The Sherwood Neighbourhood Centre Introduces: Western Suburbs Clayworkers Newsletter August 2013

Hi everyone

What a month July proved to be wood fires his pots. He showed how he although it started with the sad news sources rocks and materials, conducts that Gwyn Hannsen Pigott passed his tests and the finished results on away. The Abbey Medieval fair was a mostly fine small bowls. The 30 eager great success. There were so many onlookers (over a quarter were WSC people on Saturday that unfortunately members) saw many photos, some I missed seeing a few friends and videos as well as examples of tests and relatives. Next year I should have the a few beautiful bowls for sale. Steve addition of a home-made kick wheel delivered the lecture with his brand of based on a 1450 German playing card wit and humour making a very enjoyable image. Production of it is happening event. Unfortunately I had to leave early faster than I imagined thanks to the but not before I tried some of each guys at work. Two bearings, shaft and soup and came away with a nice Guan grey gum timber has been sourced. fishscale crackle bowl.

Twelve members attended Daphne’s After a few false starts our first sculpture demonstration which was excursion for the year is just around the informative, and educational. It was corner on Friday the 23rd of this month. great to see her in action while at the We will first drop in to Paper Boat Press same time gaining an insight into her at Ashgrove and then go on to see method of production. Can’t wait to the Fusions exhibition at Robyn Bauer see the figure after it’s been fired and gallery in Paddington. Ray Cavill is also glazed. having an open day at his studio the weekend before. Steve Harrison’s lecture was both inspirational and amazing at the Fusions Great to see we are still getting new Ian Currie Memorial Glaze workshop. members even this far into the year. A dedicated purist with a long history Welcome aboard to them. See you in pottery, Steve uses a kick-wheel, soon, predominantly local raw materials and Anthony

contacts

President Western Suburbs Clayworkers Newsletter Production Anthony Durrington 3372 9851 38 Thallon Street Sherwood 4075 [email protected] Secretary Email Newsletter Angie Archibald Val Bartholomew 3848 4777 [email protected] [email protected] Vale Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 1935 to 2013

“It is impossible to classify and articulate the experiences that make up a life: the surprises, the knocks, the delights and the constant internal adventure. Of all things the pots are the most constant perhaps. I simply recognise them as part of myself, and parallel to me: every now and again taking flight, but mainly comfortably part of my rather simple lifestyle.” It is with great sadness that last month we heard of the passing of one of Australia’s most prominent potters. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott was born in Ballarat in 1935. She learnt pottery in the craft tradition with Ivan McMeekin, , Ray Finch and but took her work beyond craft through her arrangements of bottles, bowls and beakers for which she is most known. With no handles, lids or additions to disturb their profiles these groupings are purely about shape, colour and composition, combined to create a mood. “About form. I am sure that the forms of the most common, everyday utensils can evoke so much that is inexpressible in any other language, about humanness. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 1961 That with only the very slightest gesture, the merest suggestion of the lip of a jug, or pouring spout, or the lightest softening of a curve, there can be expressed a sort of vulnerability, or a tenderness, or an attentiveness that causes us to pause. That the scale alone of some objects can touch us, and a small jug of open and generous form can somehow seem brave and absurd and a bit like ourselves.” Gwyn Hanssen Pigott considered herself a potter rather than an artist or ceramicist and established potteries in , France and Australia. Until her death she maintained a studio in Ipswich, Queensland. She passed away in London on Friday 5 July, after suffering a stroke. Studio stuff Wednesday at 10am; Tuesday at 10am by arrangement Wednesday 14 July Closed Stoneware firing coming up soon if >> Ekka holiday - the studio will be closed you are ready! - Tuesday is available Studio Housekeeping 23 August Gallery Cruise Remember to leave your work space clean and Fusions exhibition at Robyn Bauer Gallery and Paper Boat tidy for the next person - this includes the wheels Press, 60 Ashgrove Crescent, Ashgrove and work benches. 19 September - SWELL Bus Trip Also the slab roller - the canvases must be rolled >> Our annual trip to Currumbin and beyond - only 2 after use to prevent the dross from the old extractor places left. hood fouling them. Clayworker’s stuff Pottery Supplies

• DECO Underglazes

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Go to: wsclayworkers.org.au Have you any work you would like published? Did you find the article on reading clay bags, well, did you! Pigott book Anthony’s Hanssen Gwyn made byVal David’s new throwing apron recreationists Created for the Medieval Anthony’s oillamps Just one drinkfor the road! Anthony’s German beer mug firing -thanksLiz Some imagesfrom ourlastRaku From ourmeeting7August - are you interested? on these later inthe year We maybe doingaworkshop Anthony’s Greenman

