As the end of the year approaches, the Circle continues to attract new and interesting presenters – and has more to come in 2024.

In October Tim Roberts, curator at the David Roche Foundation in Adelaide spoke to us about the foundation’s charming 'Wedgwood: Master Potter to the Universe' exhibition. Not only did he show us many of the fine pieces (everything from portraits to shoes!) and provide history and context, he took us through the daunting process of setting up such an exhibition. It runs to 27 January 2024 and is well worth a long-weekend trip.

In November, Amanda Dunsmore presented some of the NGV’s recent 20th century acquisitions, starting with two magnificent windows designed by Frank Lloyd-Wright for the Avery Coonley House and Playhouse. She also showed us an exquisite window designed by Marion Mahony for the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Illinois and discussed the difficulties of attributing pieces to Mahony and the rarity of her works. She finished with some new ceramic pieces, an elegant and substantial Teco Pottery vase, a delightful Elza Josephson piece with prowling cats and a large Gio Ponti goblet with an aeronautical twist.

Our December meeting’s Christmas ‘show and tell’ theme is ‘Something spiritual’. Please bring along a treasure (or two) to share and join with your Circle friends to celebrate the festive season.

At our February 2024 meeting Danny McOwan, former director of the Hamilton Art Gallery and long time supporter of the Circle, will speak on 20th century Dutch glass. While it’s little known in Australia, Dutch Glass was particularly important. Its main designer, A.D Copier, laid the foundation for the studio glass movement that we know today. His glass also influenced both Italian glass to the South and Scandinavian glass to the North. It was the Dutch centre that was the origin of many 20th century glass developments.

2024 is the year of our 40th anniversary and we are planning a grand mid-year event. We also propose to launch a small grant program (to run annually for five years) to support gifted young ceramicists. The program will be named in honour of Patricia and Chris Begg. Further detail will be provided in the New Year.

The proposal to conduct a professional photography session for members resulted in sufficient interest that we are planning for January 2024. Members who responded to the EOI will be contacted individually. We also had a very good response to our survey, thank you all. We are currently reviewing the results.

Thank you all for your support in 2023 and I look forward to seeing you at our December festivities.

Genine Wallinga

President,

November 2023