Crown Lynn Exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery Auckland

This starts early November .... just waiting for the media release that will give all of the details ......
It will be well worth visiting for anyone interested in Crown Lynn or New Zealand pottery history!

As this Exhibition will be a modified version of the Crown Lynn: Crockery of Distinction display that was held in Wellington, the organisers are looking for a new title for the Exhibition. Please add any suggestions to the Crown Lynn Crockery of Distinction page on Facebook.

Woooo Hooo!!!! I like the no-nonsense title for this Exhibition which will be:

Crown Lynn: Pottery for the people.

4th November 2011 to 14th January 2012

Very apt, really looking forward to it.

is this date official and solid date as I need to book flights and accommodation very soon

thanx

The Gus Fisher Gallery is using the Crown Lynn: Crockery of Distinction Facebook page now for their Exhibition.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/CrownLynnPotteries?sk=info

It is a modified version of the Exhibition that you saw in Wellington narna.

I've seen the gallery's press release and flyer for the exhibition - they don't do marketing until two weeks before openings - they've dumped the "strawberry vomit" and have less room for Richard's stuff so have had to edit that from the City Gallery Wellington show - the Shufflebottom/Parker stuff is in, the Smisek stuff, the colour glaze, the Thorpe designs and the fiesta ware - all the usual suspects - Amalgamated supplied the bricks for the building so that's featured too

Great news the Media Releases have begun

This one is from Scoop.co.nz...
Much-Loved Crown Lynn on display in new Exhibition

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1110/S00279/much-loved-crown-lynn-ceramics-on-display-in-new-exhibition.htm

This version of the Exhibition doesn't have any animals or triple glaze collections.

Another from the Localist ...
A Crown Lynn love affair -

http://www.localist.co.nz/auckland/articles/special-crown-lynn-exhibition-soon

So is there an opening night I wonder

Tony is speaking at the opening, so perhaps he has those details ....

Are you going to check this exhibition out Tim?

Yep I plan to get alone to the opening if at all possible. But just need to know when and what time, these things usually open the night before dont they?

I hear from a reliable source that the Gus Fisher Gallery sends out invitations two weeks before the opening. The official opening will be on the evening of Friday November 4th so presumably invites will be sent out this Friday - I believe the gallery does them by email as well as post.

PS On Friday at 5.30pm there is an official opening with mercifully brief speeches about 6pm. There's a longer rolling public opening on Saturday and floor talks by me at 1pm and Trish Clark at 2pm. From what I've seen on Youtube Trish's will be informative, amusing and too short and mine hopefully not too much the opposite.

An article from the Western Leader ..... home of Crown Lynn
Notice the video at the bottom of Trish Clark's Floor Talk from the Wellington Exhibition...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/5907234/New-Lynns-crowning-glory

What an absolute privilege to be at the Preview today!
I just can't stop buzzzzzzzing!
The Exhibition really looks great at the Gus Fisher Gallery, they have done a great job.

The opening was a lot of fun - I got to speak to Alan Topham who told me some interesting Dorothy Thorpe stories. It was great seeing a few of Richard's pieces given the respect he and they deserved for so long. Amusing too to hear that the original proposal from Paula Savage was for the City Gallery and the Auckland Museum to co-curate the exhibition but the museum ruled this out as not "sexy" enough for them.

The City Gallery went it alone and when Linda Tyler heard of the show she arranged to fit it into the Gus Fisher programme. I kept hearing that it worked or looked better as an exhibition in Auckland.

PS Now I've just got to get this damned floor talk done and I can relax.

It was exciting for Heather and I to get to meet Tony and mrnarna and his lovely wife at last
Looking forward to hearing Tony's Floor Talk today!
Alan Topham enjoyed sharing memories .... and I enjoyed listening
There were just so many interesting people there, collectors, potters, writers and enthusiasts!

