Slipcasting is a process that uses plaster of paris moulds to make ceramic works. Moulds of two or more parts are held together and liquid clay is poured into them until they are full.
The moulds are left to stand approximately 20 to 30 minutes and then they are drained of the remaining liquid clay.
After leaving the skin of clay remaining in the mould to firm up, the ‘spare’ is removed.
The mould is opened and the hollow work is removed.
The work is fettled (removal of any excess clay), and often the piece is sponged to smooth the surface of any remaining imperfections.
Brendan was born in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland in 1961. He studied fine arts, specializing in sculpture and painting at Otago Polytechnic receiving a diploma in 1983.
After returning from time overseas in 1986 he was introduced to slipcasting and bright coloured underglazes by Sue Newby and Bruce Haliday. They spent six months learning to make moulds, often getting advice from Tom Hodgkins a former mould-maker at Crown Lynn.
Since 1988, Brendan has been involved with shops, studios, and galleries. In 2013 he and his partner Kathryn opened a gallery attached to their home exhibiting other potters’ work. Brendan and Kathryn produced brightly coloured earthenware works, into the 2000s.
Brendan has exhibited in numerous solo and joint exhibitions. He has conducted workshops for potters’ societies and taught classes at Auckland Studio Potters Centre from 2006 to 2021. He has also taught modules for the Otago polytechnic Diploma in ceramics and been a selector for pottery exhibitions.
Brendan has always made one-off sculptural pieces, and his work continues to evolve. In 2021 Brendan and Kathryn moved to Matakana and established a new studio.
Peter was born in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland in 1944.
From 1963 to 1973 he had an assortment of jobs in Auckland and then UK, including cleaning silver at Buckingham Palace and driving a London cab for a year.
In 1973 he returned to New Zealand. He became involved with clay with Lex Dawson at Bombay, south of Auckland. In 1974 he moved to Warkworth and in 1975 joined the Albany Village Pottery co-operative.
Peter and his family moved to Mt Eden in 1979, and he established the Potter’s Arms as a workshop and retail outlet.
Peter was director of Auckland Studio Potters (ASP) Centre in Onehunga, was editor of the ASP and then the New Zealand Society of Potter’s newsletter.
Peter received merit awards at the Fletcher Brownbuilt Pottery Award Auckland in 1984 and 1986. His work with slipcast objects was influenced in 1981 by the visit of Richard Shaw (USA), giving Peter’s natural sense of humour an outlet. He continues his humerous works by putting one-liner decals on bricks and commercially produced plates.
Leo was born in the UK in 1925. He worked in Aerospace and missile systems. He also trained in sculpture and ceramics at St Albans School of Art.
In 1971 he emigrated to New Zealand and in 1976 became the director of the Auckland Studio Potters Centre in Onehunga. From 1978 to 1981 he was president of New Zealand Society of Potters. He exhibited regularly within New Zealand, and in 1979 and 1981 exhibited in the Concorso Internazionale della Ceramica d’Arte, Faenza, Italy. He received merit awards in the 1981, 1984, and 1985 Fletcher Brownbuilt Pottery Awards, Auckland.
He gained an MA (Hons) in Art History in 1990 following with a PHD in 1996, from the University of Auckland. His work is held in many of the municipal museums and galleries around this country.
Leo died in 2015.
Howard was born in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland in 1935.
He trained as an art and craft specialist at Auckland and Dunedin Teachers’ Colleges between 1954 and 1956. He then taught in the Kirikiriroa Hamilton area for two years before travelling overseas in 1959.
Howard worked at the Sevier’s Pottery before working in the Kenneth Clark Pottery, both in London, England. From 1965 to 1970 he operated from his own studio in Northampton before returning to Aotearoa in 1971 and establishing a studio at Silverdale.
In 1978 he moved to Albany and in 1984 he became the editor of the New Zealand Potter magazine, a role he continued until 1998.
Howard wrote the New Zealand Pottery Workbook and has written articles and taken photographs for many potters and craftspeople which have been published in books, magazines and catalogues.
Much of Howard’s works are slipcast pieces, or hand-built wall panels. He was a founding member of Albany Village Pottery co-operative and a member of Auckland Studio Potters and the New Zealand Society of potters.
Oswold was born in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 1896.
After leaving school, he went to Canterbury Agriculture College, then to the University of Otago in 1923 where he gained a MSc with first class honours in Organic Chemistry.
In 1924 Oswold was appointed a technical chemist at NZ Insulators Ltd in Temuka; but due to the depression he lost his job, so he and his family returned to Dunedin. There he took a science teaching position at King Edward Technical College which he continued until 1961.
Oswold and his wife setup a studio called Handcraft Pottery, making slipcast works from the mid 1930s until about 1960.
In 1957 Oswold organised the first New Zealand Potters’ Exhibition in Dunedin, and a year later helped establish the New Zealand Potter Magazine. He was a founder member of the Otago Potters’ Group and in 1963 a co-founder of the New Zealand Society of Potters. He was made a life member at its first AGM.
In the early 1960s, Oswold gave up making slipcast works to make works in the Anglo-Oriental tradition which is a style which was pervasive at the time. Oswold died in 1980.
