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1974.8.1-2
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
So how did she come to live in Townsville? Let us start at the beginning:
Born Cornelia van Koningsbrugge in 1936 in the city of Amersfoort, she grew up in the Netherlands. Her early years were during the German occupation in WWII, a horrendous time with bombings and the persecution of the Jewish people. It culminated in the terrible winter of 1944. All food transportation halted and more than 20,000 people starved to death in the cities. Connie narrowly escaped a reprisal shooting when someone pulled her out of sight into a doorway.
Training as a Montessori teacher, she started her career in The Hague. Working with clay was part of the course. She had always in mind to return to that one day when there was time. The Montessori philosophy comes out in many of her activities: kindness to those who needed help, and letting students enjoy learning through discovery and encouragement. She met her husband Beer (Dutch for ‘bear’) at a dance, neither of them actually dancing but talking!
Beer, a 5th generation Dutch Indonesian, also spent his younger years in appalling circumstances— in a Japanese concentration camp together with a number of Australians. Keen to return to the tropics after repatriation to the Netherlands, he chose to come to Australia. When he mentioned this to Connie after they became serious, she did not hesitate. In 1958, they caught a liner to Australia having married just before, in spite of the reluctance of Connie’s authoritarian father. Beer readily secured work in Sydney as an industrial chemist. Their three eldest sons were born there; in addition she took in two foster children with whom she remained close.
There was little time to connect with the arts. When Beer’s job brought them to Townsville in the middle 60s that was all to change.
Connie loved the tropics. Settled in that spacious old Queensland style house with a tropical garden and sea views, she found daily excitement in the plants around her, the orchids, ferns and native trees in the garden. The forms of seed pods, the exuberance and fertility of the tropics later emerge in her work.
But this lovely place had a tragedy in store for her. She became pregnant with the girl she had fervently hoped for, but the infant was stillborn. As was the practice in those days, she did not see the baby. Deeply aggrieved, she took a long time to recover. Perhaps this was the time to rediscover working with clay. There is something healing about the process of making ceramics. Made from a combination of the humblest and most basic elements—earth, air, fire and water—the end product is virtually indestructible, one of the qualities that attracted her to ceramics.The pottery is all that is left of many ancient civilisations. On a happier note, her fourth son was born a few years later.
In Townsville at that time there was an emergence of interest in the arts, part of a greater groundswell of recognition of the arts and crafts in Australia. We formed the Townsville Art Society in 1962. Fibres and Fabrics started in 1975.
1968 saw the arrival of a young potter, Noela Davis, who had learned from Milton Moon in Brisbane. She established a pottery studio, ‘a daunting task because of the isolation and distance’.5
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
The opening of James Cook University early in the 1960s had brought mathematics lecturer Arthur Rosser to Townsville, with his potter wife Carol, trained by Bill Reid in Brisbane. The newcomers were an inspiration for many aspiring potters. Connie, Carol and Noela worked on a kick wheel. It seems to me that those clunky but robust contraptions somehow epitomise the quality of those early times, when ceramics came to life in the North.
Most potters were partly self-taught, had attended a course or a workshop here and there, and shared their knowledge. The notion of a small smooth-running electric wheel was not on the radar. Potter Len Cook remembers ‘…the good old pioneering days. You had to make your own blowers and burners and get your fire bricks from the Copper Refineries or brickworks’.6 Arthur Rosser commented ‘We went digging for our own clay’.7 It was a time of improvisation, collaboration and huge enthusiasm. It started with simple Raku kilns, and gradually expanded to larger wood-fired and home-built gas kilns. The other option was to take your work to the Bluewater brickworks about 30 kms out of town where the very friendly manager kept the top shelves to fire emerging potters’ pieces, many built from brickworks clay too. They were solid and withstood those firings well!
Connie’s son Frank recalls that she made simple shapes first, like ashtrays, and melted coloured glass in the bottom. Connie’s husband Beer was helpful with his chemical knowledge and helped Connie with her glazes. Leigh Bailey and Connie built a large wood-fired kiln in Leigh’s backyard; Len Cook had six successful firings in that kiln; each taking 20 hours… Connie’s terraced yard had little room.
An early model saw neighbours worried as it ‘roared and backfired its slow and expensive way to stoneware temperature’.8
There were no galleries in Townsville, but venues were found to present small ceramic shows, and the general interest of the public was growing. Noela had an exhibition in the lovely grounds of Rosebank, the historic family home of Dr. Bob and Barbara Douglas, great mentors of the arts. Mal Hodges hosted shows of Noela’s and Carol’s work at the Stage Door Theatre.
Then Cyclone Althea struck on Christmas Eve 1971 and destroyed Noela’s workshop, which led to her leaving Townsville. Her dedicated students, among others Jean Campbell, Hillary O’Leary and Beverly Boulton, were so distressed at the loss of their tutor that they felt a need for an organisation that could develop pottery in Townsville could bring up tutors and build a space where equipment could be acquired and used by all. With much dedication and support from the community, the North Queensland Potters Association came into being in 1972.
