FROM MICROCOSM TO DELFT BLUE

from 2019 Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue Publication

ADVENTUROUS BY NATURE

In 1982 Connie Hoedt held her first major exhibition outside north Queensland at Brisbane’s Craft Council of Queensland Gallery with a group of sculptural forms titled the Microcosm series which first appeared in 1980. In her review of the Brisbane exhibition, Anna Bock makes a telling observation that Connie Hoedt was ‘more interested in the artistic and philosophical aspects than in the technical refinements of her craft’.1 Here Anna Bock alludes to the premise that craftsmanship is a ‘pre-condition, rather than an aim in itself’. 2 Connie Hoedt’s innate sense of the sculptural possibilities of clay are amply demonstrated in the Microcosm series which consist of spheres ranging in diameter from 13 to 23cm. The white lustrous wheel-thrown porcelain bodies reveal wonderfully detailed pre-coloured rainforest ‘microcosms’ in hidden interiors which curator and essayist, John McPhee views as a highly individual contribution to the non-functional sculptural ceramic tradition in Australia. 3

The top section of each sphere is cut open in various ways to suggest the effect of peering through clouds or tree canopies. Inset is a shallow space containing jewel-like interiors. Her Microcosms are micro-landscapes of north Queensland rainforest ecologies. The subjects are diverse ranging from sweeping panoramas to detailed studies of single habitats. Each interior is modelled into painstakingly intricate landscapes and then coloured. In commenting on these works in 1982 she asserted ‘I am trying to capture the preconsciousness and beauty of nature ... I feel I am very much a part of nature and the natural environment’. 4 Her hope for these works was to make us aware of ‘how fragile nature is’ 5 and to decide for ourselves the future of the pristine rainforests of north Queensland.

After only a decade of working in her chosen artform, the Microcosms demonstrate a remarkable grasp of the interplay between content and form. There was a keen sense of confidence in her direction as an artist and an almost spiritual connection to the north.

Not that the Microcosms were a starting point in terms of her exploration of the sculptural plasticity of clay. Some of the earliest works in this exhibition derive from trips with her family to the fossil fields at Richmond in western Queensland in the early 1970s which gave rise to the thunderegg-shaped Fossil pots. Instead of crystalline interiors usually associated with these phenomena in nature, Connie Hoedt chose to press and incise finely detailed fossil-inspired images onto the flat-sided half forms. She often referred to these early works as her fantasy pieces. 6 ‘The ideas appear as images and the translation into clay, and overcoming technical difficulties, gives me much satisfaction’. 7

Within twelve months of the Fossil pots, her focus moved to the lush rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands where she created works based on seed pods reminiscent of the rainforest Black Bean, one of Australia’s tallest families of flowering plants. The Black Bean’s name comes from the large seed pods that appear between March and April, which split open to reveal three or more large bean-like seeds. For Connie Hoedt, the many visits to the Atherton Tablelands tropical rainforests provided inspiration. ‘The lush growth and fecundity of it all, the fallen tree that becomes home and food for fungi, mosses and insects, the whole environment like a fast-forward picture of life cycles. 8

Lidded microcosm c 1985

Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 15 x 17 cm diameter

Morning

Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built additions, glazed interior; wood-fired to 1300°C 25 x 12 cm (irregular) impressed on of stems with monogram Collection of Gayle Kirkwood

Anna Bock’s view that Connie Hoedt’s creative drive came from a strong artistic and philosophical curiosity is certainly true in terms of the range of themes she explored in her first decade as a potter. While she took great pains to teach herself the refinements of wheel-throwing and glazing techniques, no sooner had she developed and fully explored a body of work, she moved on to investigate new concepts. Connie Hoedt wrote of this in 1983 ‘my past work was inspired by nature and natural forms. I believe I am moving out of that stage’. 9 What followed including works such as ‘Icarus’ were more figurative and explored concepts of human endeavour.

Within the wider national context, Connie Hoedt’s artistic development occurred almost simultaneously with the craft movement’s burgeoning pursuit of art ideals. As Grace Cochrane writes, ‘By the 1970s, the desire to be an acclaimed expressive individual, with the status of artist or designer, making work that was to be seen to have the status of ‘art’, whatever its form or function, became increasingly important to many craftspeople’. 10

Historians like British writer Peter Dormer suggests the crafts ‘changed class’ after the war, being practised by the educated middle class, who made products for aesthetic value rather than practical use. The crafts, he said, ‘changed from being working-class or artisan, commercial occupations into middle-class, creative, art-like activities. Art-like in the sense that the objects produced are made and bought primarily for contemplation ‘. 11

Against this background of national craft culture was the influence of the English potter, Bernard Leach’s Anglo-Oriental aesthetic. A tradition introduced indirectly into Australia in the 1960s but reinforced by individual potters such as Les Blakebrough’s travels to Japan in the 1970s. 12 While this paradigm remained strong, supported by elite ceramic training courses and potters’ societies, the pursuit of a contemporary art rationale situated ceramics in a binary position of traditional versus contemporary. Not that Connie Hoedt was unsympathetic to wheel-throwing and traditional glazes, indeed parallel to her non-functional sculptural ceramics of the early 1980s, she was creating highly refined Japaneseinspired wood-fired porcelain vases concurrently with non-functional works.

