Pottery In Australia Vol 3 No 1 May 1964

, A GAllERY OF MODERN ARTS 

Pottery from 28 leading AUSTRALIAN POTTERS, 

Sculpture, Paintings, Jewellery, Fabrics and Prints, 

Vitreous Enamel, Wood Articles, by Australian Artists. 

Select Pottery from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, 

GermW!)I, Italy and Holland. 

* 

22 GA WLER PLACE, ADELAIDE 

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POTTERY 

I N AUSTRALIA 

Published by the Potters' Society of New South Wales 

Editorial Committee: 

Editor: Wanda Garnsey 

Sub-Editor: Brock Rowe 

Loy-out: Geoffrey Tyndall 

Business Monoger: Margaret Levy 

President: Mollie Douglas 

ERRATA 

Due to 'printer's error, continued lines were printed incorrectly. 

PAGE 42 

Article on this page is continued at foot of page 44 and not page 32. 

PAGE 13 

Article on this page is continued on page 37 and not pege 25. 

Please oddre.s all correspondence to The Editol of "Pottery in Austrolia", 

30 Tunomuno Avenue, Turromurra, N.S.W. T.lephone: 44-2043 

Vol. 3.-No. 1. MAY, 1964 FIVE SHILLINGS

CONTENTS 

Vol. 3.-No. 1. MAY, 1964 

Five Shillings 

Editorial 

Page 

Discovery of Pottery in North East Arnhem 

Land ... " . Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine Berndt 2 

Pottery in Australia ........ .. ................... Kenneth Hood 6 

Potters in Tasmania 

Notes from Perth on Mineral Glazes . 

Potters in South Australia 

Thrumster Village Pottery 

Vale John Chappell 

Takeichi Kawai 

A Potter Speaks 

1 

10 

Eileen Keys 12 

Dorothy Hope 

Les Blakebrough 

14 

14 

16 

Peter Rushforth 18 

Takeichi Kawai 

Some Folk Pottery of Central China Rewi Alley 34 

The Teaching of Hobby Pottery- 

Brisbane Report .............................. Milton Moon 35 

An Efficient Electric Kiln ................ Arthur Higgs 38 

Teaching Pottery in Australian Schools- 

Ceramic Jewellery ........... ... Hildegarde Wulff 43 

Exhibitions and Lectures Joan McPherson 46 

Cover: Bernard Sahm (In the possession of the Art Galle'ry 

of N.SW'> 

19

EDITORIAL 

It is fitting that this editian shauld feature Australian 

potters far, in the opinion of some of our critics, pottery in 

Australia is naw beginning to take its place with the ather 

arts. 

From the ranks of amateur potters, working in individual 

studias, influenced at first by their teachers and mentors but 

now expressing their own ideas with more definition, there 

is emerging much of vitality and strong personal expression 

to energise the local scene. 

Not yet is discernible a so called national style" reflecting 

our own un repeatable characteristics" - Australian 

pottery is derivative of other cultures in some degree. Perhaps 

we may never attain an entity of Australian pottery expression, 

for two reasons. Firstly every well known potter works 

alone as an artist craftsman. There is no group activity here 

as there is in older countries where the association of many 

potters working tagether helps to create a style which after 

many years tends to grow into a tradition. These essential 

guilds of craftsmen arose out of a real need before the 

industrial concept replaced them, and this hardly applies 

ta us today. 

Secondly, an international outlook in human affairs 

becomes imperative for survival. Communications make it 

easy to see for ourselves how other people live and work, 

the barriers of race and creed die away in a common interest, 

and in the spirit of co-operation craftsmen unconsciously 

adopt a littlE! of the other's working methods. 

Nevertheless, as Takeichi Kawai says, "-all of us, in 

all generations and all countries share - have 'shared since 

the days of Adam and Eve - the essentially human qualities 

that make originality possible. Faithfulness to these qua lities 

which we have in common yet which declare our individuality 

-this is the ane thing needful."

DISCOVERY OF POTTERY IN NORTH -EASTERN ARNHEM 

LAND 

By Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine H. Berndt 

(Reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Anthropological 

Institute, Volume 81 part 1/2, by permission of the Councii.) 

During anthropological resear

----------------------------------------------- ~------ 

the Arafura and T imor Seas, and the narratives of their 

sojourn on the Austrolian mainland tell of the stane structur 

'~s they erected, the boats they came in, the women they 

brought, the cloth they wove and dyed, the fish they caught 

with spears, the gardens they cultivated, and the clothes they 

wore. In skin colour they differed from the Macassons, and 

were said to have been the golden brown colour of certain 

flying -foxes. Today, the Bajini epoch is looked upon as an 

event which occurred almost in the Ancestral Dreaming 

Period when the great Spirit Beings, who are the inspiration 

of clan tradition and religion, walked the earth. I n some 

stories the Bajini are said to have been contemporaneous 

with the greatest of all of the Ancestral Beings. 

It was, however, within what the aborigines themselves 

recognise as historical times that the ·Macassans and 

Malayans visited their shores in praus, caming on the northwestern 

monsoons in October and November, remaining for 

at least six months of the year, and returning when the 

south-east winds blew. At times ships and personnel remained 

all through the dry season to be on hand when the fleets 

arrived .at the beginning of the "Wet". 

Numerous comp sites, archaeological remains, old 

graves and tamarind trees testify to a prolonged association. 

It is in the great song cycles, however, and in the stories 

which survive, that a colourful picture of Malayan and 

Macassan life on these shores is unfolded. 

Large settlements were founded on the north-east and 

south-east coast of Arnhem Land, at such places as Arnhem 

Bay, Melville Bay, Port Bradshaw, Trial Bay, Caledon Bay, 

Groote Eylandt, etc. These visitors built stilted houses, roofed 

with cocanut palm leaves and fibre, and furnished them in 

an elementary fashion. Fowls, too, were kept, tiecl by one 

leg around which a ring ·was fastened, to the posts of the 

huts. Nearby they erected trepang boi lers. and racks for 

drying the sea-slug; and in the bays their ships were 

anchored, or being repaired. Each main settlement was a 

hive of industry, with Macassans and Australian aborigines 

employed as labourers for specified payments. Bartering 

depots existed, to which local natives brought pearls, tortoiseshell 

and other natural products, and where they were given 

in exchange East India currency, introduced foods such as 

rice and sweetmeats, cloth, kn ives and tobacco. Trade was 

well establ ished, and its influences are still apporent today. 

Moreover, , these visitors not onl y brought products from 

their own country, but monufactured pottery, knives, cloth, 

sails ond other objects wh ile on the mainland. They olso 

exerted some influence on indigenous forms of material 

culture. 

This pottery was mode, so native informants relate 

3

(quoting from traditional stories which have been handed' 

down to them), with the help of aboriginal labourers. The 

"cloy" was obtained from local termite-mounds, the earth 

of which was broken down, crushed and mixed with water 

and kneaded to make it pliable. This "clay" was then turned 

an a primitive wooden wheel, but the p'rocess of making the 

wheel and the details of pot_making are unknown to the 

present generotion of natives. The pot which was the product 

was baked in an oven. These utensils were then used by 

natives and Macassans alike, principally for the purpose of 

boiling rice or for staring drinking water. 

THE SITES AND THE MATERIAL 

One of the most prolific sites for pottery shards today 

is at Port Bradshaw, about ten miles from the Yirrkalla Methodist 

Mission. This place, known by the native name Jelangbora, 

was an important area for the great duo moiety 

Ancestral Beings, the 'Djanggawal Sisters and Brother, who 

landed here in the Dreaming era; later it became a Bajini 

settlement, and then one of the largest Malayan and 

Macassan centres in north-eastern Arnhem Land. The latter 

visitors chose for their principal settlement 'Wobalinga 

Island, in the mouth of Port Bradshaw: here they built their 

huts, and manufactured pats. Much of this island today, 

including the original Macassan site, with its numerous 

scattered shards, is inundated at high tide. This appears 

to be the result of intensive erosion, brought about by' 

repeated chopping down of frontal foliage and trees. The 

majority of the specimens obtained here show water-markings 

and growth of barnacles, etc. Pottery shards were also 

obtained at other places in the vicinity of 'Wobalinga 

Island. Detailed topographical maps, drawn up by natives 

themselves, all reveal important Bajini and Macassan sites 

in north-eastern Arnhem Land, together with the presence 

of pottery shards, trepang pats, wrecks and sacred sites. 

The pottery collected demonstrates the variety of shapes 

in use; some have the impress of thumb or finger around 

their lips, and others again have elementary designs scrotched 

on the bowl 'below the lip. In addition to broken pots and 

bowls, some of which appear to have been very large, there 

are fragments of lids, handles, plates and stands. All seem 

ta be of approximately the same age and mostly of the 

same material, called "ant-pit" by the natives. Some specimens, 

.hawever, were probably brought to the north coast on 

the praus. 

No attempt is made here to reconstruct the utensils 

from the shards recovered, or to analyse the materials used 

in their manufacture. 

'The important point, particularly in the study of social 

origins and alien contact in Arnhem Land and the Northern 

"

------------------------------------------------------- 

Territory generally, is that pottery was manufactured on 

the mainland of Australia with the aid of aborigines who 

have now forgotten the craft (which was of only superficial 

interest to them) ; that this pottery is by no means modern; 

that much of it was made from locally obtained 'termitemound 

earth; that the shards reveal a number of varieties 

of pots and other objects; that these shards show evidence 

of elementary designs on their surface, and thumb and finger 

prints below their lips; and that this pottery was used by 

aborigines who were resident on the alien settlements. These 

aspects are of major importance in understanding the history 

of acculturation in north-eastern Arnhem Land. 

To provide the preliminary data which led up to the 

finding of these shards, and which describe their use, we 

present a song from the Bajini-Macassan Song-Cycle. This 

song is in the diridja moiety dialect of the 'Gumoidj linguistic 

group, as spoken by the 'Rajang clan : 

Cooking rice on the fire; pouring it into a pot from a bag. 

Pouring rice from a bog : rice, rice, for food ... 

Rice from that bog: food from those rice-filled bags .. . 

Into pots of ant-hill earth . . . etc. 

NOTE : Another large deposit W9S found recently at Goulburn 

Island, Western Arnhem Land, and a selection of specimens 

is housed in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, 

University of Western Australia, and the Western 

Australian Museum . 