7 July Raku Sunday Show and Tell Some images borrowedfromSteve’sslide show Some ofthe crowd onthe day-who isthatonthe left? Joe Ottaway, introduces Steve to Fusions members Fusions Vice President (alsoamember ofWSC), - willitbeaclaybodyorglazeboth! He isstillfindinghismaterialsinanyrockorclaydeposit the ovenaftersconestobepaintedafterwards! from theclayhefoundthereandhismum“fired”themin Steve startedhiscareersittingintheguttermaking“pots” Steven HarrisonPhDMA. Workshop. Thespeakerfor2013wasSteve,sorryDr 19 JulyFusionsheldtheirannualIanCurrieMemorialGlaze The curiouspotter At leftisatypical line blend for, perhaps, rock, anunknown crushed and fired and the results observed. a -Stephen’s wood fired kiln, with hishandmade fire bricks crushing equipment c and d-some ofthe rock serendipitous wood fired flares one- showing of the b -onofhistypical pots d c b a

Fusions’ glaze workshop

What’s On in and around Brissy: hollow log memorial poles, sculptures and Fireworks Gallery weavings that embody 52a Doggett Street, Newstead 4006. (07) 3216- the idea of the circulatory nature of death and 1250. [email protected] www. life. To Oct 7 My Country, I Still Call Australia fireworksgallery.com.au Free entry. Tues-Fri 10.00 to Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia. 6.00, Sat 10.00 to 4.00. GOMA stages its largest ever exhibition of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, To Aug 31 Firebrand III – In focus: David Paulson. featuring more than 300 works by 115 artists Institute of Modern Art from every state and territory, as well as an

420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley 4006. (07) 3252- interactive children√≠s exhibition by Gordon and Awards 5750 F 3252-5072. [email protected] www.ima.org. Hookey and a cinema program. In addition to au Director: Robert Leonard. Free entry. Tues-Sat 11.00 work from the Collection by Vernon Ah Kee, to 5.00 (Thurs until 8.00). Aug 3 to Sept 21 Scream by Doreen Reid Nakamarra, Michael Riley, Vincent Chicks on Speed, and Fresh Cut 2013 Part I by Joseph Serico and many more, are two new site- Breikers and Caitlin Franzmann. specific installations by Reko Rennie and Megan Cope. JMA @ Metro Arts Queensland Art Gallery (QAG)

109 Edward Street, Brisbane 4000. (07) 3002-7100. jan@ Festivals, Exhibitions janmantonart.com www.janmantonart.com Wed-Fri by Stanley Place, South Brisbane 4101. (07) 3840- appt, Sat 10.00 to 4.00. Aug 14 to 31 7303 F 3844-8865. www.qag.qld.gov.au Free entry, unless otherwise stated. Mon-Fri 10.00 to (opening Wed Aug 14) Platform 13 extends the partnership 5.00, Sat-Sun 9.00 to 5.00. begun in 2012 between JMA and Metro Arts with an exhibition of local and international artists. To Sept 22 Quilts 1700–1945 – a ticketed exhibition. The intriguing social histories and Platform 13 will showcase leading contemporary artist personal stories behind 200 years of British quilts are Judith Wright and photographic artist Carl Warner as well uncovered in an exhibition from London√≠s Victoria and as introducing Shayle Flesser, Sydney-based Indonesian Albert Museum (V&A). Featuring 35 extraordinary quilts, artist Jumaadi and Chinese video artist Miao Xiaochun plus a range of associated material, dating from 1690, (courtesy of Australia China Art Foundation). Opening a highlight of the exhibition will be The Rajah Quilt 1841 speaker: Paul Spiro, Partner (Chair of Brisbane office) on loan from the National Gallery of Australia. To Oct Gadens Lawyers. www.metroarts.com.au. 7 Ruth Stoneley: A Stitch in Time an exhibition of 20 Jugglers Art Space Inc contemporary quilts by the late leading Brisbane quilt- maker Ruth Stoneley (1940–2007). It will showcase 103 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley 4006. (07) 3252- exemplars of the artist’s practice, showing her transition 2552. [email protected] www.jugglers.org.au Thurs- from early experimentations to free-flowing, abstract and Fri 12.00 to 5.00 or by appt. Aug 2 to 22 Annual Marie expressive works. Also, Sugar a reflection on the history of Ellis Prize for Drawing – 25 finalists’ exhibition. Judges: the industry that first brought South Sea Islanders to this Peter Kozak (2012 winner), Dr Lindsay Farrell (ACU country. The exhibition features a selection of historical Brisbane), Jeff Hopkins-Weise (Marie Ellis Family). Winners photographs documenting South Sea Islanders working in announced Fri Aug 2, 8pm, and Peoples’ Choice online Queensland, drawn from the collections of the Queensland voting from Aug 2. All works except major prize winner for Art Gallery and State Library of Queensland. sale. Queensland Art Gallery Gallery of Redcliffe City Art Gallery Modern Art (GOMA) 470-476 Oxley Avenue, Redcliffe 4020. (07) 3283- 0415. [email protected] www. Stanley Place, South Brisbane 4101. (07) 3840-7303 moretonbay.qld.gov.au Free entry. Mon-Sat 10.00 F 3844-8865. www.qag.qld.gov.au Free entry, unless to 4.00. To Aug 24 Piet Noest: all about art a 30-year otherwise stated. Mon-Fri 10.00 to 5.00, Sat-Sun 9.00 to retrospective of paintings, pastels and digital serial images. 5.00 Noest is the eighth artist in the series ‘Moreton Bay Region To Sept 1 Death and Life: Rakuny Ga Walnga: Art Collection in Perspective’. Once a year a notable artist Contemporary Arnhem Land Art – the first collection who has a work in the collection is invited by Council for a based exhibition of contemporary art from Arnhem solo survey exhibition. Land will launch at GOMA, featuring bark paintings, Done anything interesting artistically lately? Let us know with a few words and photos