For a maturing artist, this increasing contact with overseas influences, travel in Holland and her propensity to experiment in the studio had a direct impact on her creative direction and focus. Within Australia the modernist ideals of art as an act of individual personal expression, and of an artwork as an autonomous object detached from an audience or a context was gaining traction. 13 While Connie Hoedt never lost sight of her audience, she was aware of the key elements that influenced a change for some crafts practitioners in their pursuit of a cultural status equivalent to art, and towards providing the crafts world with art protocols for its own practice. In the United States clay was treated as simply ‘another expressive material’. 14 They were translating into ceramic practice the ideology of the abstract expressionist painters. Also influential was the subversive movement that emerged in California in the late 1960s as Funk ceramics.

While Connie Hoedt is sometimes hailed for her achievements in working in relative isolation, this view expressed in terms of the centre-periphery model is somewhat limiting. While she may have felt isolated in the early years in not having direct access to resources and mentors, she made up for it later in her career. Historically urban and regional areas were perceived with binary and contradictory logic. The artists in the periphery are often condemned for ‘either working with ideas the art world had discarded; were too far detached from the initial source of current radical challenges to be able to successfully respond to them; or were unable to draw contemporary art meanings from within the traditions of their own practice’.15 Such views don’t fully account for the context and achievements of artists such as Connie Hoedt and a more inclusive view about the multi-dimensionality of cultural production in regional Australia is required.16 Townsville might be seen as somewhat unique in terms of the range and number of artists who settled here, including European-trained artists who migrated directly to the region.

Connie Hoedt’s fantasy pieces of the 1970s including the Microcosms, the Life forces and works such as ‘Born again’ 1978 align with the funk ceramic tradition in Australia in what Daniel Thomas later dubbed ‘Skangaroovian funk’. 17 It initially developed around ceramic artists in Adelaide, including Margaret Dodd, who had worked with funk potters in California in the late 1960s, and developed her series of ceramic Holden cars.

During the 1970s more ceramic artists, like Mark Thompson, Sandra Taylor, Lorraine Jenyns, Joan Grounds and Bernard Sahm, were to move away from the predominant functional aesthetic and experimented with satirical forms, sometimes drawing on earlier ceramic traditions like painted porcelain figures. 18

John McPhee’s insightful essay for the 1999 retrospective exhibition ‘Tropical Delft’ makes a significant observation that Connie Hoedt’s pre-1985 non-functional works are a little recognised contribution to Australian funk ceramics. ‘Connie Hoedt was producing some of the best sculptural works made in Australia. Her fossil pots and emerging life forms are a significant addition to the non-functional ceramics of the early 1970s. Not seen alongside Australia’s better known ‘funk’ potters … her work has never been assessed against this tradition’. 19 The current exhibition includes works not shown since first exhibited in the late 1970s, including the playful ‘Born again’, a hand-built glazed earthenware super-real sculpture which creates an illusion of lustrous red tomatoes stacked inside a faux white-painted crate.

By the mid-1980s Connie Hoedt had come a full circle and she was beginning to see creative possibilities in the vessel form of traditional wheel-thrown Dutch pottery and at first produced rather traditional painted designs. They were an interpretation of the antique Delftware she grew up with in Holland. The simple brushwork of her designs would later evolve into the Tropical Delft works that dominated her later career. By returning to thrown blue and white pieces she was seeking to reconnect with her Dutch heritage.

