Eric Juckert

No, I have not run out of ramekins, because Eric didn't make them as far as I know.  It is just that there is so little out there about Eric and it seems that a lot of people want to know about him.  Well, here goes.

Eric Carl Juckert was born in the working class suburb of Richmond, Victoria on the 26^th of October 1918. His father George Louis Otto Carl Juckert, (1884-1957) was then a Telegraph Mechanic and his mother was Ethel May Storey  (1895-1945).  They lived at 177 Coppin St Richmond.  The name “Juckert” is German in origin.  In 1919, the family moved to 34 Fitzgibbon Crescent, Balaclava.  This was a better class of suburb in 1919 and quite expensive today.   

Eric was a prolific studio and commercial ceramic artist who began his extensive career with Una Deerbon (nee Darlot) at her studio at 5 Bray Street South Yarra in Melbourne, Victoria in 1936.  Then between 1937 and 1950 Eric set up his own business at his home at 34 Fitzgibbon Crescent, Balaclava, making a range of pottery that was sold by the Myer and David Jones department stores under the name Jacqueline.  Charles Wilton also worked with Eric at this time.  

Eric’s first advertized sales were at the height of the great depression at the 4^th Floor, Bank Chambers (Centreway Arcade) 255 Collins Street Melbourne on the 8^th of December 1937.  In 1939 at the start of the Second-World-War Eric, along with Charles  joined the RAAF as an Aircraftsman, he was discharged in 1946.  (To be accurate, Charles joined the Army in March 1940 then transferred to the Airforce in 1942.)  Following a number of issues with the then Commonwealth Department of Employment and National Service, the pottery closed in 1950.

  

For a time from early 1947, Eric was the proprietor of the Granthaven Gentlemans Country Home, near Healesville, Victoria.  He advertised Granthaven extensively during this year.  He also exhibited at the prestigious Kozminsky Gallery in Melbourne on the 20^th of November 1947. 

  

In 1949, Eric was back in Melbourne, this time at 337a Balaclava Road Caulfield, not far from his old home in Balaclava.  The Electoral Roll lists him as being a potter.  He advertised pottery lessons from there on 29^th November 1949.  This venture lasted until 1954 when he moved to Sandy Creek Road, Riddell, near Gisborne, north of Melbourne where he is listed on the electoral roll as a Farmer.  The Electoral Roll for Balaclava shows George, now a Toolmaker living with Norman and Isabel Juckert, Ethel is not there.  She died in 1945.

  

Eric traveled to England for a time and is believed to have also traveled to Mexico, although there is scant evidence of this.  On his return to Melbourne, he then set up a studio at Point Road, Grossard point, Ventnor on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne in 1959 where he continued working there until 1992. His commercial works which were mainly made with a white spatter finish are incised 'Juckert' or 'Eric Juckert' to the base.  This spatter finish was used by a number of potters, most notably Premier, Rathjen and Raynham, but Eric was not restricted to this style. 

He was a magnet for other potters and was always available for advice.  People traveled from around the world to work with him.  A selection of his work showing the wide variety of styles he produced can be seen at the local museum in Cowes, Victoria.  They are only open between 10 and 12 am on a Thursday, but you can still sneak a peek through the front window.
  

Detail from Mural showing part of Eric's gallery at Ventnor.

Eric painted a large mural in the foyer of the Cowes Cultural Centre on Phillip Island as part of the Australian Bicentennial celebration in 1988, illustrating the history of Phillip Island.  Eric died on the 4^th of January 2004 at the Warley Hospital, Cowes, Phillip Island.  He is buried in the Cowes Cemetery.  He was a popular local although it appears that he never married and had no children.  The people I spoke to who knew him said that he had a pleasant personality, was friendly but became somewhat reclusive in his later years.  

Detail of Eric's home and kiln from the mural.

A beachfront reserve adjascent his home at Ventnor was named in his honour.  The Bass Shire Council said that “Short of naming a major public building or the like after him, it is hard to imagine a more appropriate recognition of Mr Juckert’s contribution to Phillip Island.”  Don't look for anything there with his name on it because you won't find anything.  Charles Wilton also worked on Phillip Island from the early 1970s until his death in 2001.

Postscript;  In “The Penguin”, the newsletter of the Phillip Island Conservation Society of June 2011, they say that “ Over much of the coastline here, residential areas are well hidden, maintaining a sense of remoteness on the beach. In stark contrast, however, is the deplorable dense block-like housing that has arisen adjacent to Grossard Point, on the land previously owned by the late artist and potter, Eric Juckert. As we walk towards the point, they are a constant reminder of regrettable planning decisions of the past.”

Never say that the Rameking doesn't go the extra mile.