Redland Art Gallery Capalaba also something about ourselves, and what it Capalaba Place, Noeleen Street, Capalaba 4157. (07) means to be part of the 3829-8899. [email protected] www. human community. more2redlands.com.au/ArtGallery Free entry. Mon-Tues, Fri 8.30 to 5.00, Wed 9.00 to 5.00, Thurs 8.30 to 7.30, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery Sat 9.00 to 4.00. To Aug 14 Cartoon Connection: Art by 531 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba 4350. (07) Kids 4 Kids showcases comics created by children at 4688-6652 F 4688-6895. art@toowoombaRC. Redland Art Gallery’s April school holiday workshops. Aug qld.gov.au www.toowoombaRC.qld.gov. 19 to Sept 28 State of the Art 13 – the annual exhibition au/trag Free entry. Tues-Sat and 10.00 to of the Queensland Quilters Art Quilts group. Selected by

4.00, Sun 1.00 to 4.00. Aug 3 to Sept 8 and Awards Lisa Walton, a nationally and internationally renowned quilt Transplantation – an exhibition of contemporary media artist, the art quilts selected highlight the diversity narrative jewellery created by 12 artists based of techniques and subject matter art quilters are exploring in either the UK or Australia exploring a sense of today. place and cultural identity. Curated by Professor Redland Art Gallery Cleveland Norman Cherry in conjunction with The National Centre for Craft & Design and the University of Cnr Middle and Bloomfield streets, Cleveland 4163. (07) Lincoln, UK. 3829-8899. [email protected] www. more2redlands.com.au/ArtGallery Free entry. Mon-Fri Caloundra Regional Gallery Festivals, Exhibitions 9.00 to 4.00, Sun 9.00 to 2.00. To Aug 18 An Architect’s 22 Omrah Avenue, Caloundra 4551. (07) 5420- Eye: The John Mainwaring Collection. Since the late 8299 F 5420-8292. galleries@sunshinecoast. 1980s, award-winning architect John Mainwaring qld.gov.au www.galleries.sunshinecoast. has amassed an extraordinary collection of mostly qld.gov.au Curator: Nina Shadforth. Free contemporary Aboriginal art by some of today’s most entry. Wed-Sun 10.00 to 4.00. To Aug 18 Right well known practitioners, including Eubena Nampitjin, Back @ U – the culmination of works created Gloria Petyarre, Sally Gabori, Janangoo Butcher Cherel, through a series of workshops by seven emerging artists Terry Ngamandara Wilson and Netta Loogatha. Aug 25 to living with disabilities guided by five established artists Sept 22 (opening Sun Aug 25, 6pm) Pattern: A Universal as mentors. The Right Back @ U mentoring program Phenomenon by Kay Faulkner, and The art of printmaking is an initiative of Sunshine Coast Council and aims to limited edition prints by Brian Hatch. Floor Talk Sun Aug provide creative opportunities for local artists living with 25, 12pm. disabilities by further developing their craft and providing Gold Coast City Gallery an experiential pathway into professional visual arts practice. Also, Telling Lives by Teena Saulo a collection 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise 4217. (07) 5581- of photographs capturing more than a decade of the 6567. [email protected] www. subtleties of human experience and special moments in theartscentregc.com.au Free entry. Mon-Fri 10.00 to the everyday lives of the people of rural South East Asia. 5.00, Sat-Sun and public hols 11.00 to 5.00. Artist Teena Saulo immerses herself in small communities To Aug 4 Sanctuary by Kenji Uranishi, and Learning from to understand her subjects and portray them openly Surfers Paradise: A Rephotography Project 1973–2013 and honestly. Aug 21 to Sept 13 Sunshine Coast Art by John Gollings. To Aug 11 Las Vegas Studio: Images Prize 2D 2013 – the Prize is among the nation’s most from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott significant regional art prizes presented by Sunshine Brown. From Aug 10 Gold Coast Quilters Guild Exhibition Coast Council. Now in its eighth year, SCAP attracts the 2013. From Aug 17 Dave Groom. best contemporary and emerging artists Australia has to Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery (SRAG) offer, with the winners of the 2D and 3D categories each receiving $15,000. Cnr Lock and Marsh streets, Stanthorpe 4380. (07) 4681-1874. [email protected] www.srag.org.au Free Noosa Regional Art Gallery entry. Tues-Fri 10.00 to 4.00, Sat-Sun 10.00 to 1.00. To Pelican Street, Tewantin 4565. (07) 5449-5340 F 5449- Sept 1 Looking Out: Looking In – the exhibition theme 0905. [email protected] www. provided by members of the Borderline Regional Arts galleries.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au Curator: Nina Assn sums up the very nature of the artistic process. Shadforth. Wed-Sun 10.00 to 4.00. To Aug 25 Aurukun: Information and new experiences are collected (LO), then Stories of the Wik People – in a significant first, a transformed by the artist (LI) to magically re-appear as a collaborative selection from two insightful Sunshine Coast work of art, which reflects not only the world we live in, but collectors will be revealed to the public in a stunning exhibition of Indigenous art-forms, collected from the proposals for the first half remote community of Aurukun, northern Cape York. of 2014. Entries closing Representing both historic and unique stories of the Wik Sat Sept 7. people, this time capsule of artistic output exemplifies RMIT iAIR – Overseas a significant turning point towards reconciliation and Residencies recognition of the connection of Aboriginal people with their land. www.rmit.edu.au Opportunities for Australian artists in Call for Entries: 2014. Apply now. Application deadlines vary Arts Victoria depending on the residency – starting with Aug

16 and continuing into Sept. Visit website for and Awards www.arts.vic.gov.au/ais 1800-134-894. further details. Artists in Schools information sessions. The Artists in Schools program provides funding for practising Street Artists – Monash City professional artists to work with students in Victorian Council schools for 20 days. Applications for projects in 2014 [email protected] close Fri Sept 20. Seeking registrations of interest from street Ashfield Artist In Residence and visual artists for ongoing public art

