feature   60s_hd
  From: Issue 40 #3 Sept 2001  


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Vol 1, No 1, Bernard Leach, 1960 Salt glazed jug, h,5.5 inches,

Frances Morgan

Interest in ceramics avalanched in the 1960s. Functional stoneware and the philosophies of Bernard Leach dominated most of the decade, but there were signs suggesting practice would become more diverse. The Potters Society expanded and a strong network was established.
There had been a trickling movement in Australian studio ceramics since the end of the 19th century. According to Mollie Douglas, who taught night classes at East Sydney Technical College (ESTC) during World War Two, ‘The interest really blossomed during the war. People wanted something apart from the terrible news and anxiety’. Similarly, after the war many people turned to ceramics as a lifestyle choice, to do something meaningful that they enjoyed.

For aspiring potters in Sydney in the 1950s a major source of frustration was that there was no full-time course. The training available was very inadequate. Students in the design diploma at ESTC had to complete two years of introductory art before touching clay. Even then, there was not enough equipment to accommodate everyone. In 1962 Mollie Douglas and Peter Rushforth established the certificate course in ceramics at ESTC.

Bernard Leach’s influence peaked in Australia in the early 1960s and culminated with his visit in 1962. A Potters Book, published in 1940, provided great inspiration and a starting point for many, but there was a dire need for more information. Australian potters during the 1950s and 1960s became pioneers; they dug clay down on the South Coast, travelled to western NSW searching for rocks to make glazes, and attempted to build kilns to fire at high temperatures.

Not all of these experiments were successful. So when Ivan McMeekin returned from studying with Michael Cardew in England, the technical information he brought back about stoneware was eagerly taken up. Overseas travel became more common. Members of The Potters Society travelled to Europe, America Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, the Middle East, India and New Guinea. They shared their findings on their return by giving lectures to full auditoriums of students, publishing articles in Pottery in Australia, and holding workshops in city and country areas.

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Vol 4, No 2, Tile Panel, Cover artist not credited

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Vol 7 No 1, Autumn1968, Water Pot made by Nupe Tribe at Bida, Northern Nigeria, from the collection of Peter Stichbury, New Zealand

 

Pottery exhibitions gained enormous popularity during the 1960s. The Potters Society exhibited at major Sydney galleries of the time including Macquarie Galleries, The Hungry Horse, Blaxland Gallery, David Jones and The Potters Gallery at the Society’s premises in Bourke Street, Darlinghurst. Feature articles and critical reviews were published in mainstream newspapers about these exhibitions. The Potters Society even had a stand at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Easter Show where they gave wheel-throwing demonstrations. In the 1960s, Australian potters were invited for the first time to participate in exhibitions overseas. And for the first time some state galleries and The National Gallery began to purchase their work.

Influential potters from overseas also visited Australia for the first time. They included Harry and May Davis in 1962, Takeichi Kawai in 1964, Shoji Hamada in 1965,Shiego Shiga in 1966 and Hiroe Swen and Michael Cardew in 1968.

 

When The Crafts Council of Australia, New South Wales Branch, was formed in 1964, the founding members hoped that branches would be established across the country, uniting craftspeople in their practice. In the same year, Mollie Douglas was chosen by the Crafts Council to be the Australian delegate at The First World Congress of Craftsmen. There, for the first time she saw wheel thrown pots manipulated in a demonstration given by Peter Voulkos. ‘Everyone, even the Americans were agog with what Peter Voulkos had done. It just hadn’t been thought of.’, said Mollie Douglas. In Australia by the mid to late 1960s a handful of potters were working in sculptural ceramics and looking to traditions other than the Anglo-Oriental. This group included Peter Travis, Bernard Sahm, Joan Campbell and Marea Gazzard.

By the late1960s the hard work that potters had put into developing infrastructure was paying off. What had started as a tiny close-knit community was flourishing and the prevailing attitude was that anything was possible.

Thank you to Grace Cochrane, Mollie Douglas, Ivan Englund, Peter Rushforth and Margaret Tuckson for generously giving their time and help.


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Vol 5, No 2, Ian Sprague, stoneware