Leafing through the pages of the history of the North Queensland Potters Association, lovingly compiled by Hillary O’Leary, it becomes evident how much collaboration there was. How many big names came up to give workshops! How many contributed recipes and helpful firing hints or instructions for building a simple kiln. There are exhibition photos, newspaper cuttings and invitations. It is an exuberant history in itself. Clearly all benefitted from what this organisation had offered and continues to offer.
Vase 1987
16
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C 25.5 x 26.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack acquired Martin Gallery, 1987
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
17
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Cyclone Althea had another beneficial outcome for the arts. It created circumstances that enabled pharmacist Ralph Martin—keen to make his daily shop routine more interesting—to start a small gallery adjacent to his pharmacy. And hey presto! The Martin Gallery was born. Though small, it did marvels for the arts. He imported avant garde work from all over Australia long before we had a regional gallery, and provided exhibition opportunities for the best of Townsville practitioners of all the arts. Connie, the Rossers, Len Cook and many others showed their work there and created a lively following. In 1975 a fledging art college started at TAFE, and in due time potters Ray Harrison, Bruce Anderson and Hassan El Kerbotley joined the staff. By 1975 Connie had a Diploma of Studio Ceramics and was a competent and mature ceramicist.
Her teaching trips for TAFE to remote Queensland communities brought her in contact with the drier inland environment. The family often came with her and remember with joy how they explored the fossil fields near Richmond, the experience reflected in her ‘fossil pots’.
Deeper inspiration came from seeing tiny lush environments, sometimes hidden under rocks or in crevices; evidence of the ability of nature to survive and regenerate, despite a harsh environment. From these experiences came the ‘micro environments’ pieces. I think it was those qualities of resilience that resonated with Connie’s personality. Connie was not easily defeated; she had a mastectomy and survived breast cancer. A friend noted that at the time, quite unconsciously, Connie formed her lidded pots with breast-like shapes.
A trip to the Netherlands in 1981 was ‘a pilgrimage to museums and galleries to look again at the blue and white Delft ware and the old tiles on fish and butcher shop walls’.9 In the Netherlands the use of Delfts Blauw—and all that goes by that name, even if not strictly from Delft—is widespread. Every Dutch kitchen has salt pots and crockery that is decorated with cobalt blue glazes. Delft ware production started in the late 1600s as an alternative to the very expensive imported Chinese porcelain. It is quite fine, but blue ware from other places is more robust and has more casual brushwork. It is a most evocative amalgam of these styles that Connie started to adopt when she returned to Townsville. Again surrounded by the lush tropical environment, she wanted to paint the tropical plant forms onto such pieces. They were almost without exception functional ware; she herself used them in the kitchen, serving up those marvellous dinners on equally marvellous platters.
When she was president of the North Queensland Potters Association in the late 1980s, she thought that being a president meant doing something of major importance. Typically this meant that she dedicated herself to making the North Queensland ceramic community wider known. Having taught in so many isolated communities and witnessed so many diverse and exciting practices, she felt that these were important and should be documented. Isolation is relative and is no reflection of quality. It more often means ignored by the mainstream.
She managed to get an Australia Council Grant in 1988 to visit and document ceramic practices in all of North Queensland— an area covering 600,000 square kilometres.
Jar 1978-79
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Stoneware wheel-thrown, slip decorated; gas fired to 1280°C 26 x 27.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Petrus and Maxine Smith
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
With so much information on hand, John McPhee, then Senior Curator of Australian Art at the National Gallery, was invited to make a selection. He chose equal numbers of indigenous and nonindigenous practitioners. A splendid catalogue was produced. With a further grant it culminated in the exhibition Out of the North, touring for two years to every regional gallery on the east coast ending up in Tasmania. A number of artists in that show have become well known successful ceramicists.
John McPhee preferred the platters, bowls and jugs that Connie herself was using in the kitchen. Much encouraged, she continued to develop that tradition. But she loved adventure: the functional wares became more exuberant and were soon joined by other forms, the flower towers, based on Dutch tulip pots from the 17th century, prestigious items to display the very expensive tulips. Large blue and white menorahs, quoting distant Jewish ancestry emerged too. A lover of the quirky, she had earlier made some super real works, always something new and inventive.
She became well known with works represented in the National Gallery and other major collections. She taught at the Centre for Adult Education in the late 1970s. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Queensland Art Gallery, she encouraged them to acquire regional works. She had solo shows in Brisbane and was included in numerous group exhibitions. Sadly, life held further tragedies for her. She developed rheumatoid arthritis. The pain became unbearable, restricted the use of her hands so that she could no longer use the wheel. Not deterred she moved to hand-built slab work, making large, almost life-size, cupboards of curiosities. Eventually she had to give up her beloved art form all together.
Lesser people would have collapsed under the weight of this setback, but instead she immersed herself in drawing and painting, using collage and paper clay as well. But fate struck again with macular degeneration. In some of her two-dimensional works we can follow the step-by-step loss of eyesight. Not defeated, she joined a community garden group and spent her last years working with the plants she loved, which she could now hardly see but could experience by touch and smell.