www.ashfield.nsw.gov.au Anthia Hart (02) 9716- commissions. Submissions closing Sat Aug 31. Festivals, Exhibitions 1866. [email protected] Residencies available Toyota Community Spirit Gallery April 2014 to March 2015. Entries closing Fri Sept 20. Visit – Sculpture 2013 website for details. www.watcharts.com.au/toyota. Box Hill Community Arts Centre html [email protected] Entries www.bhcac.com.au invited for the 9th annual outdoor sculpture 470 Station Street, Box Hill 3128. (03) 9895-8888 exhibition. Applications closing Thu Aug 29. Visit [email protected] website for details or contact the curator Ken Wong 0419- Applications now open for 2014 exhibitions and artist 570-846. residencies. Visit website for application. Dirty Playground Awards: www.dirtyplayground.co The Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize [email protected] Call-out for local and www.parklandsart.com emerging artists for a residency and exhibition in a new basement space on Little Bourke Street, Melbourne in Competition is open now. Digital entries close Dec. The project theme for this exhibition is Six Months of Thu Nov 28. Painting, drawing, sculpture and Darkness. Applications closing Aug 16, 5pm. photography. Exhibition Feb, Mar 2014. Visit website for entry details. Forest Edge Stone Studio, Gallery artis…12×12 Contemporary Art Prize www.forestedgestone.com.au 74 Monbulk Road, Kallista 3791. 0412-812-144. Call for entries 0421-969-230. Entries closing Fri Aug 23. Entry forms from [email protected] Thur-Fri 8.00 to 4.00, Sat-Sun 9.00 to 4.00. Expressions of interest from artists in all mediums to exhibit in a Chapel on Station Gallery – Religious Art Prize new gallery in Kallista – Dandenong Ranges. Extensive www.chapelonstationgallery.org.au sculpture garden area and inside hanging space. (03) 9890-5810. From Darkness into Light 2D and 3D art competition. Entries closing Fri Aug 23. Visit website for Glebe Art Show entry form and details. www.glebeartshow.org.au Clayton Utz Launch Art Award Call for artists. Full details and entry forms at all City of Sydney libraries and on the website. www.claytonutzartaward.com.au For Queensland-based artists, or artists with a strong connection to Qld. Entries red gallery contemporary art space closing Fri Aug 30. Visit website for details. www.redgallery.com.au 157 St Georges Road, North Fitzroy 3068. (03) 9482- 3550. [email protected] Call out for exhibition 18 x1724cm Private Collection, Melbourne Statue –FallingBackwards , 2006,earthenware, November 2013 Melbourne Heide MuseumofModernArt 8 Augustto10 that resistconventionalcategorization. modernism, resultinginstand-aloneobjects through to18thcenturydecorativearts,and reference andinfluence,fromantiquities historical periodsandstylesaspointsof drawing uponanextraordinaryarrayofart conventions ofceramics,whilesimultaneously Benwell hascontinuallychallengedtheformal oeuvre. exemplifying theremarkablediversityofhis earliest phaseofhiscareertothepresentday, and asmallselectionofpaintingsfromthe of hiswork,assemblesover100ceramics exhibition, whichisamajorretrospective concerns ofacontemporaryartist.This with theconceptualpainterlyandsculptural the studiobasedcrafttraditionsofpotter Since theearly1970s,Benwellhascombined – ARetrospective Stephen Benwell:BeautyAnarchyDesire Featured Exhibition: info. Exhibition May2toJune1,2014. Entries closingFriSep6. Visitwebsiteforentryformand (02) 4620-3450. [email protected] http://virtualtours.uws.edu.au/home UWS SculptureAward website foronlinesubmission. Applications nowopen. EntriesclosingMonSept16.Visit www.thesubstation.org.au The SubstationContemporaryArtPrize by Aug31. EntriesclosingFriSept20. au Early birdentryfees:25%reductionforentriesreceived Gilli Bruce0429-195-283. [email protected]. www.artsmansfield.com.au Mansfield ArtGlassExposition 5344. Entries closingFriAug16. at [email protected](03)9244- Sculptures under70cm,anymedium. Entryforms Sculpture Award Deakin UniversityContemporarySmall complete detailsandentryforms. Again pleasecheckyourclubemailsfor 2013 All entriesnolaterthanFriday4thOctober. Continuing SaturdayandSunday. 6.30pm to9.00pm Opening Night:Friday18thOctober2013 Expressions 2013: Shorncliffe PotteryClub emails todownloadallyourinformation. New Years’sEveevent.Pleasecheckyourclub BVAC Invitation: 54 LatrobeTerrace,Paddington.Daily:10–4 Robyn BauerGallery Exhibition: Tuesday13-25August Johanna Demaine,CarolForster. June Cummings,YvonneBouwman, Martha Zettler,ClaireByrne,DiannePeach, Peter Biddulph,AnnLee,JulieShepherd, Works byEmmaMacGregor,JoeOttaway, Ceramic Art: Fusions :New

