ceramics - Campbell, Joan

Joan Campbell (1925-1997) was an Australian potter and ceramic artist.

She was born in Geelong, Victoria, and moved to Western Australia with her family while a teenager.

She developed an interest in pottery after attending a hobby class and this led her to pursue pottery as a craft, building a wood-fire kiln in her suburban backyard .

In the late 1950s she worked with Daniel de Blanken, a Dutch potter who had settled in WA. and later with the Australian potter Eileen Keys (1903-1992),.

In the mid 1960s she developed an interest in the Japanese technique of raku, where pieces are fired and then removed while red hot and allowed to cool in the open air or in a container filled with combustible material. These ignite and the smoke also turns any unglazed clay black. If the bin is opened after a short time, this re-oxidises the piece, creating interesting surface effects.

Raku became Campbell’s preferred way of firing.

Her pieces were mainly earthenware, some thrown and further manipulated, others hand built.

In 1968 Campbell helped establish the Western Australian Branch of the Crafts Association of Australia (later Craft Association of Western Australia) as the Association's secretary. She was a foundation member of the Crafts Board of the Australia Council (which was established in 1973), and was a member of the Australia Council from 1974 to 1977.

She held her first solo exhibition at the Old Fire Station Gallery in 1969, and exhibited at the Victoria 7 Albert Museum in London in 1972.

In 1977 she was awarded an MBE (member of the Bristish Empire) for her work in the Arts.

Joan Campbell died in 1997.