Update, October 2023

We thought it was an appropriate time to give an update on the work that’s been going on to maintain and update the Australian Pottery Marks sites on WordPress and Flickr. 

· In the past 2 months an additional 80 potters have been added to the A-Z listings (and to the relevant state pages) on the APM site…..there are still quite a few to go before “new” entries will be added.

· The challenge of adding images of potters marks to the ‘Selected Images for….’ linked from the APM site has been resolved thanks to Ray Garrod (our volunteer IT guru) and David Rofe.

A start has now been made on adding these images, but it is going to be a relatively slow process, so please be patient.

· These images are actually stored on a Flickr page, which is linked from this site. Currently there are over 2,800 potters marks stored on the Flickr page. 

This requires an annual subscription to maintain the ‘Flickr Pro Account’ for the linked page. If this is not kept current, then Flickr will delete all images stored there.

Ray Garrod has been currently paying a ‘gift of pro’ to keep the Flickr account active over the past month, which halted the deletion process.

In order maintain the Flickr page of potter’s marks, we are seeking contributions to a GoFundMe account to ensure the pottery marks images can continue to be added to and maintained on the Flickr site.

UPDATE: THANK YOU to everyone who has donated, the support is wonderful. The funding goal was achieved in under 6 hours, and the gofundme page will now close…….we are able to keep the flickr potters marks page going for the next 2 years!

Don James, South Australia, c2000 Raku Vessel

Vale Judith Pearce

Vale Judith Pearce, creator of this site, who sadly passed away on 8th August, 2023

Judith’s contribution to Australian Pottery has been huge, after starting this massive project in the early 2000s. Amongst Judith’s legacies are the 2 Australian Pottery websites and the Australian Pottery the Flickr group which Judith initiated. 

Without Judith’s skills and constant work on this complex project , a lot of information and the biographies of Australian Potters would not have been recorded ….and possibly lost to history 

For some time Judith was too ill to update the websites, but now thanks to a group of volunteers we have begun updating entries again after we sent out a request for assistance and receive a wonderful and heartening response to that request for help

Judith’s’ partner David has also been a willing partner to make sure that we can continue to assist with Judith’s’ legacy by maintaining these sites into the future. 

We are currently methodically going through the * posts on Flickr and adding them to the A-Z listing on the Australian Potters Marks site, adding  also to the States. Every month or so we will post updates on that site to indicate which potters names have been added to the site. 

It is going to be a slow, and relatively long process, but there will be regular post updates to the APM site to let readers know what entries have been added. 

This site will remain as is for now as a resource, and for its linkages to other sites.

If you want to identify Australian Pottery, submit information, (along with a photo or 2 ) the best place to do this is the Flickr Group which you can find HERE

Easter weekend
ColLevy. Very large stoneware bowl

Australian Pottery at Bemboka will be open as usual over the 2018 Easter weekend – Friday 30 March to Monday 2 April. We have some lovely pieces on display this season in the main gallery and in the downstairs foyer. New acquisitions include this very large stoneware bowl by Col Levy as well as a number of new pieces by Peter Rushforth and Shigeo Shiga.

Christmas hours

This year we will be closed on Monday 25 December but will resume our normal Friday to Monday hours for the rest of the holiday season. We are also happy to open the gallery outside these hours by appointment. For those visiting us this season we have a number of new acquisitions including this 39 cm high piece by Peter Travis:

travis

Season 9: Australian Studio Pottery Masters
IMG_7504

Our new season opens this weekend,  Friday 29 September. The exhibition features Australian studio pottery masters, including but not limited to Jane Barrow, Garry Bish, Les Blakebrough, Pippin Drysdale, John Gilbert, Andrew Halford, Peter Harris, Col Levy, Jenny Orchard, Peter Rushforth, Chris Sanders, Ted Secombe, Shigeo Shiga, Hiroe Swen and Amanda Warner. For the first time, we have no mystery potters in the main gallery but we still have a wide range of pots in the workroom – some by known artists and others still mysteries –  for those who like to venture there. We will be open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday during the season and by appointment at other times.

 

Season 8 wrap up

IMG_7290Our Season 8 exhibition, held from Friday 30 September 2016 to Monday 3 July 2017, was entitled “Fifty Shades of Brown”. Many of the pieces exhibited were from the 1960s and 1970s but we also bought new pieces for the exhibition, including recent work by Robert Barron, Owen Rye and Julie Shepherd. On our north plinth we had a lovely display of work by Sylvia Halpern. It was a slower season this year with fewer visitors overall but we still enjoyed the people who came to see us and made good Internet sales .

Our pattern of buying changed during the year.  Our drawers and storeroom shelves  now contain so much stock that we decided to focus our new acquisitions on a smaller number of significant works by known artists. Now on our winter break, we will keep the current display in place for a while before starting to set up the new exhibition. Visitors are still welcome by appointment during the winter months and we will let you know more about what we are planning for Season 9 in a few week’s time.

Illustrated: Several pieces by Sylvia Halpern from the Season Eight exhibition.

Eighth Season coming to an end

We still have two weeks to go before our eighth season at Australian Pottery at Bemboka  comes to an end at close of business on Monday 3 July. However, we will still be open by appointment over the winter months, and we will have a new exhibition ready to open on Friday 29 September.