A record crowd attended the opening of With Heart and Hand: Art Pottery in Queensland 1900—1950 at Griffith University Art Museum, South Bank.
Featuring over 170 objects, the exhibition is based around the work of pioneering artist Lewis Jarvis (L.J.) Harvey, his students, and the distinctive style that became a hallmark of what is known as the Harvey School.
Dame Quentin said she was delighted to open the exhibition of predominantly women artists whose practices significantly influenced art and craft movements throughout Australia.
“I’m enthralled by the number of my pals who have personal reminisces with the famed Harvey School through their mothers, aunties and neighbours” said Dame Quentin. “Stories of engagement and devoted followers.”
Curated by respected art historian Glenn R Cooke, the exhibition has uncovered the significant number of women practising during the period, many of whom were overlooked by past research or credited as hobbyists or “unknown” creators.
“Though at the time they were rarely regarded as professional artists, these women were vitally important to the development and appreciation of the pottery medium in the early twentieth century” said Cooke. “Harvey encouraged the women in his school beyond amateur status: he collected pieces by his leading students, found opportunities for them to exhibit and sell their works professionally, and encouraged them to exhibit nationally.”
Also launched was the publication With Heart and Hand: Art Pottery in Queensland 1900—1950, the most extensive resource on Queensland art pottery ever published. Highlighting the character of the flourishing artistic scene in Brisbane in the first decades of the twentieth century, it reveals the importance of pottery in the development of art teaching in regional areas, and considers the social history intrinsically linked to the medium.
Dame Quentin said this new research has re-evaluated the role of women in building the state’s art sector and revealed the importance of art therapy in post—World War I Queensland.
“This is an exhibition we will all remember, bringing gorgeous and endearing nostalgia” said Dame Quentin. “It is a treasure trove of our social history.”
To commemorate the launch, Griffith University Art Museum has released a special edition of the publication With Heart and Hand: Art Pottery in Queensland 1900—1950, featuring a signed limited-edition print by the publication’s designer and respected artist Michael Phillips. Contact the art museum for more details.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION: 13 September – 3 November 2018. Tuesday to Saturday, 11am — 4pm, or by appointment.
WHERE: Griffith University Art Museum, 226 Grey Street, South Bank
CONTACT: Visit the website or call 07 3735 3140.