Even when almost completely blind she had recipes written out in huge letters and on a computer screen with large letters so that she could continue to make wonderful meals, and show love to her friends and family.
She was determined to live life to the fullest possible, and remained adventurous to the end.
Dr. Anneke Silver Visual Artist
Art educator and art writer
References
1. Fiona Banner, ABC open 2012, https://open.abc.net.au/explore/248
2. Phone interview with Leigh Bailey, 15 &20/3/2019
3. Conversation with Beer, Adriaan & Frank Hoedt, 17/3/2019
4. Conversation with Jocelyn Clayton, 22/3/2019
5. Noela Davis, 10th anniversary of North Queensland Potters Association Inc. History
6. Phone interview with Len Cook, 21/3/2019
7. Phone interview with Arthur Rosser, 21/3/2019
8. John McPhee, Tropical Delft catalogue, p 4
9. Connie Hoedt in Out of the North catalogue, p 28
Many thanks to all of the above, and for more anecdotes, information and conversations to: Mary Gallagher and Lorraine Bruschetto; Noela Davis; Wendy Bainbridge; Lachlan Marsh; and Graham & Jill Campbell for providing Jean Campbell’s speech for 25th year of the North Queensland Potters Association Inc. Mary Gallagher, and Bob & Jocelyn Clayton for proofreading.
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware
wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280... 15 x 16.5 cm diameter incised on base: C Hoedt / 1975 Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Three lidded boxes 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
25.5 x 19 cm (a)
27 x 19 cm (b)
26 x 19.5 cm (c)
each impressed on base with monogram Collection of Edward Hoedt
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
FROM MICROCOSM TO DELFT BLUE
In 1982 Connie Hoedt held her first major exhibition outside north Queensland at Brisbane’s Craft Council of Queensland Gallery with a group of sculptural forms titled the Microcosm series which first appeared in 1980. In her review of the Brisbane exhibition, Anna Bock makes a telling observation that Connie Hoedt was ‘more interested in the artistic and philosophical aspects than in the technical refinements of her craft’.1 Here Anna Bock alludes to the premise that craftsmanship is a ‘pre-condition, rather than an aim in itself’. 2 Connie Hoedt’s innate sense of the sculptural possibilities of clay are amply demonstrated in the Microcosm series which consist of spheres ranging in diameter from 13 to 23cm. The white lustrous wheel-thrown porcelain bodies reveal wonderfully detailed pre-coloured rainforest ‘microcosms’ in hidden interiors which curator and essayist, John McPhee views as a highly individual contribution to the non-functional sculptural ceramic tradition in Australia. 3
The top section of each sphere is cut open in various ways to suggest the effect of peering through clouds or tree canopies. Inset is a shallow space containing jewel-like interiors. Her Microcosms are micro-landscapes of north Queensland rainforest ecologies. The subjects are diverse ranging from sweeping panoramas to detailed studies of single habitats. Each interior is modelled into painstakingly intricate landscapes and then coloured. In commenting on these works in 1982 she asserted ‘I am trying to capture the preconsciousness and beauty of nature ... I feel I am very much a part of nature and the natural environment’. 4 Her hope for these works was to make us aware of ‘how fragile nature is’ 5 and to decide for ourselves the future of the pristine rainforests of north Queensland.
After only a decade of working in her chosen artform, the Microcosms demonstrate a remarkable grasp of the interplay between content and form. There was a keen sense of confidence in her direction as an artist and an almost spiritual connection to the north.
Not that the Microcosms were a starting point in terms of her exploration of the sculptural plasticity of clay. Some of the earliest works in this exhibition derive from trips with her family to the fossil fields at Richmond in western Queensland in the early 1970s which gave rise to the thunderegg-shaped Fossil pots. Instead of crystalline interiors usually associated with these phenomena in nature, Connie Hoedt chose to press and incise finely detailed fossil-inspired images onto the flat-sided half forms. She often referred to these early works as her fantasy pieces. 6 ‘The ideas appear as images and the translation into clay, and overcoming technical difficulties, gives me much satisfaction’. 7
Within twelve months of the Fossil pots, her focus moved to the lush rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands where she created works based on seed pods reminiscent of the rainforest Black Bean, one of Australia’s tallest families of flowering plants. The Black Bean’s name comes from the large seed pods that appear between March and April, which split open to reveal three or more large bean-like seeds. For Connie Hoedt, the many visits to the Atherton Tablelands tropical rainforests provided inspiration. ‘The lush growth and fecundity of it all, the fallen tree that becomes home and food for fungi, mosses and insects, the whole environment like a fast-forward picture of life cycles. 8
Lidded microcosm c 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 15 x 17 cm diameter
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Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Morning
Porcelain
wheel-thrown, added hand-built additions, glazed interior; wood-fired to 1300°C 25 x 12 cm (irregular) impressed on of stems with monogram Collection of Gayle Kirkwood
glory winecups 1980
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Anna Bock’s view that Connie Hoedt’s creative drive came from a strong artistic and philosophical curiosity is certainly true in terms of the range of themes she explored in her first decade as a potter. While she took great pains to teach herself the refinements of wheel-throwing and glazing techniques, no sooner had she developed and fully explored a body of work, she moved on to investigate new concepts. Connie Hoedt wrote of this in 1983 ‘my past work was inspired by nature and natural forms. I believe I am moving out of that stage’. 9 What followed including works such as ‘Icarus’ were more figurative and explored concepts of human endeavour.