Candelabrum 1990

Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slip; gas fired to 1080°C

59.5 x 37 cm impressed near base with monogram Collection of Bronwyn McBurnie

Vase 1983

Porcelain wheel-thrown, with slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 27 x 26 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1983.7

On a trip to the Netherlands in 1981, she made an extensive study of old blue and white Delft pottery. ‘It inspired me to become part of this vessel making tradition, and I started on a series of blue and white bowls and platters reminiscent of Delftware’. 20

As a form, Delftware, also known as ‘Delft blue’, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware. Most of it is blue and white and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major city of production, but the term covers wares with other colours and made elsewhere. The richness of the Delft ceramic tradition can be seen almost everywhere and when Connie Hoedt visited Holland her searches even took her to inspect tiles in old markets. 21 The awareness and liking of this tradition ‘seeped in, much like my love for the countryside’. 22

Like many expatriates she felt an almost simultaneous pull of her homeland and that of her adopted country. In 1987 she wrote ‘Having spent one half my life in Holland and the other half in Australia’s northern tropics, I am a creature of two cultures, and it is the tropical “me” who has decorated these pots with the lush leafy patterns I see around me every day’.23

The overt brushwork as described by John McPhee, owed little to traditional patterns and more and more to the artist’s observation of quick-growing tropical vines and the lush flowers and foliage of the rainforest. 24 The return to vessel making of the Tropical Delft works in the early 1980s spanned Connie Hoedt’s last decade of fulltime art practice. In this decade the forms expanded, and her methods of working became much more sculptural in terms of cutting and reassembling the components of these increasingly elaborate structures. What started as an investigation of vessel making and simple decoration ‘moved away from traditional patterns’ 25 and the forms evolved from the everyday plates, jugs and platters into quite complex shapes and for John McPhee ‘possess a freshness that indicated they were not a reworking of an ancient tradition but the beginning of a new and exciting phase’. 26 All these clay ‘bodies’ including the less intricate vessels and trays were first wheel-thrown. It seems remarkable that even the most sculptural of these vessels would be turned out initially from the wheel and then the bases would be cut out and the shapes altered to accommodate different formats including the squared-off trays. As Connie Hoedt explained ‘The basic form made on the wheel can be cut, reassembled, added to and manipulated in a dozen ways, and always retains the “spring” peculiar to thrown pottery’. 27

The trays, platters and square plates became the dominant shape and offered enormous potential for decoration. The process first commenced with the application of a brushed-on white slip which became the ground and as John McPhee observes ‘the confidently-painted decoration featuring full blown flowers, fruits and leaves, further enriched the surfaces’. 28 Late in the 1980s the painted designs became less decorative and stylised. Platters and trays began to employ finely drawn depictions of Lilly Pilly, Swamp Bloodwood, Black Bean and mangoes. ‘Specific tropical plants could now be identified’. 29 The central medallion often contained a realistic depiction of seed pods or some other naturalistic reference. In historical porcelain, the central medallion is often reserved for the most highly finished painting that perfectly showcases the uniqueness of the design.

A further trip to the Netherlands in 1992 reinforced for Connie Hoedt, the full sculptural qualities of the famous Dutch tulip holders. The best known of these historical vases came in a fan shape with spouts on the top for holding the precious tulip, or in the form of an obelisk or pyramid; a base on feet with 5 or more stacked vases, each bearing 4 spouts. They were extraordinary pieces, no doubt required great virtuosity to make, were often quite ugly to behold and made mainly for royalty and the aristocracy. 30 The late 17th century potter Adriaen Kocks made two for Hampton Court Palace and several for the Duke of Devonshire. In Connie Hoedt’s hands these objects culminated in 1993 into highly complex tower structures including the Tulip holders based on these traditional archetypes. The Flower towers, 1993 were sadly the last fully sculptural works Connie Hoedt was able to make before crippling arthritis put a stop to her artistic career as a studio potter. It is fitting that a pair of Flower towers are now held by the National Gallery of Australia.

It is gratifying to see that she is so well represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and Queensland Art Gallery with significant holdings of Tropical Delft works. The exhibition draws on the extensive collections of the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and from private collections in Townsville and elsewhere. Clearly Connie Hoedt’s contribution to developments of non-functional pottery remains little appreciated in the wider history of Australian ceramics. It is remarkable that an artist with such insight and technical facility is not more widely appreciated outside of the north.

Pair of jars 1988-89

Her early achievements as a non-functional sculptural potter up to the early 1980s should be enough to secure her reputation, a view reinforced by John McPhee in 1999.31 Clearly McPhee’s assessment that she was one of most important potters to have worked in Queensland holds even greater significance since Connie Hoedt’s death. It is anticipated that this exhibition may in some small way contribute to a wider appreciation of a career cut short by illness. There could be no greater tribute to her creative life than this exhibition spanning twenty-five years of creative practice. She has left us a remarkable legacy.