Festivals, Exhibitions and Awards With the redevelopment of the old site of Sandison’s Pottery at Annerley some interest has been generated in it’s history. Merv Feeney’s story is part of this history - read on… mervin feeney 1914-2003 I didn’t know Merv had died until a letter arrived from his wife Joyce. The as they would have looked fifty years earlier. The roof was marvellously pottery worlds of Adelaide and Brisbane are far apart and news doesn’t rusted, having lost most of its galvanised protection because of the acid always travel with the speed of a phone call or an email, but late or not, action of the firings. The kiln still regularly sent ash and smoke over the it was still a sad shock. I immediately rang Joyce and she gave me the neighbourhood, but in the earlier days it is unlikely there would have details. been many to complain. When neighbours did come later they would Over the years there had been other long distance conversations with have become used to the rhythms of the pottery, and avoided nuisance Joyce, especially when Merv had yelled for her to come to the phone by not hanging out wet washing on firing days. to take part in a lively three-way exchange. His deafness had got much Behind the pottery was a large gully where the first clay would have worse over the years and in fact I can’t recall a time when Merv didn’t been dug and around the yard were smaller kilns, built long before, have a clay-covered hearing device hanging around his neck to either but during my time were unused, except as storage or as a home for ‘tune in’ or ‘tune out’ conversations, depending on whether he wanted spiders and snakes. The floor of the pottery was compacted earth with them or not. But he has gone now and sadly I can’t think of many others rough steps cut up the slight slope. Outside there was still the clay pit with whom to share a bank of early memories which date back over half into which the youngest and silliest worker would have had to climb to a century. His brothers Gordon and Eric who were also part of my early tread the clay until it oozed between toes; perhaps all right in summer pottery life are gone, as has Harry Memmott. But at least with Harry, I but not in winter. There was still the place where a horse walked in was able to spend some time with him shortly before he died. There are circles providing equine power for the crusher or pug-mill. It was a place of course many others who owe their own debts to Merv and Harry, but of memories. they came later. Neither Harry nor I were potters when I first met Merv sometime around It was through Harry Memmott I came to meet Mervin, about fifty three the end of 1949. Harry at that time ran a business using his art skills years ago. Harry had completed a post-war ‘repat’ art course at the doing silk-screen posters for the ‘radical Left.’ He also made picture renowned East Sydney Technical College and with newly born twins frames and this is when we met and became friends. Both of us had Carl and Paul and wife ‘Cooch,’ had returned to Brisbane to live in the wasted years in the Services and were finding our way in a newer old family house a few doors from the Sandison Pottery at Annerley. uncertain world. I had a job in broadcasting but as a part-time student For Harry this was familiar territory as he had virtually grown up in the attended painting and drawing classes at the Brisbane Central Technical shadow of the pottery kiln stack and as a child had wandered in and out College and it was Harry who framed some of the doubtful art I did at of his grandfather’s workshop. I recall an early drawing Harry did of his grandfather throwing at the wheel, which even then showed his uncanny facility with pens, pencils, sharpened bamboo, or anything else for that matter that could scratch a line. It was at the old Annerley pottery that Harry too was to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, and it was also there that I received my early pottery tuition. But first, a little history to explain the Feeney link. J.T. Sandison, or ‘Grandpa’ Sandison, as everyone referred to him during my time there, had come to Brisbane from Bendigo around the turn of the century and so could rightly be regarded as a Queensland pioneer potter. The pottery he established at Annerley - in what was then an outer Brisbane suburb - was erected long before building codes. It was fashioned from giant hardwood timbers, rough cut, and the original building was still standing some fifty years later despite constant onslaughts from termites. In the early days the building probably didn’t have walls; the corrugated roof which covered the working area, with its throwing wheels and mounds of dry clay, as well as the prepared clay kept plastic under wet sacks, was no doubt still the original one. When I first went there with Harry, old Grandpa Sandison had