Within the wider national context, Connie Hoedt’s artistic development occurred almost simultaneously with the craft movement’s burgeoning pursuit of art ideals. As Grace Cochrane writes, ‘By the 1970s, the desire to be an acclaimed expressive individual, with the status of artist or designer, making work that was to be seen to have the status of ‘art’, whatever its form or function, became increasingly important to many craftspeople’. 10
Historians like British writer Peter Dormer suggests the crafts ‘changed class’ after the war, being practised by the educated middle class, who made products for aesthetic value rather than practical use. The crafts, he said, ‘changed from being working-class or artisan, commercial occupations into middle-class, creative, art-like activities. Art-like in the sense that the objects produced are made and bought primarily for contemplation ‘. 11
Against this background of national craft culture was the influence of the English potter, Bernard Leach’s Anglo-Oriental aesthetic. A tradition introduced indirectly into Australia in the 1960s but reinforced by individual potters such as Les Blakebrough’s travels to Japan in the 1970s. 12 While this paradigm remained strong, supported by elite ceramic training courses and potters’ societies, the pursuit of a contemporary art rationale situated ceramics in a binary position of traditional versus contemporary. Not that Connie Hoedt was unsympathetic to wheel-throwing and traditional glazes, indeed parallel to her non-functional sculptural ceramics of the early 1980s, she was creating highly refined Japaneseinspired wood-fired porcelain vases concurrently with non-functional works.
For a maturing artist, this increasing contact with overseas influences, travel in Holland and her propensity to experiment in the studio had a direct impact on her creative direction and focus. Within Australia the modernist ideals of art as an act of individual personal expression, and of an artwork as an autonomous object detached from an audience or a context was gaining traction. 13 While Connie Hoedt never lost sight of her audience, she was aware of the key elements that influenced a change for some crafts practitioners in their pursuit of a cultural status equivalent to art, and towards providing the crafts world with art protocols for its own practice. In the United States clay was treated as simply ‘another expressive material’. 14 They were translating into ceramic practice the ideology of the abstract expressionist painters. Also influential was the subversive movement that emerged in California in the late 1960s as Funk ceramics.
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Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
While Connie Hoedt is sometimes hailed for her achievements in working in relative isolation, this view expressed in terms of the centre-periphery model is somewhat limiting. While she may have felt isolated in the early years in not having direct access to resources and mentors, she made up for it later in her career. Historically urban and regional areas were perceived with binary and contradictory logic. The artists in the periphery are often condemned for ‘either working with ideas the art world had discarded; were too far detached from the initial source of current radical challenges to be able to successfully respond to them; or were unable to draw contemporary art meanings from within the traditions of their own practice’.15 Such views don’t fully account for the context and achievements of artists such as Connie Hoedt and a more inclusive view about the multi-dimensionality of cultural production in regional Australia is required.16 Townsville might be seen as somewhat unique in terms of the range and number of artists who settled here, including European-trained artists who migrated directly to the region.
Connie Hoedt’s fantasy pieces of the 1970s including the Microcosms, the Life forces and works such as ‘Born again’ 1978 align with the funk ceramic tradition in Australia in what Daniel Thomas later dubbed ‘Skangaroovian funk’. 17 It initially developed around ceramic artists in Adelaide, including Margaret Dodd, who had worked with funk potters in California in the late 1960s, and developed her series of ceramic Holden cars.
During the 1970s more ceramic artists, like Mark Thompson, Sandra Taylor, Lorraine Jenyns, Joan Grounds and Bernard Sahm, were to move away from the predominant functional aesthetic and experimented with satirical forms, sometimes drawing on earlier ceramic traditions like painted porcelain figures. 18
John McPhee’s insightful essay for the 1999 retrospective exhibition ‘Tropical Delft’ makes a significant observation that Connie Hoedt’s pre-1985 non-functional works are a little recognised contribution to Australian funk ceramics. ‘Connie Hoedt was producing some of the best sculptural works made in Australia. Her fossil pots and emerging life forms are a significant addition to the non-functional ceramics of the early 1970s. Not seen alongside Australia’s better known ‘funk’ potters … her work has never been assessed against this tradition’. 19 The current exhibition includes works not shown since first exhibited in the late 1970s, including the playful ‘Born again’, a hand-built glazed earthenware super-real sculpture which creates an illusion of lustrous red tomatoes stacked inside a faux white-painted crate.
