Jan Dunn (23 May 1940 – 15 May 2002)[1][2][3] born in Springvale, Victoria, Australia, was a potter, ceramicist and teacher.
Ceramics biography
Art education
Dunn graduated from the former Canberra School of Art in 1979 with a Diploma of Visual Arts – Ceramics, travelled to Egypt and the Middle East where she studied Arab lustreware in 1978 and 1987 and lived in Tokyo for three years (1985 –1988) studying Japanese pottery and brushwork.[1][4][5]
Dunn maintained a network of colleagues and continued to learn from them; Australian potters and ceramicists such as Marea Gazzard, Rod Bamford, Janet deBoos, Anita McIntyre, Alan Peascod, and international speakers at the National Ceramics Conferences in the 1980s such as Colin Pearson, Michael Cardew and Paul Soldner.[12] She contributed to the development of Australian ceramics through her committee work which included the National Ceramic Award Committee 1990 to 1994, National Ceramic Conference Committee 1996, Management Committee ACT Crafts Council 1988 to 90 and ACT Crafts Council fundraising Committee 1992.[18][7][19]
Technique
During the 1980s Dunn produced lustreware vases, pots and occasionally platters, often decorated with traditional motifs. She built two kilns in her home studio in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory with some kiln parts bought from her time in Japan.[12][5] She made hundreds of sketches in her sketchbooks of flowers, seed pods, jugs, vases, symbols from various countries and preliminary designs for her own pottery.[12] An art historian and curator described her vessels: "Dunn's irregular vessels draw their inspiration from shapes found in traditional Islamic objects and architecture and from the vessels and decoration of Medieval Europe. They also show the influence of time spent in Japan (1985-1988), a place where the traditional art of Tea expresses the importance of imperfection."[4]Artfile featured a photo of one of her vessels from the Craft Australia slide library with a description of her combination and adaptation of traditional techniques, "Her one-of-a-kind decorative pieces have an Oriental flavour reflecting her interest in the Middle East and time spent in Japan".[15]
In the 1990s her practice changed towards using dry glaze, making irregular vessels decorated with animals and plants. In 1991 her ceramic Persian poppies was exhibited by Central Craft in the Alice Craft Acquisition Award at the Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory and subsequently acquired by Central Craft for its collection.[20] She also began studies in life drawing as her health deteriorated.[7] Dunn's last solo exhibition, Metamorphica, was at the Link Gallery, Canberra Theatre Centre in 2000 where she showed her later dry-glaze fantasy creatures.[7][21][22] In 2012 the Canberra Museum and Gallery acquired three Dunn vases created in the early 1980s from wheel-thrown stoneware, using a cobalt glaze under Arabian lustre glaze. The vases are decorated with Dunn's adaptations of traditional motifs and decoration.[23][14]