Preston, Reg

Designer	Reg Preston
Maker	Reg Preston
Marks	Painted “P” To base in black.
Material	Glazed Slip
Description	Wheel thrown, hand moulded conical bowl with indented tab handle.  Grey semi gloss glaze with white glaze to handle.  Unglazed foot ring
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	Late 1960s
Width at rim	111mm
Width at Base	63mm
Depth	60mm
Length (with handle)	157mm
Weight	185gm
Volume	375ml
Acquisition	Purchase Mill Antiques Ballarat 27 November 2014.
Rameking Reference Number	PRE 001

Reginald (Reg) Preston was born in Sydney, New South Wales on the 18^th of March 1917.  In his early years, he travelled to London in 1937 after a meeting with Ola Cohn (Melbourne Fairy Tree) where he studied sculpture at the Westminster School of Art in 1938, a private college located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans yard, Westminster, the school was part of the old Architectural Museum.

He returned to Australia at the beginning of the Second-World-War.  He was attracted to pottery after watching Alan Lowe.  Although often cited as being self-taught, Reg spent a short time potting at the Melbourne Technical College under John Barnard Knight and Klytie Pate in 1944.  He then began working at Cooper and Cooke (Ceramics) Pty Ltd pottery at Glenhuntly, Melbourne in 1945-1946.  This company produced mostly ceramic insulators during the war but switched to producing Ceramic electric jugs later on.  Reg had also set up a studio in his home in 1945.

In 1947 he moved to the bush area of Warrandyte and began working full time as a potter, making a range of domestic and decorative wares, although he claims to have set up his own studio in 1945.  In the early 1950s, he and his first wife Joan, along with Katie Janeba and Alex Goyda were operating and selling in the “Parsons Gully Gallery” making and selling a range of earthenware.  He held his first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 1958.

In 1958, Reg married his apprentice, potter Phyl Dunn.  After a talk from Alan Lowe, they set up the “Potters Cottage” at Warrandyte, along with Gus and Beth McLaren, Charles Wilton and Artur and Sylvia Halpern.  The group began in Osbourne Road in a shed on Meg Nicholas’ property.  Reg and Betty Hipwell had organized the purchase of a potters wheel and moved in from Ferntree Gully.  Reg was also now doing some work in English Slip.  During this early peiod, Reg & Phyl were using the brand name “Ceres” on some work.  Ceres is the name of the Roman God of agriculture.  Some of their work at this time was made with pseudo-aboriginal motifs. 

Phyl had been studying painting with Daniela Vasieleff. Painters Elizabeth and Daniela Vasilieff were working there along with other artists Harry and Marie Hudson, Wally Manders and Inga and Graham King.  Originally Phyll had seen Merric Boyd working at the Primrose Pottery Shop in Melbourne, and seen a film on African pottery.  Michael Cardew had been working in Africa around this time and had influenced several English potters who had traveled there, later returning to England.

Reg once said of his work: "I quite simply make pots that please me. They are derived from a number of factors, the clay itself, the firing, other pots from other ages; these factors have over the years of work been gradually assimilated and become unconscious. The best ideas for me come from pots and from long bouts of continuous work. I find continuity of thought about the pots that I'm making day to day to be the time that is most fruitful. Occasionally when all the thought about the process, the technical knowledge merge and become one, then days later you might get from the kiln one or two pots that stand as it were 'on their own legs' detached and quite apart

Reg began making stoneware with vitreous or metallic glazes in 1967.  Stoneware is fired at a higher temperature to earthenware.  Many of these pieces have striking abstract patterns.  He continued well into the 1980s making larger decorative pieces.

In 1982, they moved to Woolamai on Phillip Island with friends Mr & Mrs Edna Witt.  Charles Wilton and Eric Juckert were also working there at the time.  They continued to work there until 1995.  Phyl died in 1999.

Reg is an acknowledged master and has pieces in collections such as the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Powerhouse Museum, Queensland University of Technology museum and many smaller regional galleries.  Many pieces were donated by Reg’s Executor, potter John Dermer.