By the mid-1980s Connie Hoedt had come a full circle and she was beginning to see creative possibilities in the vessel form of traditional wheel-thrown Dutch pottery and at first produced rather traditional painted designs. They were an interpretation of the antique Delftware she grew up with in Holland. The simple brushwork of her designs would later evolve into the Tropical Delft works that dominated her later career. By returning to thrown blue and white pieces she was seeking to reconnect with her Dutch heritage.
Candelabrum 1990
Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slip; gas fired to 1080°C
59.5 x 37 cm
impressed near base with monogram Collection of Bronwyn McBurnie
28
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
29
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Vase 1983
Porcelain
wheel-thrown, with slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 27 x 26 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1983.7
30
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
On a trip to the Netherlands in 1981, she made an extensive study of old blue and white Delft pottery. ‘It inspired me to become part of this vessel making tradition, and I started on a series of blue and white bowls and platters reminiscent of Delftware’. 20
As a form, Delftware, also known as ‘Delft blue’, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware. Most of it is blue and white and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major city of production, but the term covers wares with other colours and made elsewhere. The richness of the Delft ceramic tradition can be seen almost everywhere and when Connie Hoedt visited Holland her searches even took her to inspect tiles in old markets. 21 The awareness and liking of this tradition ‘seeped in, much like my love for the countryside’. 22
Like many expatriates she felt an almost simultaneous pull of her homeland and that of her adopted country. In 1987 she wrote ‘Having spent one half my life in Holland and the other half in Australia’s northern tropics, I am a creature of two cultures, and it is the tropical “me” who has decorated these pots with the lush leafy patterns I see around me every day’.23
The overt brushwork as described by John McPhee, owed little to traditional patterns and more and more to the artist’s observation of quick-growing tropical vines and the lush flowers and foliage of the rainforest. 24 The return to vessel making of the Tropical Delft works in the early 1980s spanned Connie Hoedt’s last decade of fulltime art practice. In this decade the forms expanded, and her methods of working became much more sculptural in terms of cutting and reassembling the components of these increasingly elaborate structures. What started as an investigation of vessel
making and simple decoration ‘moved away from traditional patterns’ 25 and the forms evolved from the everyday plates, jugs and platters into quite complex shapes and for John McPhee ‘possess a freshness that indicated they were not a reworking of an ancient tradition but the beginning of a new and exciting phase’. 26 All these clay ‘bodies’ including the less intricate vessels and trays were first wheel-thrown. It seems remarkable that even the most sculptural of these vessels would be turned out initially from the wheel and then the bases would be cut out and the shapes altered to accommodate different formats including the squared-off trays. As Connie Hoedt explained ‘The basic form made on the wheel can be cut, reassembled, added to and manipulated in a dozen ways, and always retains the “spring” peculiar to thrown pottery’. 27
The trays, platters and square plates became the dominant shape and offered enormous potential for decoration. The process first commenced with the application of a brushed-on white slip which became the ground and as John McPhee observes ‘the confidently-painted decoration featuring full blown flowers, fruits and leaves, further enriched the surfaces’. 28 Late in the 1980s the painted designs became less decorative and stylised. Platters and trays began to employ finely drawn depictions of Lilly Pilly, Swamp Bloodwood, Black Bean and mangoes. ‘Specific tropical plants could now be identified’. 29 The central medallion often contained a realistic depiction of seed pods or some other naturalistic reference. In historical porcelain, the central medallion is often reserved for the most highly finished painting that perfectly showcases the uniqueness of the design.
31
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
A further trip to the Netherlands in 1992 reinforced for Connie Hoedt, the full sculptural qualities of the famous Dutch tulip holders. The best known of these historical vases came in a fan shape with spouts on the top for holding the precious tulip, or in the form of an obelisk or pyramid; a base on feet with 5 or more stacked vases, each bearing 4 spouts. They were extraordinary pieces, no doubt required great virtuosity to make, were often quite ugly to behold and made mainly for royalty and the aristocracy. 30 The late 17th century potter Adriaen Kocks made two for Hampton Court Palace and several for the Duke of Devonshire. In Connie Hoedt’s hands these objects culminated in 1993 into highly complex tower structures including the Tulip holders based on these traditional archetypes. The Flower towers, 1993 were sadly the last fully sculptural works Connie Hoedt was able to make before crippling arthritis put a stop to her artistic career as a studio potter. It is fitting that a pair of Flower towers are now held by the National Gallery of Australia.
It is gratifying to see that she is so well represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and Queensland Art Gallery with significant holdings of Tropical Delft works. The exhibition draws on the extensive collections of the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and from private collections in Townsville and elsewhere. Clearly Connie Hoedt’s contribution to developments of non-functional pottery remains little appreciated in the wider history of Australian ceramics. It is remarkable that an artist with such insight and technical facility is not more widely appreciated outside of the north.