•••••••••••••••••••• 

The January 1964 issue of Eastern Horizon features 

" Recent Discoveries in Chinese Ceramics" by Chen Wan-Ii 

wi th four pages of fine illustrations in colour. The origin 

of porcelain and a description of its firing conditions, as 

we ll as a type of early blue g lazed ware, a "proto celladon", 

is discussed by the author. Decorations in enamel on porce-' 

lain, common in ,the rAng dynasty, is traced back to the 

Eastern Ch in dynasty, following the discovery of shards in 

the remains of the Chongsha kiln. 

In the same issue, one of our contributors, Rewi Alley, 

describes his recent vis it to the site of the old Ting kilns 

with evidence in the debris of rare block Ting ware. Eastern 

Horizon can be obtained from Eastern Horizon Press, 18 

Causeway Road, lst floor, Hong Kong, for 3/- per issue, or 

30/- per annum, post free. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

Creative Clay Craft by Ernst Rottger at 34/9 is a useful 

I ittle book describing with illustrations various ways of 

awakening the creative imagination in students of pottery. 

Textures and design are demonstrated with the use of the 

simplest tools, and form is discovered as the characteristics 

of the material ore explored. 

5

POTTERY IN AUSTRALIA 

Kenneth Hood 

Reprinted by kind permission of the publ ishers of "HEMI 

SPHERE" 

During the past three or four years Australian painting 

has received considerable publicity and· crit ical attention in 

0ther countries and, with the recently opened exhibition at 

the Tate Gallery in London, the overseas crit ics and public 

are becoming increasingly aware of the positian of our 

present-day art. But while we are consciaus af a new vitality 

in Australian painting it is all too easy to forget that in 

the realm of the crafts much of a very high stQl ,dard is 

now being produced here. 

It has generally been held that in this country the cratts 

are a much later arrival on the cultural scene. Certainly it 

is true that there has been, since the last war, ·a tremendous 

upsurge of interest in the crafts generally and it is, perhaps, 

in the field of pottery that this new ond awakening interest 

is most obviously manifest. 

Yet Pottery has been produced in Australia from the 

earliest years of the nineteenth century. In the Sydney 

Gazette ond New South Wales Advertiser of September 18, 

1803, Samuel Skinner of Pitt's Row, Sydney, advertised his 

" Eorthenware Manufactory" and "respectfully acquainted his 

friends and the Public at large thot he had, by Assiduity and 

Perseverance, braught ta a state of Perfection in the Colony 

the above very useful and essential Branch of Manufacture; 

and that Ladies, Gentlemen, or Others who might be desirous 

of having Articles moulded to any particular Form, either 

for Utility or Ornament, would have their Commands 

punctually and reasonably camplied with". Then followed 

a list of the various wares for sale; some of these were : 

teapots 1 s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. each, cups and saucers 6d. to 10d., 

cream jugs 4d. to 6d., mugs 6d. to 2s., children's tea sets 

4s. to 6s., etc. Mr. Skinner recommended them "as by no 

means inferior to the workmanship of the most eminent 

Potteries in the Northern Country". 

This, then, is perhaps the first record of pottery making 

in one of the .Iarge intercolonial or international exhibitions 

IS rererred to only occasionally and then usually as an exhibit 

in Australia. During the rp.st of the nineteenth century pottery 

frequently held in Victorian times. Hawever, in the 1830's 

James King established a pottery at I rrawang in New South 

Wales .. The Sydney Herald of May 1, 1834, stated that a 

specimen of brown earthenware had been sent by King to 

their affice. Loter, in Octaber, 1836, the Sydney Gazette reported 

that· Mr. King, after considerable trouble and expense, 

had succeeded in bringing to perfection the manufacture of 

earthenware. The I rrawang Pottery was apparently so 

6

populor by 1845 thot demand exceeded production. 

At first the pottery sent to the international exhibitions 

was predominantly industrial. Stevenson and Sons and 

Young, George and liston sent flower pots, spirit jars, drain 

pipes and fire-bricks of clay from the Toorok quarries to 

the Melbourne Exhibition of 1854, but by the 1860's some 

domestic ware was beginning ta appear. Jars, pons and 

bottles for domestic use were exhibited by the Chesterfield 

Pottery Compony of Melbourne at the 1866 International 

Exhibition in Melbourne, and Thomas Field of George Street, 

Sydney, and Alfred Carnwell af Brunswick, Melbourne, displayed 

"specimens of pottery" and "assorted stoneware" ot 

the same exhibition. 

Thus, whilst industrial ware such as fire-bricks and 

drain pipes continued ta be shown by Melbourne and Sydney 

potters at these nineteenth century exhibitions, we find that 

more and mare domestic ware began to appear, although na 

doubt this was in most cases little removed from the industrial 

product and not of a high artistic standard. The catalogue 

of the Internatianal Exhibition held in London in 1872-3 

listed among the entries a "vase af pottery ware, a rock 

of calonial and other stoneware and pottery, five stone chino 

jars, two porcelain jugs, porcelain 'biscuit' or unglazed jug, 

earthenware speckled jug, faur porcelain vases tinted blue. 

earthenwate 'biscuit' vase and a bottle with porcelain gloze", 

and all of them mode of "Bulla Bulla cloy". At the Paris 

Universal Exhibition of 1867 only fire-bricks, fire-tiles and 

gorden-tiles had been shown whilst at the 1878 Paris 

Exhibition Australia was even less well represented : the 

Bendigo and Ballarat Freehold Company exhibited "samples 

of potter's clay" and G. D. Guthrie exhibited a "collection 

of pottery". But it seems that some rather more interesting 

wares were shown at the New Zealand and South Seas Inter_ 

national Exhibition of 1889-90 when the Bendigo Pottery 

Company limited showed "general pottery consisting of 

Porion, Majolica and Stoneware". 

The potter working in Australia in the latter part of 

the nineteenth century can hardly have been, even at this 

time, unaware af outside influences. Pottery and porcelain' 

from A:ustria. Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain (including 

jasper-ware from Wedgwood and Son), Ireland, India, 

Italy and New Zealand were shown with ceramics from 

Victoria and New South Wales at the Sydney International 

Exhibition in 1879. That pottery-making in Austrolia hod, 

by this time, reached a comparatively high s~andard is clear 

from the report of the judges who said that "none of the 

intercolonial exhibits of glassware were worthy of particular 

mention, but the case was otherwise with the coarser kind 

of pot.tery, such as jars, pats, crucibles, drain-pipes and 

7

icks, in the production of which the Colonies are fairly 

well advanced, and of all of which they showed commendable 

-exhibits. Even objects of a higher order of artistic merit, such 

'as arnamental designs in terra-cotta were to be found among 

the exhibits in the Colonial Courts." . 

Despite this activity in pottery-making the nineteenthcentury 

potter in this country almost certainly had nothing 

in common with the artist-potter and his pots as we know 

them today. It was, in fact, only at this time that a cansiderable 

change was beginning to affect the work of the oaftsman 

in England and the modern artist_craftsman was being 

born. About the middle of the lost century J ohn Ruskin had 

initiated a return to the crofts of the mediaeval age - particularly 

a return to the spirit and attitude of the mediaeval 

craftsman and to the love of work for its own sake. For 

Morris and Ruskin it was essential that the craftsman should 

show in his work his joy in hand labour and a reflection of 

the material and spiritual climate of the less complicated 

Middle Ages. This, of course, was a reactian against the 

prevailing industrial and economic trends and it forced the 

craftsman to reconsider his relationship to, and place ' in. 

society. I t was the restrictive practices af the Industria'l 

Revolution which caused the craftsman to lose direct'contact 

with his material and the control of every stage ' of the 

manufacture of his product. The Morfin Brothers, William 

de Morgan and Bernard Moore were among those who, in 

England, followed the lead of William Morris. The movemenl 

has continued to gain momentum and since 1920, when the 

Engl ish potter Bernard Leach returned from his first thp to 

Japan, the crafts in general and pottery in particular have 

received further and considerable stimulation. . 

We have sa-en that from early in the nfne'teenth century 

industrial or semi-industrial pottery and domestic earthenware 

were made. Shortly after 1900 a considerable quantity 

of white porcelain was imported to be hand-painted by 

young ladies - an elegant and genteel Edwardian ' accomplishment. 

It is not until 1911 that we find the first artist-potter, 

as the term is today understood, active in- Australia. 'He was 

·Merric Boyd, born in St. Kilda, Melbourne; in 1888.- Originally 

destined to be a farmer, Boyd arrived at p·ott.ery. by way 'of 

clay-modelling and he established his pottery workshop dt 

Murrumbeena in 1911. 

From the outset Merric Boyd's pottery was distinguished 

by art nouveau forms carrying a peculiarly Australian feeling. 

It has been painted out (by John Yule) thot Boyd's "motifs 

derived from his obsessive· love of the primitive . element . in 

the country, the animals, the rough pioneer farmers". 

Primarily Merric Boyd's appraach to pottery was that 

af the expressionist and this expressionism "was transferred 

di rectly to 'clay vessels, jugs whase handles were twisted tree 

8

trunks, huge urns, heavily sculptured with animal and human 

figures". Fram 1917 until 1920 Boyd studied at Stoke-on 

Trent in England; on his return he continued to work at his 

pottery in Murrumbeena until his death in 1959. The 

Australian aborigines have never mode pottery and Merrie 

Boyd, unable to build on any long-established Austrolian 

tradition, took his inspiration directly from nature :' he 

attempted at the same time to establish a style recognisably 

Australia and to express in clay his love of his notive 

environment. 

Thus, the Australian school of studio pottery was begun 

and, from this point, the popularity of pottery has grown 

steadily. Many of the pattery departments of our technical 

schools are now almost overflowing with students and more 

and more amateur potters are establishing kilns in suburban 

workshops. 

Mast of our studio patters are congregated in either 

Victoria or New South Wales. and in Sydney we find a 

Potters' Society which is actively supported by most potters 

in that State. Yet in, or close to, each of the other capital 

cit ies well-known potters are worki ng. 

To work in stoneware has become a lmost a fashion and, 

indeed, rather more than half of our potters work in th is 

medium now. Austral ian potters generally look to other 

countries and periods for their sources of influence and the 

Chinese ceramics of the T'ang and Sung periods have. in 

this regard, been valuable. The work of the contemporary 

English craftsmen, Bernard Leach, W. Staite Murray and 

Michael Cardew, has also been a fru itful influence. From 

both the Chinese and the contemporary Engl ish potters the 

interest now shown in stoneware is, probably, derived. However, 

our potters have recently become vitally conscious of 

the work of both the modern and the mediaeval Japanese 

potter and of the great craft revival there sponsored by the 

late Dr. Soetsu Yanagi. 

