Design and Art Australia Online

Colin Browne was born in Melbourne on 17 February 1949 and studied ceramics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) from 1968 to 1971. In 1972 he undertook a study tour of pottery workshops in the United Kingdom and Europe and on his return in 1975 established a studio in Carlton, Victoria. In 1975 he taught at RMIT for a time. In 1980 he moved to Welshman’s Reef, near Maldon, Victoria, and produced functional ware as well as exhibition pieces at his Tarrengower Downs Pottery.

Browne has held several solo exhibitions since his first showing at The Craft Centre, South Yarra, in 1975 and been included in several Australian and international ceramic exhibitions. Although Browne had a relatively short career in pottery his work had a strong, decided presence and was well regarded. Like many potters in the post World War Two period, Browne’s forms are appreciated for their sculptural qualities, as the top opening is too small and narrow to function as a container. The forms are thrown, which of necessity establishes an organic presence but by altering the form with ridge shapes Browne suggests the egg-like form is in the process of transforming into that of a glossy, hard-shelled insect. Biomorphism, expressed as an organic referencing of abstract forms, was a consistent theme in Australian art in the 1960s and 1970s, most obviously in the sculptures of Stephen Walker.

Like other potters, Browne appears to have suffered from the economic downturn in the late 1980s and he ceased production early in the following decade. More recently he has been working in the field of architectural glass.

Research Curator, Queensland Heritage, Queensland Art Gallery

Writers:

Cooke, Glenn R

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2011