retired and the business was being run by Harry’s uncle, George Sandison, or ‘Uncle’ George, as everyone called him. Merv demonstrating at Warwick in 1984 The pottery was by then struggling to exist because in those post-war years there was no longer any demand for the marvellous old ‘pioneer’ the time. My wife Bette and I lived in the next suburb to Annerley and pots that had kept the business in production for half a century, and one day, when his car was ‘off the road’ Harry asked me would I drive the main output was flower-pots. Uncle George could still demonstrate him to Merv Feeney’s home. Merv’s house was what is today called a his skill, when urged to do it, by throwing three or four flower pots a ‘Queenslander’, built high on wooden stumps, and underneath was a minute, but by then it was obvious the business needed an infusion small pottery where he taught some students. Merv invited me to ‘have of new and younger blood before it too went out of business following a go’ on the wheel, and of course I did, and that was where, for me, it all the fate of other potteries. And so it was fortunate that in 1946, Mervin began. Feeney came on the scene: Merv had recently returned to a postwar Queensland and was looking for new opportunities. Mervin Feeney was born in 1914, at Marburg, about 19km from Ipswich. He grew up in Ipswich and after his schooling was completed he first The old Sandison pottery is still impressed on my memory; the sight of did some itinerant farm work in the country, but then, at seventeen years pots drying on stillages, changing colour from dark to light grey, much of age, he began to work at Ramsey’s Pottery at Bundamba, in the Ipswich area. He probably started out doing odd jobs around the works, Potters from all over Australia know of the Feeney clays; there are about but recalls taking every opportunity to jump on a vacant wheel to try and ten varieties including porcelain bodies. In fact, in a day and age when become a ‘thrower.’ When the boss, old Johnny Ramsey ‘went to the local potteries were being sent to the wall through imports, Mervin dunny for a nature call,’ Merv would jump on his wheel. He said he had Feeney was exporting pots and sending clay all over Australia. to keep an eye on the dunny door to allow himself enough time to clean Merv’s life wasn’t all pottery: He was a keen singer and sang in church the wheel-head before being caught, thus avoiding a kicked backside. choirs. Also, he was a Rotarian and acknowledgement of his twenty But that stolen practice stood him in good stead and eventually old years service to Rotary earned him the Paul Harris Fellowship Medal. Johnny Ramsey took Merv on permanently and so began the best The previous year, in 1986, he was also the recipient of an Advance informal apprenticeship one could have, learning by watching what the Australia Award, one of eleven Queenslanders to be so honoured. He others did and then perfecting it through the rigours of enforced five- was Vice Patron to the Queensland Potters Association, and also was finger exercises Eventually there wasn’t much he couldn’t do: not only patron to many provincial pottery groups. He was also a teacher and could he throw teapots, flower pots, water coolers and butter coolers was in demand for workshops and anyone who was lucky enough but also stoneware demijohns for wines, spirits and acids. Throwing to see the Feeney magic at work can know they’ve seen the best, one-piece items out of 60 pounds of clay was routine and Merv could although, in our last conversation he admitted he tried to show someone exceed even those limits. He also mastered mold-making, slip-casting how a pot was thrown, and laughing heartily said “I made an old fool of and everything else that was part of potteries of the day. Somehow myself.” I once brought him down to Adelaide so my own students at the he also found time to attend night classes to study for a Diploma in time could trace where their potting roots had received sustenance. It Industrial Chemistry, because even as a young bloke he was no mental was a warm and remarkable visit and the students loved him. slouch. Mervin Feeney once told me that he was a ‘potter by apprenticeship, a Ramseys Pottery closed in 1938 and Merv then worked at Stone’s chemist by profession, but was an engineer by choice.’ Pottery in Coorparoo in Brisbane, and then for a couple of years at Rylance Refractories at Dinmore where he also tested and researched It is true that he was all those things but he was much much more. He local clay bodies. (it should be pointed out that this whole area is part of was one of the most intelligent people I have known and in another age, the Ipswich Coal Measures, with good clay in abundance, the oldest of perhaps even in another country, if the ‘time and tide of life‘ had flowed which is in excess of ninety million years). a little differently, he could have been a world-famous researcher in any number of fields. Joyce tells the story that he often went to bed with an It was wartime and because he was qualified as an industrial chemist enclyclopaedia for general reading; I cannot think of many topics we he was seconded into the war effort, and after training in explosives discussed to which he couldn’t make an insightful and knowledgeable and munitions at Ballarat in Victoria he was sent to work at Salisbury contribution. But there were some areas he hadn’t had the time to really in South Australia. By then, in 1941, Merv had married his Queensland understand, such as art theory, or philosophy, but even with these more ‘sweetheart’ Joyce, and she and newly born son John joined him at abstract topics he didn’t have a closed mind. Salisbury in 1942. Shortly after, another facet was added to Merv’s skills when the paper mill at Millicent in South Australia required a chemist Harry Memmott was always intellectually challenging and I think Merv and Merv was appointed there to the position of Mill Chemist. enjoyed the different sort of interests that came when Harry finally shifted his workshop there. I was able to observe all this first-hand It was there that their second child, Beverley, was born in 1944. When because I too spent countless hours there with Harry, when in shared the family returned to Queensland, their third child, daughter Elwyn, was effort, we produced thousands of the decorations on his pots, often born in 1949. But it was in 1946, on his return to Queensland, that Merv even signing his name on the bottom as well: this led Harry to remark took up a partnership with ‘Uncle’ George Sandison at the old Sandison that ‘he was glad he didn’t have any money in the bank.’ For me it was Pottery at Annerley. an important period in that it gave me the chance to develop the sort of In those early post-war days, ‘throwers’ were not common. At fluency in using an artists’ brush that can only come through constant Sandisons most of the output was flower-pots, breadcrocks, poultry- application. feeders, butter-coolers, and as I recall, the occasional chimney pots. It was a rich time in many ways. We would sit for hours upon hours, It was then that Merv’s engineering skills were utilized and he began on fruit boxes upturned on the dirt floor, ware boards between us to mass-produce pots on machines, some acquired second-hand but covered in pots. Often as we worked we were silent. At other times others he designed and made himself. Most of the basic pot shapes conversations would range from art philosophy to existentialism to were produced on the machines but with the ‘specials,’ the finishing, Marxism and Merv would often stop and listen because for him it was or reshaping, was done on the wheel. The pottery not only survived, it another world of thought entirely. became healthy, even dynamic. But if we added anything to the richness of Merv’s life it was poor return By this time production was increasing to the point where larger for what he did for us. He was mentor, in-house genius, and special premises were required and it was a full turn of the circle when, in 1951, friend. In fact, in every way he was a remarkable human being. But Merv bought out Ramsey’s Pottery, the one at which his career had the most remarkable thing about Mervin Feeney was that he didn’t started twenty years earlier. In 1957, it was decided that the pottery at know how remarkable he was and that is one of the most difficult of all Annerley would be kept for sales and distribution, with all production attainments. I’m sure many of us cherish his memory. centred at Bundamba. But such was the demand for their pots, even Ramsey’s became too small and a new pottery was built on a 2.3 With love and respect, Milton Moon. hectare site at Wulkuraka, 10 kilometres from Ipswich. This was a PS. A special ‘thank-you’ must go to Joyce Feeney and daughter major expansion with warehouse, offices, loading bay complex and Beverley for scouring through a mound of Merv’s memories to supply new machinery, and a projected work force of over fifty employees, a me with accurate information for this inadequate tribute to a very special situation far different to Annerley. ‘bloke.’ Merv was much more than a potter; he was a chemist, and what was equally important, he was also an engineer. An oft-quoted example of his engineering ingenuity is a pot machine he made, that produced eleven 150 mm pots a minute, whereas the best machine he could have purchased from overseas would have cost a half-million dollars but offering a production rate of only five pots a minute. Kilns, driers, clay preparation machinery as well as the pot machines were all made on the premises. And Merv also made clay bodies. How to Create Cool Surfaces with Wet Slip Inlay