From small and humble beginnings, from merely industrial 

and semi.industrial ware to the .studio pottery movement 

as we know it today, the story of pottery in Australia is one 

of craftsmen striving to bridge the gap between art and 

industry. To counteract the monotony of most mass-production 

we need around us the work of the hand-craftsman, 

work which as Bernard Leach has said, "is at one and the 

same time recreation and labour and in which use and 

beauty are inseparable". Although the pots being made here 

by our artist-patters cannot, perhaps, yet rank with those 

of the great English potters and certainly not with those of 

the Chinese ar Japanese craftsmen, extremely fine pots in 

both stoneware and earthenware are being produced and 

the growing number of potters and societies indicates that, 

for the patter in this country, the situation at present is 

clearly one of tremendous vitality. 

9

POTTERS IN TASMANIA 

In recent years pottery is increasing in popularity in 

Tasmonia and as well as private pottery schools, technical 

colleges run extensive pottery classes. Mention is made here 

of some of the potters who have influenced ceromics in 

Tasmania. 

The first pottery in Tasmania was John Campbell's at 

Launceston which commenced in 1874, and still continues 

today as a fami ly concern, although in 1949 the pottery 

section closed down and now pipes and bricks are solely 

produced. However pottery from this source enjoyed great 

local and overseas popularity. In the 1880's, John Campbell 

built a small muffle' kiln and a hand wheel which was turned 

by a boy as the potter worked; and using local clays from 

Launceston and Beaconsfield he experimented with minerals 

and oxides. Exhibitions of this pottery, mainly earthenware 

and porcelain, were shown in Calcutta, Wembley and Victoria. 

Pottery was also exported to America and Iceland. 

Campbell's glazes were always clear, clean and glossy, a 

favourite being "honey on green". 

Among the contemporary potters, though a comparative 

newcomer to Tasmanio, Derek Smith is well known in N.S.W., 

since his arrival from England in 1956. He trained in England 

as a special ist art-teacher for six years, two of which 

were entirely devoted to pottery, using industrial and hand 

methods. From 1947-1952 he was at the Loughborough 

College of Art, where he later taught part-time pottery, and 

from 1954-55 at the Leicester College of Art. In 1956 Derek 

Smith taught Art in N.S.W. High Schools, meanwhile potting 

and using on electric kiln. In 1958 he moved to Bowral, 

where he built an oil-fired kiln, producing stonewore and 

ceromic sculpture using local clays and rock glazes. At the 

beginning of 1963 he came to ' Hobart as lecturer at the 

School of Art, with pottery classes for art teachers in training 

ond for port-time students. He has built his own drip-feed 

oil kiln producing stoneware from local materials. In the 

past clay had been imported from Melbourne, but now 

local clay is being used for all practical work at the School 

of Art, and with the prospect of a pugmill, ballmill, and 

Leach type kickwheel, the overall picture for the future is 

promising. 

George Woodberry has his own pottery school and 

commercial pottery in Hobort. He studied art at East Sydney 

Technical College, at the Orban Studio, and with Bissietta. 

He later visited the South Seas, Europe and Japan, and 

admires the work of the Jopanese potters. 

The Montrose Pottery is a small Hobart Studio pottery 

run by Eileen Brooker, who is also an art and pottery teach!!r 

at the Fahan School. Blaz Kokor works with her and they 

10

make such individual utilitarian pots as coffee and tea sets, 

soup tureens with bowls, vases, dishes and ashtrays, oil in 

earthenware. Eileen Brooker was trained in England at King_ 

wood Pottery in Surrey, which was started by Michael Cardew, 

and worked at various potteries in the Lakes District. 

The Killiney Pottery in Hobart is run principally as a 

school, where over 100 students are taught by Miss Mylie 

Peppin and Mrs. Hel.ena Chudackova, who holds an annual 

exhibition in Hobart. Mylie Peppin started the Killiney Pottery 

with the assistance of Maud Poynter who trained in London. 

She was a pioneer who built her own pottery and wood fired 

kiln. Helena Chudackova was born in Czechoslovakia, started 

potting in Hobart, learning from Myl ie Peppin, taking aver 

the school in 1961 and remaining in partnership since that 

time. 

The Shavian Pottery at Howrah in Hobart is operated 

by Edward and Margaret Shaw and produces earthenware 

from Victorian and Tasmanian clays. 

Mrs. Audrey Beswick is a part-time instructor at the 

Launceston Technical College. She works in earthenware from 

local clays. 

Space does not permit mention of many other potters 

who have contributed something to the local scene, potters 

who by their industry and enthusiasm are adding great 

impetus to this craft movement in Tasmania. 

A man who shows great feeling for simple local material 

is Mr. Jeff Springer, of Relbia, Tasmania . His robust terra 

cotta garden pots show the influenc~ 

both of the rough red 

clay and of the strength of the man who brings it to life. 

This clay is not far knick-nacks and ashtrays, a lthough it 

is used a lot by students. It shows its true character when 

thrown on a grand scale; Mr. Springer regularly throws up 

to 44 lb. of clay, making a pot 18 in. high. His largest effort 

was a tall vase of 88 Ibs. 

There are twa cool fired kilns at Relbia, a 12 ft. diameter 

down draught and a 9 ft. diam. up draught which are partly 

filled with the machine-made flower pots and agricultural 

pipes which are also made. 

Mr. Springer is generous with his knowledge and experience; 

to see his sure and businesslike throwing of big 

shapes is to be fired with a new enthusiasm for the potter's 

craft. 

These notes were sent in by Janet Jessop and Stephen 

Cox, 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

11

NOTES FROM PERTH ON MINERAL GLAZES 

Eileen Keys 

All elements that potters use come from minerals 

whether they be cloy or rock. We ore living in on age of 

minerals, when great new discoveries have been made in 

Austrolia, as elsewhere, and it is certain that mare are yet 

to come. 

As potters in Australia are without a so-called "traditional" 

background I feel we should develop our own standards 

by making more use of those minerals that are in 

such abundance around us. 

The best pottery of all time come from the early Sung 

potters who used the crude materials they hod at hand. 

Many of the minerals we have today were not known to 

those potters, yet they mode very beautiful glozes, full of 

life and vitality, from the rocks they used with all their 

many impurities. All of the glozes needed simple forms to 

show their beauty. In later years, as the oxides were token 

from the ores ond refined, these glozes lost some of their 

former vitality. 

For those who wont to work in this way the first essential 

must be familiarity with the most common rocks and ores, 

including quartz, feldspar, iron, lead and zinc. You will 

soon come to know the common forms . A rock containing 

quortz obviously has a good basis of silica; lead and zinc 

perform their traditional fluxing action though tempered by 

the form in which it is found. 

You must become something of 0 "rock-hound", and 

that brings its own reword as one gets the "feel" of a rock 

by going to its source and seeing the lond from which it 

comes. 

If you live in a highly minerolised area you will prob· 

ably find that government surveys have been mode, the 

results of which are available. These will given you on ideo 

of the rocks you may work. Rutley's "Elements of Mineralogy" 

will also prove a great help. 

Londonderry, which is not so very for from Perth, in 

the general direction of Southern Cross, was once on area 

where nuggets of gold could be hod by picking them from 

the rocks. Today it is deserted, but by fossicking in the 

nearby fe ldspar quarry you can find many minerals suitable 

for the making of glozes; such, for instance, as the beautiful 

lilac-coloured rock, the colour of which is due to a small 

quantity of manganese and the decomposition of other 

minerals. There is spodumene, as well as many others. 

Igneous rocks contain a set of minerals differing from 

the sedimentary, many of which were the result of the 

weathering of existing rock types. Potters have always used 

igneous rocks such as feldspar and quartz, as well as many 

sedi mentary ont's 

12

The older minerals (metamorphic) are formed by the 

alteration of these sedimentary and igneous rocks through 

the action of heat, pressure and fluids, with the result that 

they are much harder. After having used many softer. rocks 

I find the harder ones more interesting. Minerals produced 

by the action of heat are different from those produced by 

stress as they contain more pebbles, quartz, lava, and so on. 

They do make a glaze, but there is not the interesting separation 

of the harder and rarer earths. 

When magma cools in nature, forming minerals, the 

conditions of cooling - whether these be quick or slowdetermine 

the crystals. The slower the rate of cooling the 

larger the crystals, and it is by its crystalline form that a 

mineral is most readily identified. 

Slow cooling in the kiln is essential if you wont 

separation of minerals and crystals. Most rock glozes need 

temperatures of 1160 deg. C. to 1300 deg. c., though I feel 

sure there is a wide field for research to be done at lower 

temperatures: 

Rock glozes do not shrink very much on cooling. The clay 

body will tend to shrink more and on opening the kiln one is 

liable to find pressure crocks. It is necessary,therefore, to 

add bentonite to most rock glazes and, as they must be thick, 

gum is also necessary. I find the knobs from a gum-tree the 

best gum of all as it does not deteriorate with time. 

You need to test the ashes of many trees for colour 

and fluxing action and when you are familiar with these 

you know the kind of ash your rock will need if you are not 

to spoil the colour of rock. Many potters today are using 

rocks again for colouring their glozes, but that was not my 

aim. I wonted to make the glaze from the ground rock itself, 

in line with my firm desire to keep as close to nature as 

possible in my work. I have tested some hundreds of rocks 

and I have many glozes with a wide range of colour and 

texture. It is only by repeated work with the rocks that you 

get the "feel" of what a rock needs. Many of our rocks 

contain iron and copper and it is very difficult to eliminate 

these. To the professional this may sound a long and 

roundabout method of procedure, but for the layman seeking 

something new it works. 

Let me worn you that rocks are unpredictable and one 

wonders if all the hard work is worth it, until you see a 

rock glaze coming from the kiln in beauty that cannot be 

obtained in any other way. Unfortunately rocks need grinding. 

First, they must be broken up with a hammer and then, 

using a miner's "dolly pot", they can be ground still finer 

and put through on 80 sieve. (I find it is not wise to grind 

them too fine.l You could work first with just one rock, 

experimenting with the addition of ash and the firing conditions, 

and observing all the different results. 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25 

13

POTTERS IN SOUTH AUSTRA LIA 

Great interest is taken in pottery in Adelaide. There are 

two amateur clubs - the Adelaide Potters' Club, and the 

Studio Potters' Club, each having a membership of several 

hundred. Bath clubs have exhibitions annually, and although 

some of the work is not of high standard, it is improving in 

taste and technique each year. 