Pair of jars 1988-89
Her early achievements as a non-functional sculptural potter up to the early 1980s should be enough to secure her reputation, a view reinforced by John McPhee in 1999.31 Clearly McPhee’s assessment that she was one of most important potters to have worked in Queensland holds even greater significance since Connie Hoedt’s death. It is anticipated that this exhibition may in some small way contribute to a wider appreciation of a career cut short by illness. There could be no greater tribute to her creative life than this exhibition spanning twenty-five years of creative practice. She has left us a remarkable legacy.
Ross Searle Guest curator
Heritage, museums and galleries consultant
References
1. Anna Bock ‘Connie Hoedt’, Craft Australia, Winter 1982, p18
2. ibid
3. John McPhee ‘Tropical Delft’ catalogue, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 1999
4. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, 1999 from a transcript held by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
5. ibid
6. ibid
7. ibid
8. ibid
9. ibid
10. Grace Cochrane ‘Truth or trap: the Australian contemporary crafts movement’s pursuit of art ideals’, PhD thesis, University of Tasmania 1998, p76
11. Peter Dormer ‘The Meanings of Modern Design’ 1990 p148, 150
12. Blakeborough studied with Takeichi Kawai in Japan before returning to Australia to become Director of the Sturt Workshops
13. Cochrane, op cit, p85
14. ibid
15. Cochrane, p106
16. The centre-periphery model continued to dominate cultural discourse well into the 1980s
17. Daniel Thomas in Judith Thompson ‘Skangaroovian Funk’ catalogue 1986
18. Cochrane, p99
19. John McPhee, op cit
20. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit
21. She visited many historical sites including fish mongers shops
22. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit
23. John McPhee, op cit
24. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit
25. John McPhee, op cit
26. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit
27. John McPhee, op cit
28. ibid
29. Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 40 2000, p98
30. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit
31. John McPhee ‘Tropical Delft’ catalogue, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 1999
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built additions, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
63 x 21 cm diameter (a)
63 x 21 cm diameter (b)
both impressed on base with monogram Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Blomberg
32
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
33
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Ice bucket 1977
Stoneware
wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C
34 x 20.5 x 21.5 cm
incised on base: CH
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1977.2
34
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Trinity 1976
Stoneware
wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C
52 x 33 x 16 cm
incised on base: CH
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1976.1
35
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
36
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Born again 1978
Earthenware
hand-built, part glazed and unglazed earthenware; electrically fired to 1060°C
16.5 x 26.5 x 22.5 cm
Collection of John Walters and Paul Smith
37
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Microcosm 3 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 20 x 20 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.35
38
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Microcosm 1984
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 22.5 x 23 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of North Queensland Potters’ Association Inc
39
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Candelabrum 1986
Earthenware
wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slips; gas fired to 1080°C 59.5 x 40 cm impressed on base with monogram Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Virginia Keyes
40
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
41
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Vase 1983
Porcelain wheel-thrown, with slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 27 x 26 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1983.7
42
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Jar 1978-79
Stoneware wheel-thrown, Shino glaze; wood fired to 1300°C 24 x 25 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto
43
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Flower basket 1992
Stoneware
white slip over dark clay body, painted decoration under the glaze, wheel-thrown altered with hand-built additions; gas fired to 1280°C
25 x 19.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir
44
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Tea set 1992
Stoneware
hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
16 x 14 x 23 cm (teapot)
9.5 x 9 x 13 cm (milk jar)
11 x 10 cm (sugar bowl) Private Collection
45
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Stoneware
Wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
9.5
Round bowl 1987
x 23.5 cm diameter impressed on the base with monogram
46
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Salad bowl 1988
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
16.5 x 25.5 cm diameter
Impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
47
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Vase 1990
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 24 x 15 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
48
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Jug 1990
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C 19 x 18 cm diameter impressed near base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
49
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Round bowl with handles 1988
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
12 x 25.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
50
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Square
dish with handles 1990
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
12 x 28.5 x 24 cm
51
impessed on base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Vase 1991
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
37.5 x 17 cm diameter
Impressed near base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
52
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Tulip vase 1992
Stoneware
Wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 29 x 24 x 14 cm
impressed o base with monogram
Gift of John McPhee through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation 2018
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
53
Tropical Delft dish 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
10.5 x 38 x 32.5 cm
Collection of Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack
54
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Dish with Swamp Bloodwood 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
55
11.8 x 36.8 x 30.4 cm impressed near base with monogram Collection of Therese Duff
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Tray with Blackbean 1992-93 Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8.5 x 53 x 42 cm incised on base of tray with Blackbean / C. Hoedt impressed on base with monogram Collection of Edward Hoedt
56
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
57
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Plate 1986