just two slips, enlarging the color palette once sufficient comfort with the process minimizes material loss). Cut or roll out clay slabs and put them on cloth scraps for handling. I form slip- decorated slabs over hump molds, so I make them about an inch larger than the edges of the hump molds to be used for making dishes. Place a slab on a ware board and begin by flooding the wet slab with slip, tilting the board to spread it out evenly over the entire surface. The inlay colors can be applied onto this base slip with a steady hand in whatever pattern and combination is desired (1). Straight lines work well Wet slip inlay is a great technique for getting fantastic for feathering and marbling, while dots in alternating organic patterning on pots. Basically it consists of layering colors create concentric cells that, when tilted, flow into contrasting colors of slip on a slab and jiggling the slab to elongated shapes (2). These circles can be manipulated distort the slip layers into interesting marbled designs. into a pattern that resemble wood grain when stretched by Robert Strasser shares his techniques and tips for working tilting the ware board in opposite directions. with wet slip inlay. For the rest of the article, keep your eye Once an appealing pattern is achieved, set the slab aside out for the September 2013 issue of Ceramics Monthly for about a day to allow it to reach leather hard. When the (http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ceramics-monthly/). slip surface can be touched lightly without smearing, it’s When I was in college and just a few years into making ready to be formed over a bisque or plaster hump mold. ceramics, I took a two week trip in early summer to The primary consideration for glazing is to avoid . My primary goal was to meet as many potters treatments that will mask the slip decoration. I typically as I could. The experience deepened my love of English use transparent or translucent glazes that show off the ceramics and introduced me to a technique that has been patterns underneath, but a very thin application of opaque one of the most exciting veins in my studio work ever glaze such as the shino applied to this piece gives the since: Wet slip surface inlay. surface additional depth. I had read briefly in Bernard Leach’s‚ “A Potter’s Book” Robert Strasser is a ceramic artist and environmental about slip application and how to get surface marbling biologist living in the Washington D.C. area. and feathering patterns on flatware using slip trailers to decorate thin slabs of clay. There in England, in the studio of his son David Leach, I got to see in person my first 1 2 finished examples of feathered slipware. On the same trip, I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and had the opportunity to see a large, and particularly fine, marbled dish with an amber lead glaze made in Staffordshire in the early 1700s. I wanted to reproduce these effects, and so my creative journey making slipware began. I begin the process with two or more slips of equal viscosity, homogenized through 40-mesh screens. A base white slip can be colored with stains to develop as large a palette as desired. A darker slip provides contrast, making patterns bolder. It is very important to screen the slips immediately prior to use or they tend to settle and flocculate, causing the edges to bleed during and/or flow irregularly after application. Rubber slip applicators are filled with the various colored slips to be used in decoration (conserve resources by starting simple with