Design and Art Australia Online

Marian Ellwood was born in Brixton, Surrey, England in 1850, the eldest daughter of seven children born to Edward Ellwood and Mary Caroline née Fesenmeyer. Her grandfather had established a hat manufacturing firm at 24 Great Charlotte Street, London in the early years of the century and the family enjoyed considerable affluence as the firm made the pith helmets for the Indian Army. This provided all family members with financial independence. Marian’s brother Paul came to Australia in 1880 (at age 18) and the other members of the family gravitated to Queensland. Marian married John Munday (who was connected with the Great Northern Mine) on 3 September 1883 in Townsville. Her life during these years is quite unknown but her parents Edward and Mary Ellwood settled in Maryvale Street, Toowong.

Her sisters Ada and Jessie were as craft oriented as Marian and exhibited items such as woodcarving and stencilling with the Queensland Art Society and the Brisbane Technical College from the early 1890s. Marian herself exhibited woodcarving at the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association in 1909 when her work was highly commended. Of even greater interest is her display of a collection of art pottery and demonstrations of pottery making at the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association in August of the following year. (Her address was given as 66 River Terrace, Kangaroo Point, which was then the address of her mother and sister Ada.) Where she obtained skills in pottery in Brisbane is not clear but it may have been at Campbell’s Pottery, Albion. It is known that both Frankie Payne and Vera Affleck received training there in 1915.

She received a first prize in the category 'Artistic pottery all kinds’ but no report of her display appears in contemporary newspapers apart from the terse comment in Brisbane’s The Observer on 10 August 1910: 'Artistic pottery was also seen in the making, an expert artisan fashioning the beautiful forms from the clay’. Even more surprising is the lack of comment that the 'artisan’ was a woman.

She became a member of the Arts and Crafts Society of New South Wales in 1908 and in October two years later she exhibited about 50 items of pottery (including a vase featuring a Moreton Bay fig in raised work) together with seven exhibits of woodcarving at the Society. It was the first display of art pottery at the Society and the Art Gallery of New South Wales was inspired to make its first purchase for their collection. The work is dated 1909 so it most likely was produced in Brisbane, certainly the brown majolica type glaze is consistent with that used at Campbell’s Pottery, Albion.

She did exhibit more consistently at the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales where she exhibited pottery, designs for stencils, art posters, wood carving, lace and embroidery between 1910 and 1916, receiving many prizes. Her collections of pottery were especially highly regarded. She continued to produce pottery after this time. Indeed she enrolled in Stage 2 of the pottery course at the Sydney Technical College in 1920. Surprisingly, she was only awarded a pass.

She retired to Brisbane and died at the home of her youngest sister, Hilda Burrell, on 17 January 1935.

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