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand painted decoration; wood fired to 1300°C 6 x 44 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
58
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Plate 1980
Stoneware wheel-thrown, coloured slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 6 x 47.5 cm diameter
Inscriber on base C. Hoedt Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto
59
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Plate with Cycad 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
5 x 50 cm diameter impressed check City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1999.114
60
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Plate 1986
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
5.5 x 47.5 cm diameter
impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
61
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
62
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Tea pot c 1992
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
12.5 x 18 x 20.5 cm
Collection of Edward Hoedt
63
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
64
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Tulip tower 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 89 x 26 x 26 cm incised on base C. Hoedt /1993 impressed on base with monogram Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir
65
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Lidded jar nd Stoneware
11.5 x 11 .5 cm
66
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
67
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Bowl with jumping leaves c 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
20 x 27.5 cm
68
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Lidded dish c 1992
Stoneware
hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1300°c
18 x 23.5 x 27.5 cm
69
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
70
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Handbuilt, underglaze colours; gas fired to 1100°C
79.3 x 104.7 x 3 cm
Untitled (painting) 2006 Paper clay
71
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Dish with pierced handles – 1 1985-86
Porcelain
72
6 x 21.5 cm diameter Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Dish with pierced handles – 2 1985-86
Porcelain
73
5 x 21.5 cm diameter Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Dish with pierced handles 1985-86
Porcelain
8 x 36.5 cm diameter
74
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Deep bowl c 1992
Stoneware
hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1300°c 18 x 33.5 cm diameter
75
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Six small dishes c 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
9.5 x 12.5 cm diameter each
76
Collect of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
77
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
78
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Cupboard 2 1996
Paper clay
hand-built, hand painted; gas fired to 1100°c 75 x 34 x 22 cm
79
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Night Cloak 1996
Paper clay hand-built, underglaze colours; gas fired to 1100°C
76 x 37 x 28 cm
inscribed lower right; Connie Hoedt 1996 base made by Gay Hawkes (born Australia 1942) found weathered painted wood
118.5 x 47 x 55 cm
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1997.3 a.b
80
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
81
Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue
Colour chart - warm tones
Courtesy of Edward Hoedt
Colour chart - cool tones
Courtesy of Edward Hoedt
Colour chart - small Courtesy of Edward Hoedt
ARTWORK LIST
Fossil pot 2 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
7.5 x 11.5 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Ralph and Margaret Martin
Fossil pot 3 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 4 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12.5 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 5 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
9 x 13 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Fossil pot 7 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8 x 12.5 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Private Collection
Fossil pot 9 1973-74
Stoneware wheel-thrown, altered form impressed and inlaid decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
7 x 12 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Barry and Gay Woodworth
Two forms 1974
Stoneware hand-built, altered form; gas fired to 1280°C
20.5 x 22 cm diameter (a)
13 x 16.5 cm diameter (b)
incised on bases: CH
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1974.8.1-2
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired
1280°C
14.5 x 23 cm
incised on base: CH
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired
1280°C
15 x 16.5 cm diameter incised on base: C Hoedt / 1975
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Emerging life 1975
Stoneware
wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired
1280°C
13 x 22 cm diameter incised on base: CH
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Trinity 1976
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired
1280°C
52 x 33 x 16 cm incised on base: CH
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1976.1
Ice bucket 1977
Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired
1280°C
34 x 20.5 x 21.5 cm incised on base: CH
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1977.2
Born again 1978
Earthenware hand-built, part glazed and unglazed earthenware; electrically fired to 1060°C
16.5 x 26.5 x 22.5 cm
Collection of John Walters and Paul Smith
Jar 1978-79
Stoneware wheel-thrown, Shino glaze; wood fired to 1300°C 24 x 25 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto
Jar 1978-79
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, slip decorated; gas fired to 1280°C 26 x 27.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Petrus and Maxine Smith
Morning glory winecups 1980
Porcelain
wheel-thrown, added hand-built additions, glazed interior; wood-fired to 1300°C 25 x 12 cm (irregular) impressed on of stems with monogram
Collection of Gayle Kirkwood
Plate 1980
Stoneware wheel-thrown, coloured slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 6 x 47.5 cm diameter
Inscriber on base C. Hoedt
Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto
Vase 1983
Porcelain wheel-thrown, with slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 27 x 26 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1983.7
Microcosm 1984
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 22.5 x 23 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of North Queensland Potters’ Association Inc
Microcosm 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 18.4 x 18.4 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.34
Microcosm 3 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 20 x 20 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.35
Microcosm 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C
18.1 x 18.1 cm diameter
Impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.33
Lidded microcosm c 1985
Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 15 x 17 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Dish with pierced handles 1985-86
Porcelain 8 x 36.5 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Dish with pierced handles – 1 1985-86
Porcelain 6 x 21.5 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Dish with pierced handles – 2 1985-86
Porcelain
5 x 21.5 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Lidded jar c 1985-86
