Dyson / Gordon

Designer	June Dyson  / Robert Gordon
Maker	June Dyson / Robert Gordon
Marks	Pencil signature “Dyson” to base
Material	Clay
Description	Small bowl with upswept spoon shaped handle.  Butterfly pattern interior glaze with clear matte overglaze glaze.
Condition	Very Good, some discolouring on handles.
Number	No number
Production Date	Late 1970s
Width at rim	110mm
Width at base	65mm
Depth	50mm
Length (with handle)	153mm
Weight	135gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition	Waverley Antique Market
Rameking Reference Number	DYG 001-002

No, not the English vacuum cleaner company, but an Australian potter June Dyson, 20.11.1918 to 28.07.2004.  June spent her early years in Tennyson Street St Kilda (an inner suburb of Melbourne) and enjoyed the social scene thanks to her socialite mother Mrs (Edward) Dyson.  Her father, Edward Dyson was a successful poet and author and her uncle Bill, a revered political cartoonist and the Australian Government's official war artist during the First World War.

In her early 20s, she commenced studying pottery at the Royal Melbourne Technical College under the legendary John Barnard Knight and Klytie Pate.  The Dyson Pottery studio was based in Melbourne at their home, 12 Arkaringa Crescent Hampton.  Her husband Colin Mervyn Gordon is recorded as being her business manager but is shown as a potter on the Electoral Rolls.  In 1958, she opened another studio in Gembrook in the Dandenong Ranges.  The area was a favourite amongst potters.  William Ricketts had worked in the area for decades.  Some of her pieces are both incised with "Lorrant Studio" and are press moulded, mostly in good condition with a few glaze bubble spots from firing and some minor wear marks.

 Lorrant is, according to Ford, her maiden name.  It was actually Dyson, so where “Lorrant” comes from, I do not Know.  This mark was only used at the start of her career in 1945 and changed to “Dyson Studios” in the late 1940s.  June formed a working, as well as a personal partnership with her scientist husband Colin.  

 It was June's second son Andy, who showed most interest in the pottery, helping out in her studios from his early twenties.  Some of these ramekins show her traditional style of making but have a hand-painted interior that shows up in later Robert Gordon pottery.  Unlike most of her earlier work, these have a signature written in black pencil to the slip on the base.  Maybe this is an early example of Robert helping in his mothers’ studio?

 June produced thousands of items, some plain, some decorated like these.  A slightly rough and ready style is indicative of her studio ware.  June continued with her own work until the late 1980s, then worked with the Warrandyte potters almost until her death.

 Her son, Robert (Andy) Gordon  began working on his own as a potter in 1979  in Gembrook in the Dandenong Ranges, north of Melbourne and the successful Robert Gordon Pottery continues today in Pakenham in Melbourne’s outer south east.  Robert and wife Barbara now export to many other countries.