Painter, printmaker and potter, Maude Poynter provides a link between the British Arts & Crafts Movement and Tasmania’s contemporary artist-maker studio practice. Maude Poynter (1869-1945) embarked on art studies in London at the Slade and the Kingston-on-Thames Schools of Art. The Arts & Crafts Movement philosophy of the time valued the fine and applied arts equally and her creative expression was channelled increasingly into ceramics. Her work reflects the many art and design currents of the early 20th century such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Egyptomania and motifs from Australian flora and fauna.

Maude Poynter came to Tasmania in 1917 and established a pottery at Ratho, Bothwell. This was the first studio pottery in Tasmania and one of the very first in Australia. Here her pottery was formed on a treadle wheel that had been improvised from rural farm machinery and was fired in a kiln which required 12 hours of constant stoking to maintain an even temperature. Maude Poynter’s pottery featured in numerous exhibitions during the 1920s-30s at a time when the work of women artists began to receive the acknowledgement it deserved. Maude Poynter’s students, Violet Mace and Mylie Peppin became leading art potters in their own right. 

This gloriously illustrated publication by curator and historian, Glenda King is based on original research and features over sixty works from private collections that have not been exhibited or published since they were first created. $45 + $10 postage and packaging.