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand painted decoration; wood fired to 1300°C 11.5 x 11.5 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Candelabrum 1986
Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slips; gas fired to 1080°C 59.5 x 40 cm impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Virginia Keyes
Candelabrum, Secret garden, Isle of Mull 1986
Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slips; gas fired to 1080°C
59.5 x 38.5 cm impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Plate 1986
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand painted decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
6 x 44 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Plate 1986
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
5.5 x 47.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Vase 1987
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
25.5 x 26.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack acquired Martin Gallery, 1987
Round bowl 1987
Stoneware
Wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
9.5 x 23.5 cm diameter impressed on the base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
ARTWORK LIST CONTINUED
Round bowl with handles 1988
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
12 x 25.5 cm diameter
impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Salad bowl 1988
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
16.5 x 25.5 cm diameter
Impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Pair of jars 1988-89
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built additions, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
63 x 21 cm diameter (a)
63 x 21 cm diameter (b)
both impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Blomberg
Vase 1990
Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
24 x 15 cm diameter
impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Square dish with handles 1990
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
12 x 28.5 x 24 cm
impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Jug 1990
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
19 x 18 cm diameter
impressed near base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Candelabrum 1990
Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slip; gas fired to 1080°C
59.5 x 37 cm
impressed near base with monogram
Collection of Bronwyn McBurnie
Vase 1991
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C
37.5 x 17 cm diameter
Impressed near base with monogram
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Dish with Swamp Bloodwood 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
11.8 x 36.8 x 30.4 cm impressed near base with monogram
Collection of Therese Duff
Tea set 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
16 x 14 x 23 cm (teapot)
9.5 x 9 x 13 cm (milk jar)
11 x 10 cm (sugar bowl)
Private Collection
Six small dishes c 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
9.5 x 12.5 cm diameter each
Collect of Edward Hoedt
Tropical Delft dish 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
10.5 x 38 x 32.5 cm
Collection of Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack
Tray with Swamp Bloodwood 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
9 x 45 x 34.5 cm
incised on base C. Hoedt / 1992 impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir
Flower basket 1992
Stoneware
white slip over dark clay body, painted decoration under the glaze, wheel-thrown altered with hand-built additions; gas fired to 1280°C
25 x 19.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir
Tulip vase 1992
Stoneware
Wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
29 x 24 x 14 cm
impressed o base with monogram
Gift of John McPhee through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation 2018
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Bowl with jumping leaves c 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
20 x 27.5 cm
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Lidded dish c 1992
Stoneware
hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1300°c
18 x 23.5 x 27.5 cm
Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher
Deep bowl c 1992
Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1300°c
18 x 33.5 cm diameter
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Tea pot c 1992
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
12.5 x 18 x 20.5 cm
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Tray with Blackbean 1992-93
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
8.5 x 53 x 42 cm
incised on base of tray with Blackbean / C. Hoedt impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Tulip tower 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
89 x 26 x 26 cm
incised on base C. Hoedt /1993
impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir
Three lidded boxes 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
25.5 x 19 cm (a)
27 x 19 cm (b)
26 x 19.5 cm (c)
each impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Plate with Cycad 1993
Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 5 x 50 cm diameter impressed check City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1999.114
Soup tureen 1993-94
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c
35 x 30.3 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Tray with Sterculia Quadrifida 1994
Stoneware
wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C
9.5 x 52.5 x 41.5 cm incised on base C. Hoedt /1994 impressed on base with monogram
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Cupboard 2 1996
Paper clay
hand-built, hand painted; gas fired to 1100°c
75 x 34 x 22 cm
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Night Cloak 1996
Paper clay
hand-built, underglaze colours; gas fired to 1100°C
76 x 37 x 28 cm
inscribed lower right; Connie Hoedt 1996 base made by Gay Hawkes (born Australia 1942) found weathered painted wood
118.5 x 47 x 55 cm
City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1997.3 a.b
Untitled (painting) 2006
Paper clay
Handbuilt, underglaze colours; gas fired to 1100°C
79.3 x 104.7 x 3 cm
Collection of Edward Hoedt
Gallery Staff
Jonathan McBurnie Creative Director
Erwin Cruz Senior Collections and Exhibition Officer
Claire Griffiths Senior Education and Programs Officer
Lucy Belle Tesoriero Curatorial Assistant
Sarah Reddington Education and Programs Officer
Nicole Richardson Education and Programs Assistant
Leonardo Valero Exhibitions Officer
Emily Donaldson Exhibitions Officer
Jake Pullyn Exhibitions Officer, Projects
Jo Lankester Collections Management Officer
Tanya Tanner Public Art Officer
Rachel Cunningham Gallery Assistant
Inma Cubel Gallery Assistant
Michael Favot Gallery Assistant
Wendy Bainbridge Gallery Assistant
Chloe Lindo Gallery Assistant
Tegan Jackson Gallery Assistant
Amy Licciardello Business Support Officer
Vicki Saylor Gallery Administation Officer
About the Curator
Ross Searle has an extensive history as a curator, curatorial advisor and essayist and his major exhibition credits in the Southern Hemisphere include exhibitions curated for Queensland Art Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane City Gallery, Centre Culturel Tjibaou and many significant regional galleries. His major publication ‘Artist in the Tropics: 200 Years in North Queensland’, published by Perc Tucker Gallery, 1991, remains the only art historical text on an Australian region.
Image was taken during Connie’s show held at the Martin Gallery in May 1980.
Photograph courtesy of the Hoedt Family.