The School of ATts has a Ceramic Department run by 

Mr. Kypridakis who has recently come from America and 

has been experimenting with Raku firings. Classes this year 

are working with stoneware. Some af the Technical Schools 

also have pottery classes for teenagers and adults. 

. There are several outstanding potters in Adelaide; the 

be~t known perhaps is Alex Leckie. Another potter who 

makes beautiful stoneware is Helen Mcintosh, and a third 

who has recently exhibited in the White Studio is Frank 

Weston. 

Each year there is a Ceramic Section in the Advertiser 

Open-Air Art Exhibition, and during the Festival of Arts, 

pottery is very much to the fore. 

This year the Royal S.A. Society of Arts arranged an 

exhibition of ceramics and sculpture in conjunction with 

the Austra lian and New Zealand Pottery Exhibition organised 

on behalf of all Australian National Galleries by Kenneth 

Hood of the National Gallery of Victoria. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

THRUMSTER VILLAGE POTTERY 

Dorothy Hope 

A potter need not be sentimental about the way in 

which the early potters utilised their local materials to feel 

that this approach to pottery is fundamentally right. 

As this area

SiO. . ................... ...... .... .. 

Al,Os ............................ .. 

Cr. . ......... ........... .. ..... ..... . 

CaO ... .. .... ...................... . 

MgO ............ ................. . 

COO 

Na ............................... . 

K ... .. ..... ............ ......... .... . 

P ................ ...... . 

S 

Ign ition loss ......... ...... .. 

24.40 

24.00 

0.27 

Trace 

Trace 

Trace 

0.50 

0.50 

0.05 

Trace 

5.26 

80.57 

Balance due to water content, etc. 

After working with these materia ls for some time I 

have found that the clay and colours are at their best when 

fired to 1100 deg. C. and held at that temperature for 30 

minutes. The resulting ware, a range of teapots, coffee pots, 

mugs, jugs, covered pots and large bowls has a fine-textured 

finish, of low porosity and well suited to modern demands. 

To me, this is the pottery that is most satisfying to produce. 

.. With the few materials used, the requirements of the 

workshop routine and the layout can be kept simple and 

uncluttered. All the pots are thrown, and decorated on the 

wheel, proving the adequacy of this .method of production 

for a small workshop, as against production with moulds, 

where one. is faced by an encumbrance of moulds and the 

embarrassment of shapes that don't work out. 

The showroom and workshop adjoin to allow visitors 

a view of the work in progress without undue interruption or 

intrusion. This has resulted in a lot of interest from visitors 

to the area, a fact wh ich is not mentioned for mercenary 

reasons, but to point out· that there is a place in today's 

society for the craftsman potter who loves the work enough 

to devote time and energy to it, and the extra effort needed 

to share it with the people who are interested. 

Adjoining the warkshop and showroom is a building of 

camplementary design. Both buildings were designed and 

built by Jack Hope from timbers cut on the property and 

are situated in a bushland setting. 

The second building is used as a crafts centre for 

various art exhibitions, demonstrations of wood carving, 

weaving, etc. It is also used as a meeting place for an 

occasional weekend school of pottery students who come 

from the North Coast and Western districts. 

The pottery has taken its name from the site of 

Thrumster villoge which has associations with early convict 

days and is situated five miles from Port Macquarie. 

15

VALE JOHN CHAPPELL 

Les Blakebrough 

The Editor has asked me to write a short biography 

about the late John Chappell. It is not an easy task, especially 

for someone who is reluctant to write -anything; however, 

Chappell was a close friend of mine and so perhaps a few 

recollections of our friendship will be of interest. It is not 

intended that this is even a biographical sketch. 

We met when John and his wife were on their way 

to New Zealand for a six-month lecture tour, in December, 

1960. They spent ten days with us at Mittagong while 

waiting for a ship to take them across the Tasman . 

. He had a crazy way-out sense of humour and the reaction 

was immediate - we were friends within minutes of 

meeting. A common interest made it easy for the friendship 

to develop. During those few days in 1960 talk in the pottery 

or over the dinner table always got round to life and potting 

in Japan, where he had been living for the previous two 

years. At this time the seed was sown for us to visit Japan. 

The idea materialised in December, 1962, when we left 

Mittagang to spend a year there. 

We arrived in the middle of the worst winter Japan 

had seen in the last 50 years, with heavy snow everywhere. 

John met us in Nagoya and took us straight to his home in 

the country near Kyoto. A strange language, food and 

general atmosphere were overwhelming to begin with and 

John's help and kindness made the first few weeks much 

more bearable. We lived with him for about four months 

and during this period I worked with him in his workshop. 

We got to know him very well in these months, sharing his 

frustrations and disappointments as well as all the laughs, 

and there were lots of these. 

He was an amozing person to work with; there was 

always some deadline to meet - a show in Tokyo or Osaka, 

or a competition elsewhere - but with a final flourish all 

was ready, usually if it were pots, with the kiln being 

unpacked very hot and then half an hour to parcel up and 

catch a train . . 

His ability to organise things in a hurry was incredible, 

and when space was getting scarce in the pottery he decided 

to build a store house. The idea was conceived on Sunday, 

an Monday the t imber was ordered and delivered and by 

Thursday, with the two of us working like maniacs, it was 

completed and filled with fired pots' A bath house was made 

under much the same circumstances, large enough for two 

people to sit in at the same time and was christened after 

a long and dirty firing with lovely hot water up to our beards 

and two bottles of beer within easy reach. John's organising 

ability was seen at its best one Sunday in the summer when 

16 

/-ll

the American poets, Garry Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, with 

a group of other people came out to Do Mura for a picnic 

and swim. John persuaded them to walk up into the hills 

where he said there was a lovely rock pool. We arrived to 

find a small pool with a foot of water in it! "No matter, we 

can dam up one end and the water level will go up three 

feet," claimed John. Well, he actually persuaded everyone, 

including Ginsberg, to cart rocks to make a dam and lat"er 

in the day the idea actually worked. 

Usually it was never necessary to make suggestions to 

John - 

life was hectic enough without making it more so, 

but at times one was apt to forget and a suggestion once 

made, even if there were only a glimmer of feasibility in it, 

would be taken up. There was a problem of how to fit in 

a certain number of firings before one of his exhibitions. 

Well, crazy as it may sound, it wos decided to fire the 

stoneware kiln and as soon as it was finished to switch the 

drip feed arrangement over to the salt glaze chamber and 

fire it; the two firings took 32 hours. Life with Choppell 

was pretty much a string of events like these, at a pace, as 

full as it is possible to be with a well-developed sense of 

humour flowing most of the time. 

Chappell had many talents; apart from being a f ine 

potter, he had an ·alert and enquiring mind and would have 

made a good political commentator. People who knew him 

would probably agree. He was a convincing talker. He was 

also a very good cook and at one time worked as a chef in 

london and later in France. 

However, it was with clay that his ability was evident. 

His standards were high and he expected the same of other 

potters. He was able to practise what he preached. He 

followed on uncompromising way with his pots which had a 

peculiar way of being somewhere half way between what 

we have come to term "Eastern" and "Western". He 

achieved this assimilation better thon anyone else I can 

think of in an unselfconscious way. His pots were not "Japanese" 

and not "English" but unique, and an extension af 

himself. 

That he was killed is a tragedy because he was in the 

process of mature development. There was a well of physical 

and creative energy that few people have. Those who saw 

his exhibition at the Macquarie Gallery in Sydney in February 

this year can decide for themselves, but to make the scene 

as he did in Japon, where competition is unbelievably competitive 

and where critics are severe, intelligent ond well 

informed, was an achievement and the reward af being a 

fearless, creative potter. His pots will speak for themselves. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

17

T AKEICHI KAWAI 

Peter Rushforth 

Takeichi Kawai works and lives in Kyoto, the cultural 

centre of Japan. His training as a potter has followed the 

custom of long years of apprenticeship, in his case, under 

his uncle, the famous Kanjiro Kawai. To many who bel ieve 

in this system of training it would be considered pretentious 

to exhibit at an early age-Mr. Kawai had his first exhibition 

when he was fifty, at· a time when his work and outlook 

had matured. In January this year, he arrived in Australia 

and exhibited h is work in Sydney. 

This exhibitian was significant for many reasons; it 

was the first one-man exhibition to be held in Australia by 

a leading overseas artist-potter and ·it focused attention on 

the contribution the individual potter can make to the 

environmental pattern. To students it exemplified the creative 

possibilities of stoneware techniques and how a traditional 

idiom can be infused with freshness and vitality; it also 

showed a surety which undoubtedly stems from the Zen 

advice: "Develop an infallible technique, and then place 

yourself at the mercy of inspiration. II 

The work also reflected some of the spirit and atmosphere 

of Kyoto where for over a period of a thousand years 

Japanese artists and craftsmen have developed their work 

under the influence of Buddhist thought, caurt activity and 

Shinto traditions. However, the main influence, which Mr. 

Kawai readily acknowledges, has emanated from the Mingei 

or Folk Craft School and the philosophy of Dr. Soetsu Yanagi 

wh ich places humility before the cult of the individual and 

seeks to find meaning in life through a search for beauty 

in everydoy living. It is this attitude wh ich hos prompted 

Gropius to write, lilt has been my impression that the 

Western mind in its restless desire to seek new horizons in 

the physical world, would do well to I·earn a lesson of 

spiritual intensification from the Oriental mind, that is, how 

to seek new horizons in the inner world". 

In coming to Australia personally to exhibit his ·work, 

Takeichi Kawai has contributed to the strengthening of an 

intemational bond which is developing amongst artists and 

craftsmen. During his stay he has generously given his time 

to lecture, demonstrate and share h is knowledge and t raining. 

At the National Art School under the disconcerting 

glare of television cameras Kawai unconcernedly demanstrated 

on a Japanese kick wheel before an appreciative 

audience of students. On his return from New Zealand in 

April he lectured for the Oriental Society at Sydney University 

where he expressed his attitude towards the potter 

in society. 

As Takeichi Kawa i returns to Japan he ~ takes with 

h im the good wishes of many Australians and the lasting 

friendship of those of us who were connected with his visit. 

18

A POTTER SPEAKS 

TAKEICHI KAW"I 

From a Talk given at the University of Sydney 

It is on unexpected honour and pleasure for a Japanese 

potter like myself to speak at this distinguished University. 

I am most grateful to those who have given me this 

opportunity. 

The precursor of the pottery, and for that matter of the 

utensils, that all of us use today was, I suppose, the human 

hand, which once served as plate or bowl or knife and fork. 

Hands were all-purpose tools, one might soy quite literally. 