Ross Searle Guest curator

Heritage, museums and galleries consultant

References

1. Anna Bock ‘Connie Hoedt’, Craft Australia, Winter 1982, p18

2. ibid

3. John McPhee ‘Tropical Delft’ catalogue, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 1999

4. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, 1999 from a transcript held by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery

5. ibid

6. ibid

7. ibid

8. ibid

9. ibid

10. Grace Cochrane ‘Truth or trap: the Australian contemporary crafts movement’s pursuit of art ideals’, PhD thesis, University of Tasmania 1998, p76

11. Peter Dormer ‘The Meanings of Modern Design’ 1990 p148, 150

12. Blakeborough studied with Takeichi Kawai in Japan before returning to Australia to become Director of the Sturt Workshops

13. Cochrane, op cit, p85

14. ibid

15. Cochrane, p106

16. The centre-periphery model continued to dominate cultural discourse well into the 1980s

17. Daniel Thomas in Judith Thompson ‘Skangaroovian Funk’ catalogue 1986

18. Cochrane, p99

19. John McPhee, op cit

20. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit

21. She visited many historical sites including fish mongers shops

22. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit

23. John McPhee, op cit

24. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit

25. John McPhee, op cit

26. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit

27. John McPhee, op cit

28. ibid

29. Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 40 2000, p98

30. Connie Hoedt interviewed by John McPhee, op cit

31. John McPhee ‘Tropical Delft’ catalogue, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 1999

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built additions, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C

63 x 21 cm diameter (a)

63 x 21 cm diameter (b) both impressed on base with monogram Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Blomberg

Ice bucket 1977

Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C

34 x 20.5 x 21.5 cm incised on base: CH

City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1977.2

Trinity 1976

Stoneware wheel-thrown and altered form, part slip glazed; gas fired 1280°C

52 x 33 x 16 cm incised on base: CH

City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1976.1

Born again 1978

Earthenware hand-built, part glazed and unglazed earthenware; electrically fired to 1060°C

16.5 x 26.5 x 22.5 cm

Collection of John Walters and Paul Smith

Microcosm 3 1985

Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 20 x 20 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1992.35

Microcosm 1984

Porcelain wheel-thrown, added hand-built sections with pre-coloured detail; electrically fired 1180°C 22.5 x 23 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of North Queensland Potters’ Association Inc

Candelabrum 1986

Earthenware wheel-thrown, altered form with hand-built sections, painted with coloured slips; gas fired to 1080°C 59.5 x 40 cm impressed on base with monogram Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Virginia Keyes

Vase 1983

Porcelain wheel-thrown, with slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 27 x 26 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1983.7

Jar 1978-79

Stoneware wheel-thrown, Shino glaze; wood fired to 1300°C 24 x 25 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto

Flower basket 1992

Stoneware white slip over dark clay body, painted decoration under the glaze, wheel-thrown altered with hand-built additions; gas fired to 1280°C

25 x 19.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir

Tea set 1992

Stoneware hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c

16 x 14 x 23 cm (teapot)

9.5 x 9 x 13 cm (milk jar)

11 x 10 cm (sugar bowl) Private Collection

Stoneware

Wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C

9.5

Salad bowl 1988

Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C

16.5 x 25.5 cm diameter

Impressed on base with monogram

Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Vase 1990

Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 24 x 15 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Jug 1990

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C 19 x 18 cm diameter impressed near base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Round bowl with handles 1988

Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C

12 x 25.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Square

Vase 1991

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C

37.5 x 17 cm diameter

Impressed near base with monogram Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Tulip vase 1992

Stoneware

Wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 29 x 24 x 14 cm impressed o base with monogram

Gift of John McPhee through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation 2018

Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Connie Hoedt: From Microcosm to Delft Blue

Tropical Delft dish 1992

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C

10.5 x 38 x 32.5 cm

Collection of Jeff and Elizabeth Tillack

Tray with Blackbean 1992-93 Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C

8.5 x 53 x 42 cm incised on base of tray with Blackbean / C. Hoedt impressed on base with monogram Collection of Edward Hoedt

Plate 1980

Stoneware wheel-thrown, coloured slip decoration; wood-fired to 1300°C 6 x 47.5 cm diameter

Inscriber on base C. Hoedt Collection of Syd and Lorraine Brischetto

Plate with Cycad 1993

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C

5 x 50 cm diameter impressed check City of Townsville Art Collection. Acc.1999.114

Plate 1986

Stoneware wheel-thrown, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; wood fired to 1300°C

5.5 x 47.5 cm diameter impressed on base with monogram

Collection of Don and Mary Gallagher

Tea pot c 1992

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built white slip over dark body, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°c

12.5 x 18 x 20.5 cm

Collection of Edward Hoedt

Tulip tower 1993

Stoneware wheel-thrown, hand-built altered form, white slip over dark body clay, underglaze decoration; gas fired to 1280°C 89 x 26 x 26 cm incised on base C. Hoedt /1993 impressed on base with monogram Collection of Paul and June Tonnoir

Lidded jar nd Stoneware

11.5 x 11 .5 cm