Harold Hughan, called “Buzz” by his close friends, was born in Mildura, the second of ten children born to Emily (née Clayton) and Randolph Hughan.
He trained as a Mechanical Engineer and an Electrical Engineer, working in that field until 1963.
1915 – He enlisted in the AIF.
1919 – Married Lily Booth.
He had always been interested in crafts, especially woodwork and weaving, but in 1940 his wife and son Robert introduced him to pottery.
Influenced by the studio approach of Bernard Leach’s
'A Potter’s Book’.
1941 – Designed and constructed a wheel from the crankshaft of a motorcar engine, the first Leach style potter’s wheel in Australia.
Built a kiln for a pottery studio based at his Glen Iris home.
Hughan’s work was domestic in scale as he sought to create an Australian idiom, albeit influenced by the natural glazes and hand thrown aesthetic of Chinese and Japanese ceramics.
His first solo exhibition at Georges Gallery in Melbourne in 1950 led to his work being acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.
While his work has been widely collected in other Australian art museums and the Victorian and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria has the largest and most significant collection. He was also honoured with retrospective exhibitions in 1969 and in 1983 (both curated by Kenneth Hood).
Clays – stoneware, porcellaneous stoneware, earthenware.
Surface decoration – Glazes: celadon, tenmoku, oatmeal, slip decoration. Incised, brushwork,
- Writers:
-
- Date written:
- 2019
- Last updated:
- 2021