Floor talks today by Tony Carr and Trish Clark
First time in yonks that I've been to a Gallery where photos are permitted ....
I took many - Carpay - Wharetana - Bohemia ware - camera wouldn't pick up the Shufflebotham pieces darn it! I will load them into the appropriate Categories and Galleries over the next few days. I will mention the Gus Fisher Gallery and Crown Lynn: Pottery for the People Exhibition each time and hope this covers all angles. Can already think of many more photos that I should have taken too !!

dont fret Ev i got each nearly every piece

it was a thrill and honour to meet Tony and yourself and Heather. And an amazing buzz to meet Trish Val Alison Mary and Billy, boy what a weekend to live down. Im still a buzz with the whole event.

Awesome narna as taking pics through glass doesn't always work. I can't use many of the Wharetana pics. Did you meet John Parker the studio potter who makes and collects the Shufflebotham whiteware? What about the antique dealer Brian Ronson who collected the Carpay and Whiteware? Or Richard Quinn's lovely daughters and wife? I know you got to meet Manos though You would have seen them all there though. I'm still buzzing as well .... the enormity of it all will take a while to sink in

we met and got a photo with both Richards lovely daughters, they stood by their dads photo and its a really awesome photo.

90% of my pics will be all in focus and i will upload any of the ones you dont have or that are blurry but it may take a while.

It's going to take me a while too as it's taken most of the day to just load 5 pics blimin heck ... and there are about 40 more to go!. I will make notes of what pics we need ... thank you so much. Oh and I went to a Studio Pottery Exhibition and Open Day in Mt Eden today as well ....[yes I bought a lovely teabowl] so a full on three days of pottery for me!

Floor talk on Saturday 19th November by artist Lisa Reihana and curator Andrew Clifford discussing the cultural implications of Crown Lynn's Wharetana Ware.

Wish I could go to this but I've had too much time off work as it is lately.
I wonder if they have had an opportunity to view the Wharetana Maori Art Pottery Catalogue with it's highly respectful descriptions of the meanings of the carvings on each piece listed, which I feel empowers and promotes Maoridom?

Billy Apples Dorothy Thorpe Collection.



Mary Morrison with her collection


The hand-painted Fiesta Ware range was adorned with brightly coloured spots and
stripes. Because the paint was applied over the top of the glaze, many examples from
this range are damaged. In addition to the full dinner set, the Fiesta range also included
condiment sets and bowls. Produced during the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the Fiesta
range, like many others made by Crown Lynn at this time, was part-imitation and part-emulation
of international designs. Fiesta was a hugely successful dinnerware range in
America following the war and was also made in Britain by the Johnson Brothers and J&G
Meakin. Featuring a delightful yet simple design of bright dots of colour against a cross
hatched cream and silvery grey ground, it marked a break from the plain colours of
Crown Lynn's earlier dinner ware.
Mary Morrison owns several sets of Fiesta, some of which is still used on a daily basis.
Her collection of Fiesta ware is displayed on the original wire racks that formed a central
part of Crown Lynn's marketing campaign. Also on display is a rare document from
Morrison's collection that was sourced from the Crown Lynn factory, which details the
transition of the Fiesta range from an international design to a domestic product. The
card template, which is complete with a fine ceramic dust, was hung on the walls of the
factory to detail for the decorators where each coloured dot should be placed.

THE RICHARD QUINN COLLECTION
The diversity of pieces In the Richard Quinn Collection testifies to the trans-formative
history of Crown Lynn over the five decades of its existence, during which time It grew to
be the largest producer of pottery In the Southern Hemisphere. It Is a unique historical
collection that documents many of the origins, process and products of the Crown Lynn
factory. As well as the finished pieces, the collection also Includes objects that relate to
the manual production of such items in moulds, ram presses, decorating stands and a
number of stamps that would have been used for hand labeling, all of which were
personally rescued by Quinn after the factory closed in 1989.
The collection details an assortment of early objects from the late 1930s that point to
the humble origins of the company when It was trading as Ambrico. items such as the
handle less cup, the cup With a block handle and the tawny coloured Paris Ware, which
was the first set of dinner ware produced by Ambrico In c.1943 and traces the amateur
beglnnings of the company.