Mary Darling was born in Brisbane c.1913 and left home at the age of 15 years to be a companion to Max Ramsay (brother of the former Queensland Governor Sir Alan Ramsay). She led a quiet though artistically oriented life. She drew with the Brisbane Sketching Club but did little further after she developed an interest in pottery. She probably began to study pottery and china painting with L. J. Harvey at Horsham House about 1947. After Harvey’s death in 1949 she also attended the classes of another Brisbane pottery teacher, Arthur Hustwit, at Buranda until his own death in 1960. With the exception of her carved and pierced works (such as a elaborate triple gourd lamp base), the work she produced under Hustwit’s instruction are much less complex than that produced under Harvey. She became a skilled practitioner. She exhibited at the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association in the years 1950-52. She died in 1963.
Queensland Art Gallery: Research Curator, Queensland Heritage
- Writers:
- Cooke, Glenn R.
Note: Research Curator, Queensland Heritage, Queensland Art Gallery
- Date written:
- 2003
- Last updated:
- 2011
