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COLUMBIA
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Recognition Where it is Due 4s cei ausiin

British Columbia has a rich and varied ceramics history, much of which
still waits to be researched and written about, Recently, Kelly Austin, a
student at Emily Carr University and this month's featured artist in the
Gallery of BC Ceramics, spent time in the archives at UBC researching
two important B.C. female potters. The following edited excerpts come
from a paper she wrote for her Canadian Art History class taught by Mary
Jane Cowan, “Recognition Where it is Due: ‘The Influence of Bauhaus,
Modern Design and Vancouver’ post-World War II Culture on Female
Ceramic Artists Mollie Carter and Hilda Ross.” In it, Austin explores the
influence of international modern design on Canadian culture and the
achievements of two of B.C. significant female potters.

During the post-World War II era, Vancouver was thought of as
“free from the burden of history” (Elder 9). While we know this is not
true, as there is a great deal of First Nations history in B.C., this was
the European perspective and was in contrast to the developments that
had occurred in Eastern Canada. It was a time in Vancouver when the
art community felt compelled to create a new way of life. An example
of this redesigning of life was the formation in 1944 of the Art in
Living Group, which stated a great ambition: “we do not wish for a
new world. Instead we are firmly determined to have a new world”

(Watson 73).
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‘The vibrancy of Vancouver's art community at the time was due
to the fact that designers, architects, craftspeople and artists were
intermingling and their practices overlapped (Elder 9). Architects

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Mollie Carter at the wheel, 1949 (photo courtesy of the University of
British Columbia Archives, UBC 1.1/10336-2).

such as B.C. Binning could be painters, and designers such as Peter
Cotton could be sculptors; “they were seen as operating within a
common sphere of visual production” (9). This was especially clear
with the formation of the Community Arts Council and their
1949 exhibition Design for Living at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The
exhibition consisted of “plans and interiors for homes designed to fit
the needs of four imaginary families” (Watson 78). As the original
exhibition catalogue portrays, the show included a variety of mediums
including locally designed and made furniture by Peter Cotton,
ceramics by Mollie Carter and Hilda Ross and paintings by B.C.
Binning. Potters at the time were working within a cultural climate
where there was an “enormous demand for household goods” due
of the lack of products available during the war (Collier 103). There
were numerous gallery exhibitions in Canada between 1945 and
1960 in which ceramic artists participated: Design for Living, VAG
1949; Ceramics, Textiles and Furniture, VAG 1950; Canadian Ceramics
Exhibition, Canadian Guild of Potters, 1957; First National Fine Crafts
Exhibition, NGC, 1957 and others. It is no surprise that within the
lively and exhilarating art movement in Vancouver at the time, Carter
and Ross both had successful careers as ceramic artists and produced
work strongly influenced by modern design and craft.

Mollie Carter was a student of Grace Melvin’s at the Vancouver
School of Art in the late 1930s and early 1940s, graduating with a
specialization in ceramics, interior decoration and crafts (Carter

1). Due to a lack of writing about Carter, her source of inspiration

Continued on Page 7, Design influence

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter « April 2011

6