Ganymede Enterprise Co Ltd

Designer	Similar to many other Asian made ramekins
Maker	Ganymede Enterprise
Marks	Impressed “Stoneware Taiwan” around base
Material	Glazed slip
Description	Mass-produced machine pressed mid-brown glazed slip bowl with unglazed footring.  Darker brown colour to rim.  Dimpled tab handle attached to to of rim containing air hole to underside.
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	Early 1980s
Width at rim	110mm
Width at Base	60mm
Depth	47mm
Length (with handle)	140mm
Weight	235gm
Volume	250mm
Acquisition	Purchase Salvo Stores October 2014.
Rameking Reference Number	GAN 001-006

In the early 1970s, the floodgates opened in Australia to imports from Asia.  One of the industries most affected was inhabited by studio potters.  To add insult to injury, many of the designs used by these imports looked suspiciously like those of the local makers.  Like the Chinese, Japanese and the Koreans, the Taiwanese makers also produced ramekins similar to those of Australian makers such as Raynham.  Even though Raynham was then owned by Bendigo Pottery. 

These Taiwanese ramekins were most likely supplied by Ganymede Enterprise Company Limited.  The company began in 1975 and exported products made by around 200 companies around Taiwan.  They have a design department and also have manufacturing plants in Canton and Shanghai, China.  Their products include ceramic tableware, glassware, stainless steel, plastic homewares and bathroom products.  They export to Europe, Canada and the US as well as Australia.

Pottery and Ceramics are a major industry in the country, most notable presented at the town of Yingge, about an hour drive south-west from the capital Taipei.  It is named for the eagle shaped rock on the town’s north side.  Pottery has been made there for over 200 years when famous Chinese potter Wu An moved in to take advantage of the clay found there.  The Yingge Ceramics Museum opened in 2000 and is on the other side of town.  It is a three-storey steel framed glass building and is about 15 minutes walk from Pottery Street.   

“Old Street”, re-named “Pottery Street” is home to dozens of pottery shops.  At one time there were over 800 potters working there.  The area has been re-built and top quality ceramics can be found in most of the shops.  Don’t expect any bargains though.  They know what therir products are worth and are priced accordingly.  A landmark in the area is the remains of an old kiln called “Square Kiln” surmounted by a chimney flue.  It appears to be a rectangular downdraught kiln.

Tienshan

Designer
Maker	Tienshan (Shandong Silver Phoenix Co Ltd)
Marks	No marks
Material	Earthenware slip
Description	Large bowl with a waisted top and knob handle with hole to underside.  Unglazed foot ring.  Matte white glaze to entire body.  Transfer print on side of bowl.
Condition	Very good
Number	No number
Production Date	1980s
Width at rim	120mm
Width at Base	105mm
Depth	70mm
Length (with handle)	210mm
Weight	325gm
Volume	750mm
Acquisition	Purchase Salvo Stores
Rameking Reference Number	TSH 001-004

Go tell Aunt Rhody

Go tell Aunt Rhody

Go tell Aunt Rhody

The Old Grey Goose Is Dead.

This pattern comes from the Tienshan “Aunt Rhody” collection.  The pattern is “Country Goose” and features a blue goose with a polka dot bow tie.

Tien Shan, is a large mountain range located in Central Asia.  Tienshan pottery is made by Tienshan Incorporated who is not, as the name implies, a Chinese company.  It began in Norwalk Connecticutt, USA in 1978.  Their headquarters is at Suite 1 231 Wilson Street.  They also have an office at 41 Madison Avenue, mid-town New York.  Sakura Incorporated, another porcelain company also operates at the address.  They manufacture stoneware and porcelain dinnerware in China and export overseas. 

I think that they get the Shandong Silver Phoenix Company Limited to actually make their pottery.  This prize winning, top ten ceramics company has over 3,000 employees and is located at 58 Jinqueshan Road, Linyi, Shandong, China.  The company was established in 1957 and produces 1000 lines of high volume (120 million items per annum) porcelain, stoneware and genuine bone china.  They make hotel ware as well as tea and coffee sets.  They export to sixty countries and produce goods for a number of other makers including Churchill in the UK.