And thlln in the course of evolution come discovery of fire,. 

with all its consequences for every culture. Primitive peoples 

found out how to make a substitute for hands by maulding 

and then heating clay - a gradual development that must 

have stretched over on immense period af time. The next 

great step was token in Egypt or Persia, where a fortunate 

cambinatian af natural resaurces and a dry hat climate led 

to the discovery that lumps of glass could be manufactured 

by subjecting a mixture of sand and soda to the sun's heat, 

and that a solution of powdered glass could be applied to 

clay vessels before baking ta produce a glaze. Innumerable 

pioneers, generation after generation, must have contributed 

to make this possible. Such memorablet ' ioneer work, decisive 

for the growth of the art, waul in modern times 

naturally be awarded a Nobel or some similar prize: but 

the river of historical development flows on, obliterating 

ephemeral landmarks, so that we can name none of the 

men to whom we owe these great achievements. 

As far as the Orient is concerned, Chino is regarded as 

the birthplace of the art af ceramics. The long tradition of , 

Chinese pottery developed continuously to the stage of 

glozing by means of repeated exposure of a surface to very 

high temperatures, followed by the application of a glaze 

made from clay and ashes. After the discovery of glaze in 

the Han period came a succession of golden ages, the glories 

of T'ang, Sung and Ming pattery - the product of the 

limitless resources of that huge land and of the loving 

appreciation by generations of discriminating collectors. 

Today, as you are well aware, Chinese pottery is represented 

in museums and art galleries throughout the world. 

Limited productian b)' hand increased dramatically as 

what one might call the' potter's machine" come into use. 

This innovation - a platform placed upon a vertical pivot 

with a horizantal supporting arm, dates, as glaze does, fram 

the Han period. Both hand-driven and foot-driven types 

were in common use. We Oriental potters of today owe 

everything to the skill and ingenuity of our predecessors of 

2,000 years ago. In this connectian, I sholl never forget the 

fine autumn day 23 years ago - it was October 15th, to be 

precise - when I was fartunate enough to look upan the 

19

Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the world. 

It dates from the third century B.C., the period of earthenware 

pure and simple, before the invention of the glazing 

process. For all the urgency of the fear of foreign aggression 

that drove the Emperor Shih Huang Ti to build this fortification, 

one can only marvel at the sheer grandeur of the Wall, 

stretching as it does for seventeen hundred miles or more 

along the mountain ridges, and at' the dynamic energy of 

those who erected it. It is covered throughout with tiles 1 ft. 

2 in. square by ! in. thick, hundreds of millions of tiles in 

all. The name of the Emperor, Shih Huang Ti, has survived: 

the mill ions who worked on his project are forgotten - so 

few traces does history leave behind of the men who make 

it. I felt afresh the fitness of the lines the Japanese poet 

wrote as he looked upon the grassy moor where one of the 

most vital battles in all Japanese history had ' been fought 

little more than two generations eorlier- 

Summer grasses 

All that remains 

Of the warriors' dream. 

In the fulness of time the techniques of ceramics were 

introduced from China into Korea, whose potters mastered 

them so completely as to be able to go further, and to make 

pots which ore distinctively Korean, which could not be ' 

anything but Korean. (There is no single style of pottery. 

One penetrating classification recognises three main styles, 

corresponding to "mind", "feeling" and "will".) 

And so to Jopan - where many traditional methods are 

better preserved, I think one may say, than in China itself. 

But a country cannot hope to match work that was not its 

own original product, however nearly that may be possible 

by using such aids as exhaustive chemical analysis. What 

is really valuable is what a country produces of itself, on 

its awn, reflecting its own unrepeatable characteristics. No 

one questions the massive contributions that Kyoto, our 

capital city for a thousand years, has made to Japanese 

culture. Potters responded to the needs of such arts as 

flower-arrangement and tea-ceremony that came to be practised 

there - hence the fine tea-bawls and great variety in 

size and shape of flower-vases. (Both tea and flowers are 

flourishing, I understand, throughout Australia.). From about 

four hundred years ago individual potters of genius - whose 

names are known - began to emerge. Two generations ago 

we in Japan were reminded by the Master Yanagi Muneyoshi 

that while the creations of individual genius have their own 

special, immediately recognisable excellence, there is more 

beauty in the work of nameless craftsmen. Hence the foundation 

50 years ago of the Japan Folk Art Centre, for the 

display of pots from Japan, Chino, Korea and other countries. 

It is different from a museum or on art gallery: one experi- 

20

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11

A dilplay of students' pots at the Workshop Arh Centre, Willoughby. 

Photogroph by Doug Ker,igon.

Wall of wasters# lehang. 

Bowls, Hupeh Proylnce.

John Chappell at Do Muro. 

John Choppell: Macquarie Galleries. 

Photogroph, Jomes Robinson.

ences a peculiar warmth on looking at the pots exhibited at 

the Centre, a sense of closeness to the invisible craftsmanan 

"energising" feeling that though these are masterpieces, 

we might after all be able to achieve something not ~o 

very inferior ourselves. 

The motive of response to practical need - of which 

I spoke a moment ago - is also, of course, the starting point 

on the road to mass-production, in whose name so much 

worthless work is foisted upon us today. If this depresses you, 

I would ask you to remember that all of us, in all generations 

and all countries, share - have shared, since the days of 

Adam and Eve - the essential human qualities that make 

originality possible. Faithfulness to these qualities which we 

have in common yet which declare our individuality - this 

is the one thing needful. During my visit to Australia I 

have been able to meet many Australian potters, and have 

been struck by their enthusiasm for this craft of ours. Some 

complain of the drawback of working in a country with such 

a brief history, where there has hardly been time for tradition 

to form . But you have the potentiality, as does every other 

country; and I have no doubt that before long pots will be 

made in Australia that wil l be truly and unmistokeobly 

Australian. Let us avoid at all costs the "internationalisation" 

of the art, the neutral international style. Pots are 

worthless, I would say, if they do not reflect the culture of 

the country of their origin. How eagerly and confidently we 

can look forward to the future creative work, in this and 

similar fields, of the young generation of Australians whom 

you In this audience represent! 

•••••••••••••••••••• 

33

SOME FOLK POTTERY OF CENTRAL CHINA . .. 

REWI ALLEY 

There are ten thousand unfrequented paths into the field 

of the Chinese potter. At almost every turn one comes upon 

a new one. There are the new research institutes into 

ceramincs in the cities, the big state-owned modern porcelains 

kilns, and then again there are in the villages of the hinterland 

the myriad small kilns now operated by commune work 

teams which turn out do ily-use pottery and sometimes porcelain 

for the village markets'. Village life would hardly be 

possible without the potter. The big jars that salt down 

winter vegetables or are used to store household groin, the 

pots for sauce and vinegar, the humble' night pot that goes 

under the bed, as well as the decorative pieces that bring 

a laugh to the home---

THE TEACHING OF HOBBY POTTERY-Brisbane Report 

Milton Moon 

Students taking pottery at Brisbane's Central Technical 

Callege may enrol as Diploma, Certificate or Hobby students. 

As both the Diploma and Certificate courses follow a prescribed 

syllabus these present no great problem for the 

teacher, but it is with the Hobby student that teaching 

difficulties are experienced, students being as they ore fram 

many walks of life and having many and varied reasons far 

undertaking the course. I should imagine that this is not 

confined to Brisbane alone as most enralments in pottery 

schools are by people wishing to take the subject on a hobby 

level. Students in this hobby category at our school fall inta 

one or more of the following groups: 

. Student teochers, or teachers, who are taking an extra 

curricula course in pottery ta supplement the little they are 

taught in teacher training establishments, so that they may 

teach the subject in schools. 

Those engaged in therapy work who wish to introduce 

this type of activity along with other therapeutic work. 

Hobbyists who take the subject as a craft/art autlet. 

Hobbyists who wish to eventually become self-employed 

as Studio Potters. 

Because of the different aims af the students and 

because af their 'diversity af experience and ability, and 

differences in education background, it is desirable that 

students fallow a standard course which can be tackled at 

the student's own speed. And, because the object of a 

technical institution is to educate, the programme is designed 

to teach students more abaut pottery as a subject rather 

than let them embark on a personal "catch as catch can" 

programme which may be very desirable from same points 

of view, but which is not likely to teach much about the 

subject of pottery itself. Consequently, the work taught to 

all students taking the hobby course is primarily of a 

disciplined nature - strict pattery procedure and a logical 

course or plan of study being the first objective, in the 

belief that a person can achieve valid self-expression either 

within or outside convention much better, if there is a 

greater understanding of the material, and a knowledg'e of 

the vocabulary of expression contained within form, glaze 

and decoration. 

There has been- a tremendous increase in the number 

of people taking pottery as a subject. This is quickly leading 

to a situation similar to that in some overseas art schools 

where pottery students form the ma/'or enrolment. At Brisbane's 

Central Technical College enro ment is limited because 

of space - but this .situation will be rectified in time. 

Despite the deficiencies caused by inadequate space, the 

35

equipment is sufficient to meet present demands. This 

includes Blunger, Clay mixer; filter-press; pugmill; seven 

electric wheels, one of which is a heavy industrial machine, 

with jigger/jolly attachments; two Uscinski kilns (a remarkable 

kiln with automatic shut-off devices and sealed elements 

suitable for use to 1400 deg. C. under pxidation or reduction 

over an 8 hour cycle); other kilns include a 10 cubic foot 

e lectric kiln for bisque and earthenware glost, and two gas 

kilns of approx. 10 cubic feet each, one natural draft, the 

other forced draft, both suitable for use to 1350 deg C. over 

a nine hour cycle. Both gas kilns were locally designed and 

built. 

Clay bodies, engobes and underglazes are made at the 

college. Three earthenware glazes are used - all are purchased 

and altered for individual effect. Four stoneware 

glozes are used - we make these at the college using local 

materials. These glazes are: 

one satin ash talc glaze, 

one heavy cloy matt, 

one high feldspar/limestone glaze, 

And a celadon which is mode to a different formula 

each time it is made. All items are labelled with the formula 

and description so that each student, taking proper notes 

can have a personal and complete record of their own work. 

Three college-made clay bodies are available for sale, but 

students are given a separate body for practice purposes; 

work done in practice clay may not be kept. Students are 

completely responsible for their own work, including glozing. 

Advanced students are allowed to pack and bisque their 

own ware then gloze and glost-fire in a Uscinski kiln. The 

early parts of firing, steoming etc., is done during class, and 

the kiln having on automatic shut-off device, virtually fires 

itself, but in this way the student can take the work to 

completion. 

