potter, printmaker and teacher, was born in Melbourne. Her early interest in art was encouraged by her aunt, Christian Waller , who introduced her to an Art Deco style, to theosophy and to classical mythology, all of which were to be major influences on her work. In about 1931 she studied painting and drawing at the National Gallery School under W.B. McInnes and Charles Wheeler and sculpture and modelling at the Melbourne Technical College. In 1932 she completed a series of plaster masks for the Wallers’ home at Ivanhoe, Victoria, and did her only linocut Limpang Tung . Published (as Klytie Sclater) in Manuscripts no.3 (November 1932), p.12, it shows Waller’s influence. She made fired pottery from about 1936. Her first solo exhibition, when she showed pottery, was held at the Kominsky Gallery, Melbourne, in 1941.
In 1937 she married William Pate. After her marriage she began to teach at Melbourne Technical College where she remained until 1945, resigning to become a full-time professional potter. Two years later, the National Gallery of Victoria made its first purchase of studio pottery – a ginger jar by Pate and a piece by Alan Lowe. Her work was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1983 and at Sydney’s Macquarie Galleries in 1989 and 1990. She continues to live and work in Melbourne.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2011
