The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 48 No 3 November 2009

Archive: Pottery in Australia, Vo l 5, No 1, May 1966
Development of Ceramics
at the National Art School, Sydney
17
,...9 ' w
In Australia, pottery, as a highly developed craft in the studio sense or as 8D
industry in the commercial sphere, still has an enormous way to go to reach
world '!aDdards. There will always be. exceptions in the work of the outstaDdinl
Australian potter who has fostered native skill throuab creativity and experiment,
but a very great part of the problem will be one of ~tion . Sipificant in Ibis
matter of education has been the inception in 1964 of the Certificate Course in
Ceramics at East Sydney Technical College.
Back in the nineteen twenties educational policy makers with some promptings
from industry, envisaged a kind of Stoke-on-Trent tYPe of trainina' &lip
cast!ng, mould malcing and the liIce which would ~t would-be operatives for 'jobs.
Design as such usually took the form of decoration on aesthetically weak pots
conceived in a decadent art nouveau tradition. (One of course should be teticcnt
about such judgments since we are about to witness a fashionable revival of art
nouveau collecting with its attendant assault on the junIc shops.)
A slumping industry in the 'thirties saw some curtailment of Ibis dream in
the pottery course, which restricted its activities to china painting and &lip
casting ornaments. Revolutions in the crafts of East and West had gone unnoticed
in Ibis country. However, part-time teachers who had been trained 0YCne8S
tried to re-orient the course to a wider viewpoint-firstly, Neville BVDDina who
left to join the R.A.A.F., his place being taken by I. Landa1e Beetson. These
teacbers were able to introduce earthenware with raw and imported glazes. As
yet there was no high temperature ware and little or DO expIoitatioa of 10caI
materials.
Reviving industrial activity, talcing advantage of tbe difIicult situatioo in
Europe, meant a flood of third grade pottery in the iD1mediate post war years.
Training was an internal, rather rudimentary matter in a dozen or more unaII
time businesses destined to be quickly eliminated once ~ returned to
normal. Slip casting and jolleying were quickly teamed with old bands
doing the throwing. No demands were made on tecImicaI educatioa. Most designs
were "adapted" and on the whole execrable. Solidly traditiooal firms OIl tbe
other band continued to produce efficient industrial wares.
At the same time the appeal of the handmade as against the anonymous,
often repellant mass produced objects, began to spread. Leach's quiet revolution
bad not gone UDDoticed and tbings began to change witbin the coUege. As ~
studio potters exhibited their worle it was proved that 8D eager market existed
for band-made pots. In particular, Mollie Douglas, an~ Pete~ ~usbfortb, lID!'
Head Teacher of Ceramics demonstrated throuab tbell exhibitiODS and their
teaching just what could be' done. Both bad been associa~ with the CeraJDic:s
Department since the war years, both envisaged a new ~ of course •. Tbell
developing interest has been accompanied with a ~ t1Dprovement m the
equipment and facilities; new Idlos, wheels, clay macbiDery, ~y booths, etc.,
finally an efficient aas Idlo enabling an easier procIuction of hip temperature
ware. .
ODe of tbe f"ndamental coocepta that bad ~ from the ~
of previous yean W8I the recopition of tbe CIIIbryoDic IICate of IlUdio ~
in Auatralia aDd tbe Deed to bop • IuidItJ ofldoallo the '-of future ueodL
U ItUdeota __ to readllIIIDdaida reaIiIeiJ outside tbe -..try, • tnIoiaa ~
parable to tbat of oveneM ICbooII would ha91 to be ialdtuted. Malter appno-
98 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS NOVEMBER 2009