Formal lectures on clay technology and glaze formulation 

are not given to hobby students, but suggested books 

and chapters are outlined to ·cover these subjects. Advanced 

students wishing to formulate individual glazes may do so 

under supervision. As for decoration, there is a list of twentytwo 

pots, incorporating different decoration techniques 

which must be followed by every student. This sequence has 

been planned so that decoration is shown as a logical 

sequence, covering earthenware to stoneware and differences 

obtained by firing in different atmospheres. (I hope that 

next year the compulsory list will number some fifty pots') 

In this way, all an instructor need know, to give pertinent 

criticism and advice, is what number pat and effect the 

student is doing. 

All students are taught wheel-throwing at the outset. 

36

----------------- 

All forms of hand-building a re encouraged, but there is no 

compulsion to do this before learning wheel-work. All schoolteachers 

though are urged to hand-build and to concentrate 

on effects goined from bon-firing. (Frankly, I feel it is 

much better to opproach primory and secondory school 

pottery on the primitive level, rather than by the employment 

of wheels and kilns. Great beouty of work and extreme 

satisfaction can be gained by working at this level. Just 

consider the work of the American aborigine.) 

No student at the Central Techn ical College may keep 

work done in the first term, with the exception of a personal 

tea-bowl which the student may pinch-build. If this seems. 

a little harsh, it has proved to be of a great benefit - the 

standard has risen immeasurably since this began - 

student seems to take pride in the fact that they are 

approaching the subject seriously and I have not struck 

One case where the student has shown resentment of this 

condition. It is pointed out that na type of pottery is better 

or worse, no method of building is superior, rather it is the 

end-product which is judged. As much as possible the onus 

of learning is thrown di rectly on to the student. The College 

provides the organisation, equipment, materials and the 

logical procedure for learning. And it can do little more. 

Beca.use after all, the onus does rest on the student. 

This is one idea on the subject. I would be grateful to 

hear other views. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

the 

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 

The disappointments, and the tedious hours of crushing 

are all repaid by the excitement of discovery; and along with 

this comes a new humility towards nature, and a new respect 

for .the ancient craft of potting: It is still not an exact science 

even after more than four thousand years of progress, and 

it may be that the best discaveries are yet to be made if we 

try not just that which has been proven, but also that which 

might work. 

37

AN EFFICIENT ELECTRIC KILN 

by Arthur Higg. 

Electric kilns available to studio potters usually rely for 

their insulation on relatively low quality fire bricks and 

hence are unnecessarily bulky and expensive to operate. 

Better insulating materials are available which, though 

more fragile than brick, are quite suitable for use in the 

smaller sizes, and make possible the construction of kilns 

lighter in weight and more economical to' operate than those 

built from more conventional materials. Our interest in the 

design of an efficient electric kiln arose from the need for 

one of worthwhile dimensions which would be capable af 

reaching stoneware temperatures where only a single phase 

15 amp. supply was available. The construction of a kiln of 

this type is within the capabilities af an average handyman, 

although help from an electrician will be necessary in the 

final stages of connecting-up. The notes which follow 

indicate trye requirements for a kiln of internal dimensions 

18" x 18" x 18". 

General Arrangement 

The kiln to be _described is a "top-loader"; this type is 

easiest to construct, lends itself to the fitting of elements on 

all four vertical faces, and permits better packing than 

with the convel}tional swinging door. The lid is hinged at 

the rear edge, ,but, to reduce its weight, does not carry all 

the insulation, the inside layer of insulating bricks being 

supported by a slab of ceramic. The slab and bricks are put 

in place and removed by hand each time the kiln is fired. 

Insulation is provided by a 3" lining of high-quality 

refractory insulating bricks on the "hot" face, then 2" of 

"Super-H.T .", and finally' Ii" of "K-Lite", both the latter 

materials being products of the Insulating Materials Division 

of James Hardie Pty. Ltd. They are available in these thicknesses 

in slabs 36" x 6" for Super-H.T. and 36" x 18" for 

K-Lite; the former can be used up to a maximum temperature 

of 1900 deg. F. and K.Lite to 1600 deg. F. 

The heating elements are wound from Kanthal AI wire 

and rest in slots cut into the four vertical faces of the 

insulating brick lining. Five or six kilowatts (20 to 25 amps.) 

is adequate for a top temperature of 1250 deg. C., which is 

about the highest temperature to which the kiln should be 

taken if a reasonable life is expected from the elements. 

Constructional Detail. 

The Metal Frame 

The general arrangement of the kiln, main dimensions, 

and various details may be seen in the diagram. 

For the metal framework slotted ' angle iron (Dexion, 

Di-angle or the like) is convenient for home use, but a welded 

structure of light-gauge angle would be preferable if facilities 

for its construction were available. The side panels are 

38

of 26 ·gauge (block or galvonised) iron and the bottom panel 

somewhat heavier, e.g. 22 gauge; the latter fits inside the 

framework but the side panels are outside the frame and 

attached to it by screws tapped into the angle iron. Adequate 

cross members are needed to support the bottom panel since 

this carries the full weight of the kiln. A shallow box formed 

from 26 gauge iron attached to the front panel by selftapping 

screws, carries the control switches and also serves 

as a cover for the connections to the elements. 

The lid is made from 24 gauge iron,. and should be 

welded at all corners. Short sections of the iron, bent into 

t" angle, should be welded at intervals inside, at the bottom 

edge, to support the K-Ute. It is lined with Super H.T. and 

K-Ute insulation, and is attoched to the back edge of the 

kiln by 0 pair of strong hinges. Before assembly 011 untreoted 

metal parts should be cleaned, given a coat of metal primer, 

and .then one or more coats af a good "silver" finish. 

·CuHing the Brick. 

Refractory insulating bricks can be cut easily with a 

saw or hack saw, but will rapidly wear away the blades and 

it is preferable to use an abrosive disk of the kind used for 

cutting ceramics, in association with a power drill. This is 

also ideal for cutting the slots in which the heating elements 

are to be located; the work will be made easier if a saw 

bench attachment for the drill is available. In preparing the 

slots two cuts are made t" deep and outer edges i" apart, 

(;md the intervening material removed by means of a chisel. 

Use of an abrasive saw will result in a great deal of fine 

dust, so it is advisable to wear a mask and goggles and do 

this work out of doars. 

We have always used imported ground-face bricks 

(MI 28 or KIP 23, from Morganite Aust. Ltd.> but locally 

made bricks "are available. They should first be cut as 

required for the internal dimensions selected (18" x 18"), 

slots for the elements completed, and they should then be 

assembled (without cement) in the relative positions they 

are to occupy. While they will later be cemented together 

it is inevitable that some cracking at the joints will occur 

. during the life of the kiln, and it is desirable, therefore, to 

"key" successive layers of brickwork together. This is done 

by cutting matching groaves at intervals into faces which 

are in contact, ' and fitting strips of kiln shelving into these 

groaves to serve as keys. 

With the bricks in this test-assembled position, holes 

should be drilled for leads to the electric elements, and for 

spy-hole, vents and thermocouples. This is best done with 

a masonry bit, taking care to use only light pressure to 

avoid splitting the bricks. Large holes should be made by 

opening' out a smaller hole (t") by means of a rat-tail file; 

the maximum diameter, however, is limited by the spacing 

39

etween slots for the elements. 

The Heating Elements 

The heating elements are mode by winding Konthal 

resistance wire (Grade A 1) into tightly-coiled "springs", and 

fitting these into slots cut into the walls of the kiln. Kanthal 

wire is available from Kanthal Aust. Ltd., Smithfield, N.S.W. 

The size of the wire to be used is determined by the maximum 

power to be supplied to the kiln, and whether this is 

to be provided by one high-current element, or by a number 

of elements, each carrying a proportionately smaller current. 

Assuming 5-! kilowatts is ta be supplied at the top temperature 

of 1250 deg. C. this could be provided by one element 

carrying a current of 25 amps., or by four separate elements 

each carrying 6* amps. The second alternative is preferred 

because it allows the use of a wire size, 16 B&S, which is 

relatively easy to handle, and can be accommodated without 

difficulty in the space available if a total of 8 slots, 2 for 

each elements, is adopted. Each element will require a length 

of 115 feet of 16 B&S wire, and the four will need a total 

of approximately 3 Ibs. 

The wire should be measured out into four lengths of 

115 ft. , and each length must then be close-wound on a t" 

diameter rod, leaving about 9" of straight wire at each end 

to form the leads, where they pass through the kiln wall . 

The elements will then be in the form of tightly-coiled 

"springs" and each must be pulled out until, unstretched, 

it is slightly longer than the length available for it in the two 

slots into which it is to be fitted, i.e. to about 13 ft. The 

stretching needs to be done carefully so that the spacing 

between turns is maintained as uniform as possible. 

A safety device wh ich is optional but worth fitting is 

a master switch operated by a push-rod which is depressed 

when the lid is closed. Thi~ prevents power being applied 

to the kiln unless the lid is down, and thus removes any 

possibility of the kiln being switched on at a time when 

contact with the elements could accidentally occur. Such a 

master-switch can be made from two 15 amp. Microswitches 

(Belleo Pty. Ltd., Sydney), one in the active lead to each of 

the two control switches. The greatest care should, of course, 

always be token in the operation of electrical devices in 

earthed situations of the kind which usually exist in pottery 

workshops. 

Assembling the Kiln 

1. The angle iron frame and panels should be completely 

assembled first, and then all but the back panel 

removed, to provide ready access for the placing of the 

bricks. Place the bottom layers of K-Lite and Super-H.T. in 

position, and then carefully locate in the centre of this a 

thin sheet (24 gouge) of heat-resistant metal, e.g. "inconel" 

(Wright & Co., Clarence St., Sydney) the size of the bose 

40

layer of bricks. The purpose of this is to ensure that the 

weight of the brick section, and its contents, is uniformly 

distributed over the less rigid materials wh ich support it. 

2. Next, place the base layer of the bricks in position 

on tap of the inconel sheet; they should be cemented together 

(Morganite Tri-mor Airset cement) using the thinnest possible 

joint. Some practice in laying the bricks should first 

be had on the off-cuts; a convenient way to use the cement 

is to mix it with water to the consistency of a thinnish cream 

and then apply it ta the faces to be joined with a flat brush. 

The bricks are highly porous and " buttering" and placing 

of the bricks must be done quickly and accurately as very 

little subsequent adjustment is possible. While the cement 

has air-setting properties, the ceramic bond does not develop 

until the kiln has been fired, and care should therefore be 

token to avoid putting unnecessary strain on completed 

jaints. After the brickwork has been completed it should be 

painted liberally inside and out with a whitewash made from 

a thin mixture of cement and water, and allowed to dry 

for a full 48 hours. 

