Happy spring, everyone. As we emerge from winter gloom we can happily reflect on some very interesting presentations to members in recent months.

 In August we were delighted to welcome Leslie Stephan, who came to speak to us in person, all the way from Adelaide. Leslie is a former Clinical Director of Mental Health and a consultant psychiatrist and he presented with hilarious insight on the gripping topic of ‘The Psychology of the Collector’. Did you know that MRIs of collectors’ brains indicate that collecting is similar to addiction? Are you a connoisseur, investor, hobbyist, aesthete, or hoarder; …or a mix? And what do you take most delight in – technical virtuosity and craftsmanship; the thrill of the hunt; pride and the recognition of fellow collectors; or the historical associations and social meaning of the pieces in your collection? It was a compelling, illuminating, and almost squirm-inducing discussion, but so much fun.

 Our September annual three-speaker evening started with Elizabeth Golding presenting on ‘Orrefors Glass – frozen liquid’. She discussed a number of 20th century  glass artists and designers, such as Heinrich Wollman (1876-1923), a creator of superb cameo glass, Simon Gate (1883-1945), developer of the ‘graal’ technique and a master of engraving, and Nils Landberg (1907-1991), famed for his ethereal, elongated forms.  Elizabeth also whetted our appetites for the mysterious ‘Canberra goblet’. And then, keeping strictly to the time limit, she stopped, leaving us all in suspense!  We look forward to future installments. 

 Then Robert Baker took us on the journey of ‘Kraak Porcelain and the Maritime Trade’, explaining its origin in the late Ming dynasty, Wanli period, its importance to the Portuguese and Dutch trade and the academic debates about what is and isn’t ‘Kraak’. He discussed its aesthetic and physical characteristics, the emulations produced by the Japanese, the Persians and the Dutch, and brought for us a truly spectacular and acknowledged piece from his own collection. 

 I finished the evening with a talk on ‘The Triumph of Amphitrite – the Meissen table-fountain, 1745-2014’, an almost four metre wide porcelain extravaganza that was comprehensively conserved by the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art in 2013-14. This project involved careful cleaning or restoration of original pieces from 1745-47 and 1774-1815 and the recreation of missing pieces by digitally scanning elements from the original 18th century stone fountain in Dresden and from a 19th century porcelain copy held there, and then creating the moulds using computer guided routing or digital printing. The spectacular result is well worth a visit.

 In October we will hear from Colin Smith, who will present on Lucy Boyd Beck and her husband Hatton Beck, who together worked out of their ceramics studios in Murrumbeena and Boronia, and Wandsworth Common in London.  Lucy is probably most well known for her beautiful painted ceramic tiles, but she also worked as a visual artist more broadly. Colin is an expert on the Boyd artistic dynasty, about whom he has published three books, and knew Lucy well, so we will have the opportunity to understand her life as well as her art through many images from across the decades.

In November Carl Wantrup will speak on ’Japanese tea-wares from the Momoyama to Showa periods’.  Carl will cover the origins of tea culture in Japan and the influences and wares from China, moving on to the birth of wabi-cha in the Muromachi period, the explosion of tea-wares from the Momoyama to Meiji periods and the renaissance of tea-wares in the Showa period.  Carl is a long-time friend of the Circle, an independent consultant and dealer in Asian art with over twenty-five year’s experience, and an Approved Valuer for Asian arts under the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

 Looking forward, in December we’ll have our usual Christmas supper and a ‘show and tell’ on the theme ‘Celebratory Comestibles’, focusing on the artifacts and objects that accompany festive foods.

 And finally, we’ve refreshed our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ceramiccircleaust/, so, if you are on FB, please hop on and ‘like’ us. A link can also be found on our website, https://www.ceramicsglasscircleaustralia.org/

Genine Wallinga
President, September 2024