3. The fibrous insulation should now be placed in position 

on all sides, Super-H.T. next to the brick, K-Lite on the 

outside, the top edges of both ending about i" above the 

brickwork. The metal panels should then be fitted and holes 

for the various vents and leads to the elements drilled 

through the insulation and the panels, a pilot hole having 

first been drilled from the inside through those already cut 

in the brick. Ceramic tubes shauld be cut and fitted to 

these holes to serve as bushes. The holes in the panels should 

be somewhat larger than the ceramic bushes, and about 1 t" 

in diameter where the leads to the elements enter the kiln. 

4 . The heating elements, previously pu lled out until 

they occupy a length of abaut 13 ft., are now f itted into 

their slots, the straight ends being brought out to the front 

of the kiln, behind the removable panel on which the controls 

are mounted, where they terminate in insulated connectors. 

The coils should be under sl ight compression but must not 

project at any point. It will be necessary to bend them at 

each corner to keep them within their slots, but this can be 

done without d ifficulty if care is taken; it cannot be done 

later as Kanthol wire becomes brittle after a few fir ings, 

and it is desirable therefore to ensure that the e lements are 

well fitted initially as attempted adjustments at a later stage 

may result in breakages. When this has been achieved the 

width of each slot should be decreased slightly, just enough 

to prevent the element from coming out, by building up one 

edge with cement; this will harden at the first firing. The 

wire itself must not be imbedded in cement, and should not 

be allowed to become wet. 

The four elements should be connected up to the control 

41

switches, etc., as indicated in the circuit diagram. This work 

should only be done, however, in consultation with a licensed 

electrician, who ·should inspect the kiln before it is connected 

to the power supply and preferably carry out the wiring 

himself. The kiln as described will draw a current af up to 

25 amps., and appropriate arrangements for this must be 

made by an electrician: it will normally involve a 2-phase 

supply. - 

5. Before attaching the lid by its hinges it should be 

lined with K-lite and Super-H.T. as for the body of the kiln, 

but in this case it will be necessary to hold the insulation 

in place by means of straps formed from rod or wire capable 

of standing up to the temperatures encountered near the 

hot face. 10 gauge inconel wire is suitable, it can easily be 

bent into U-shaped brackets and the ends tapped to take -t" 

nuts. The brackets should be insulated with ceramic bushes 

where they pass through the metal lid, since they are conveying 

heat outwards from the hottest port of the kiln. 

The lid should be fitted so that the K-lite and Super-H.T. 

layers fit snugly against their counterparts in the body of 

the kiln, on all four· sides, when the lid is closed. 

The lid is fairly heavy and some means must be arranged 

for supporting it safely in the open position during loading 

ond unloading, e.g. by a strong hook suspended securely 

from the ceiling. 

Operation 

Before putting the kiln to work it should be dried out 

very thoroughly by running it at lowest power for at least 

half a day; for this operation the lid should be open to allow 

the moisture to escape and, if a safety switch is fitted, it 

will be necessary to close this by means of a heavy weight. 

Do not put. your hands inside the kiln once this has been 

done! 

Each of the two switches controls half the kiln; between 

them they provide a wide range of power inputs, from -t 

of 5!- kilowatts (with one switch on low, and the ather off) 

through t (both on low, or one on medium), t, !-, i, t to 

full power (both switches on high). 

The Super-H.T. and K-lite materials derive their efficiency 

as insulators from their open and fibrous nature, and 

their exposed faces at the top of the kiln should be protected 

from abrasion when the kiln is being packed or unpacked, 

to prevent the material from being gradually broken away. 

This may be done by covering them with a strip of galvanised 

iron or three-ply during these operations. 

Any cracks which develop should be filled with airset 

cement, and the kiln faces should be painted with cement 

whitewash from time to time. Kanthal wire will rust if allowed 

to become wet, however, and care should be taken not to 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 

42

TEACHI NG POTTERY IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS 

CERAMIC JEWELLERY 

Hildegarde Wulff 

When it comes to making anything for self-adornmnt the 

enthusiasm of children is easily aroused and if they see some 

quick results from their first efforts they are more willing to 

tryout other elaborate ideas where planning, patience and 

finish are needed. 

As our first project we chose a Brooch and Ear-ring Set, 

using slip and scraffito decoration, 

Stage 1 (20 minutes) 

1. While technique is being explained and examples 

shown, two pupils portion out cloy (approx. 1 cubic inch). 

2. Cloy is rolled into three bolls, one large and two equal 

small. 

3. The large ball is flattened slightly between the fingers, 

then fli cked briskly on to some newspaper (to prevent sticking), 

picked up, turned over and flicked down again. This 

is repeated three or four times until the cloy is flattened to 

about 2/10-inch in thickness. Shapes will vary and children 

are encouraged to let their brooches toke a natural form 

rather than pushing them into farced shapes. The some procedure 

is used with Jhe two smaller balls ta make ear-rings. 

4. Full nome, dote and closs are neatly pricked on the 

backs of all three objects, which are then collected on a 

board and allowed to dry to leather hardness. Then the surface 

of each is dipped in a slip of a contrasting colour by 

one of the pupils in her spore time (e.g., lunch hour) . For 

the rest of the period, simple abstract motifs to suit the shope 

each pupil has made, are worked out on poper. 

Stage 2 

1. When the cloy is dry (the following week) a design 

of lin.es and shapes is scratched bock through the slip with 

a pointed tool (e.g., pin, compass) . 

2. The sets can now be biscuited. If a larger proportion 

of white cloy is used when mixing with the red cloy it is 

possible to do away with the biscuit firing . and simply raw 

gloze the wore. 

3. Glazing-this is done by one or two pupils (again in 

their spare time), one of whom dips the surface and the 

other wipes off any gloze near and on the bose, and arranges 

the sets on kiln shelves. 

4. Gloze firing. 

5. The jewellery is completed when brooch bocks and earrings 

clips are glued on with ARALDYTE, which requires 

twenty-four hours to harden. 

Follow-up projects: Pendants, necklaces and bracelets. 

• Links can be mode from equal segments of a coil of 

cloy and modelled into shope by using the some pressing 

procedure on each segment. 

43

• Holes con be pierced with knitting needles and must 

be large enough (as clay shrinks) and neat. 

• Beads and links have to sit firmly on the shelf. Children 

should consider that there must be some flat part on which 

there is to be no glaze. 

• Each child should have a wav to identify her set of 

beads and segments. 

Leather thonging, raffia, shoelaces, and copper-wire 

can be used to assemble cloy sections. 

Many decorating techniques can be used, but the less 

"fiddling" with the clay the better. Simple processes such 

as slip trailing, glaze trailing, inlay work and wax res ist 

are good in their directness. Majalica work is complicated 

and can be reserved for more advanced pupils. 

Materials Used 

Chullora red clay, and white cloy from Ceramic Supply Co. 

Oxides : Manganese, I ron, Copper and Cobalt. 

Clear Glaze 7087A } FIRED AT 

White Gloze 7087A, plus 10% Tin Oxide 1080' C. 

Turquoise Gloze 

Brooch-bocks, ear-ring clips. and cuff links are available 

at Roland Harris, 3r'd floor, Pork House, Pork Street, Sydney. 

Photographs ond further techniques will be given in a 

future issue . 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

CONTINUEO FROM PA GE 34 

gurgling P9st through the bamboos. babies playing around, 

and the forms out drying in the sun. Grandfather was firing 

the kiln, and daughter-in-law with a brush and paints was 

putting on the simple folk patterns. Fingers of the potters 

deftly turning out individual pieces with fine, clean lines, 

and the products going into use in the villages and form 

homes oround. Simple, but effiCient, too, and quite beautiful. 

CO NTINUED FROM PAGE 30 

paint the e lements when these renovoting operations are in 

progress. 

The elements will take on a dull and powdery appearance 

after half a dozen firings. This is quite normal, but in 

the process they will also become brittle, and no attempts 

should be made to bend or otherwise make major adjustments 

to them once crystallisation has taken place. 

44

Studio 183 was started in an attempt to give local 

artists a permanent place for the ·dis!'lo1 'of pottery, sculpture 

and painting, and now with growing interest e!ipe

LECTURES AND EXHIBITIONS 

LECTURES: 

Peter Rushforth will lecture on Pottery, and Norman Sparnon will 

present Ikebana arrangements ot Anzac House on May 18 at 8 p.m., 

for Ikebana International. 

EXHIBITIONS: 

Ivan Englund, May 18, at Barry Stern Galleries, Sydney. 

Colin Levy, July 28, at Macquarie Galleries, Sydney. 

Australian & New Zealand Potters, August 10 until September 6, at 

Art Gallery of N.S.W. 

English Artist Potters, 1913·1960, October 25 until November 11, 

at Art Ga llery of N.S.W. This will be a group of 17 pots, plus a number 

of photographs. 

Potters' Society of N.S.W., October 27 until November 7, at Dominion 

Gallery, Sydney. 

Peter Rushforth, November, 1964, at David Jones Art Gallery. 

Lecture., Exhibitions & Demonstrations held since our IOlt edition, include: 

LECTURES: 

Bernard Sohm: November, 1963 - Lecture and Demonstration, Newcastle 

Art Gallery. 

Peter Rushforth: November, 1963 - Potters' Society of N.S.W. at 

E.S.T.C. "Potters in Japan". 

Peter Rushforth: April, 1964 - Folklore Society, Sydney. "Pottery 

and Japanese Gardens" . 

Wanda Garnsey: April 17, 1964 - Manly Art Gallery. "Historical 

Influences on Australian Potters". 

Takeichi Kawai: April 22, 1964 - Sydney University. "Japanese 

Pottery" . 

Ivan McMeekin: April 23, 1964 - Ceramic Study Group, Sydney. 

"Form and Materials for the Potter" . . 

Hans Wulff: May 2, 1964 - Potters' Society of N.S.W. at E.S.T.C. 

npottery in Germany and Persia, Past and Presento. 

EXHIBITIONS: 

Morea Ganard: November, 1963 - Hungry Horse Gallery, Sydney. 

Bernard Sahm: November, 1963 - Barry Stem Galleries, Sydney. 

Fred Olsen: November, 1963 - Barry Stern Galleries, Sydney. 

Robert H. Hughan and Fred Olsen: November, 1963 - Brummells 

Gallery, Melbourne. 

Jim Hall: November, 1963 - Keller Restaurant, Wollongong. 

Takeichi Kawai: February, 1964 - Hungry Horse Gallery, Sydney. 

Les Blakebrough and late John Chappell: February, 1964 - Mac· 

quarie Galleries, Sydney. 

"Art in Ceramics": March, 1964 - Adelaide Festival of Arts. 

Milton Moon: March, 1964 - Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane. 

COMPETITIONS: 

"Young Cherry Festival Art Prize", NOYember, 1963. 

First prizes in the three pattery sections were awarded to: Wanda 

Garnsey, Marjorie Addison and E. M. Anderson. judge: Mollie Douglas. 

"Hunters Hill Art Competition", April, 1964. 

First Prize Handbuilt Section - Ivan Englund. 

Highly Commended Handbuilt Section - Elizabeth Martin, Annabel 

Ceprynska. 

First Prize Thrown Section - Ivan Englund. 

Highly Commended Thrown Section - Patricia Eryglund. 

R.A.S., March, 1964. 

Cesca Prize - Peter Travis. 

Ferro Enamels Prize - Peter Rushfarth. 

Morganite Prize - Not awarded. Judge: Ivan Englund. 

46

Recent acquisitions by the Art Gallery of N.S.W. include two 18th 

century Chinese pieces (Chien Lung flask and Cheng Te porcelain dish), 

and pottery by Tokeichi Kawai, Marea Gazzard and Guy Grey-Smith. 

Lectures at the Art Gallery of N.S.W. of interest to potters are: 

"Primitive and Sophisticated in Sculpture", 8. 15 p.m., June 4, 1964. 

"Silver, Ceramics and Glass", 8.15 p.m., November 12, 1964. 

l.t International Conference of Craftsmen. 

Miss Mollie Douglas, wha was elected as representative to this Conference, 

will leave for America by air on June 6, 1964. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

The Pottery studio at the Workshop Arts Centre, 

Willoughby, with its own kiln and three wheels, is well 

equipped for the needs of a rapidly. increasing student enrolment. 

The studio occupies a large portion of the ground 

floor of the building. 

Julie Kerner and Trudi Alfred are the two teachers at 

present conducting classes, their aim being to arouse more 

interest in ceromics as an art, and to encourage individual 

expression in this medium. This is in line with the principles 

of all closses conducted at the Workshop, under the honorary 

directorship of Joy Ewart. 

In addition to such classes as drowing, painting and 

sculpture, a new development is the formation of a discussion 

group in creative thinking, under the leadership of Bill 

Backemeyer, M.A., Dept. of Tutorial Classes, University of 

Sydney. 

The Workshop motto is "All arts ore brothers, each 

one a light to the others". 

-Voltaire. 

* * * 

WANTED 

Plan for small gas-fired kiln - 3t to 4 cubic feet. 

Secretary Ceromic. Study Group, Box 5239 G.P.O., Sydney. 

* * * 

47

CHULLORA POTTERIES 

WATERLOO ROAD, GREENACRE - TEL. 642-1474 

SUPPLIERS OF TERRA-COTTA CLAY 

SUITABLE FOR WHEEL WORK, SCULPTURE AND 

TILEMAKING 

THE CERAMIC STUDY GROUP 

This new group was initiated by 4th Year and ex-students of the 

Ceramics Section of the National Art School at East Sydney Technical 

College for the purpose of extending the study of their chosen croft at 

the conclu.ion of their forma' training, 

It was felt that a great deal more could be achieved by a united 

body than by individuals or small groups and that membership of such a 

body would be on incentive to continue the practice and study of on 

exacting craft and the advancement of individual accompli.hment • . 

Meetings of the Ceramic Study Group will be held monthly from 

March to November inclusive, four of which will toke the form of lectures 

by recognised authorities, open to all who wish to cHend. The other five 

(alternatel meetings will be open to membe .. only and will be concerned 

with a series of re lated projech and dilcus.ion •. 

The Group intends to hold an internal exhibition annually, to establish 

a library of books and coloured slides for the use of members, and 

hopes to arrange a Summer School. 

The Patron of the Group is Mr. Peter Rushforth, the Pr.sid.nt is 

Mrs. J . S. Booth, the Han. Secretary Mrs. M. Wood and the Han. Treasurer 

Mrs. I. Hauser. Membership at £1.1.0 per annum is open to potters with 

a certain minimum of training and enquiries are welcomed and Ihould be 

forwarded by letter to the Hon. Secretary, The Ceramic Study Group, 

Box S239, G.P.O., Sydney, or by 'phone to JW3332. It is believed that 

membership of this Group is wholly consistent with membership of smaller, 

local groups. 

NEW ZEALAND POTTER 

Publi. hed at W ellington by the Editorial Committee, t .. ice yearly 

in AugUlt and December. The yearly .ubocription ;. 12/ 6 (A) 

and the magazine may be obtained /rom, The Editor, N.z. Potter, 

29 Everest St., Khandallah, Wellington, N.Z. 

48

James Robinson 

• 

Photographer 

• 

POTTERY A SPECIAL FEATURE 

• 

73 KIRRIBILLI AVENUE, KIRRIBILLI, N.S.W. 

TELEPHONE: 927763 

};ltrrie Stern 

9lttteries 

• 

28 GLENMORE ROAD, PADDINGTON 

• 

Telephone: 31 7676 

FREQUENT POTTERY EXHIBITIONS 

49

HUNGRY HORSE 

GALLERY 

• 

47 WINDSOR STREET, PADDINGTON 

• 

Telephone: 31 5087 

EXHIBITIONS OF POTTERY 

workshop 

arts centre 

for creative thought and action 

DAY AND EVENING CLASSES 

DRAWING, PAINTING, SCULPTURE 

POTTERY, FINE PRINT.MAKING 

SPEECH AND EURYTHMY 

SPEECH MOVEMENT AND DRAMA 

Seporote classes for adults, young people ond children. 

DISCUSSION GROUP 

SKETCH CLUB 

FUNCTIONS • .fILMS • LECTURES 

I JUHE.gRrU:! 133 LAUREL ST., WILLOUGHBY 

7 SEPT~~~Jk~ PHONE 956540 

50

---------------------------~--------------------------------- 

FERRO 

PRODUCTS FOR THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY 

GLAZE FRITS 

MILLED GLAZES 

CLAY BODIES 

STAINS 

A WORLD-WIDE ORGANISATION TO SUPPLY YOUR NEEDS 

FERRO CORPORATION (AUST.) PTV. LTD. 

Pottery Division: 

16 BERMILL STREET, ROCKDALE, N.S.W. 

LX3321 

LX3321 

STUDIO 181 

183 NEW SOUTH HEAD ROAD, EDGECLIFF, N.S.W. 

FM1519 

A permanent exhibition of leading Australian patters' work, 

constantly renewed t 

always interesting. Also ceramic jewellery, 

sculpture and paintings . 

• 

The studio is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. 

Saturdays from 9 .30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m . 

• 

We will be delighted to see you. 

51

ARTLOVERS GALLERY 

• Permanent Collection 

500 A.ustralian Painting_ 

• Frequent Exhibitions 

• Studio Pottery 

479 Pacific Highway, Artormon 

Telephone: 420321 

POTTERY SCHOOL 

Projeuional Instruction 

DAY AND NIGHT CLASSES 

FOR INFORMATION RING 934798 

JAN GLUCH 

11 DALE STREET, BROOKVALE 

We also sell 

POTTERS' WHEELS (German style) 

Throwing and Turning Tools 

52

douglas ram samuj d. a. (mane.) 

textile designer 

* exclusive hand-printed fabrics 

* individual dress lengths 

work can be seen at 

the galleries, 

beard watson's, george street, sydney 

fischer's showroom, 178 king street, sydney 

nichol interiors, li ndfield, st. ives 

wh ite studio, adelaide 

* enquiries can be made at his studio 

58-60 miller street, north sydney 

Beard Watson's Gallery, 

1st floor, George St., 

for Pots, Originals, Handmade 

Jewellery and Fabric. 

Pots illustrated by Sahm 

53

POTTER'S WHEEL - TREADLE OPERA TED 

THE LEACH POTTER'S WHEEL 

Mode in Australia by: 

J . H. WILSON, 44 Minter Street, Canterbury, N.S.W. 

By agreement with the l each Pottery, St. Ives, Cornwall, U.K. 

THE CANTERBURY WHEEl- Treadle Operated 

With Or without seat 

MOTORISED WHEEL 

Speed range - 23/1 40' r. p.m. Foot controlled . 

J. H. Wilson 

PHONE : 78-1790 

• 

44 Millter Street 

CANTERBBURY, N.S.W. 

• STAINS 

• GLAZES 

• EN GOBES 

• TURNTABLES 

• FRITS 

• CONES 

AUSTRALIAN MADE 

for the Australian Ceramic Industry. 

CESCO 

• CASTI NG SLI PS 

• EARTHENWARE BODIES 

• STONEWARE BODIES 

• RAW MATERIALS 

• TERRA COTTA BODIES 

• KILN FURNITURE 

Backed by a second-to-none technical service 

under supervision of Mr. George Snape (Hon. Ceramics) 

UL 3891 

CERAMIC SUPPLY COMPANY 

61 LAKEMBA ST., BELMORE, 

N.S.W. UL 3891 

54

, 

'" 

ELECTRIC FURNACE 

AND 

MANUFACTURING Co. 

(JACKSON POTTERY KILNS) 

1 SEARLE STREET, RYDE 

89-3654 .. . . 

• 

EARTHENWARE KILNS : 

Working temperature, 11 OO·C. 

. 

89-3654 

. 

'. 

" 

STONEWARE KI LNS : 

Working temperature, 1280·C. 

These kilns have been supplied 

in many commercial potteries 

and 64 schools throughout the 

State. 

; 

QUOTATIONS ON APPLICATION 

. . 

.

The 

Ideal 

Refractory 

for 

Pottery 

Kilns 

Photographs of a kiln at the University of N.S.W. 

by courtesy of the Department of Industrial Arts. 

Morgan M 1 .28 Hot Face Insulating Bricks give: 

* Rapid Heating * Even Temperature Distribution * Quick 

Cooling to facilitate reloading * Long Life 

Morganite 

A MEMBER OF 

T}f! MORGAN CRUCI l LE 

GROUP 

Australia 

P TY. LIMITED 

SYDNEY - 67 · 1371 

MnaOURNf-69.6106 

Me8l 

Publicity Press Ltd.

Pottery In Australia Vol 3 No 1 May 1964

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