Page 41 - Constructing Craft

be remembered as someone who was prepared to share his knowledge, and

although the major production of the pottery was flowerpots made in moulds,
Fulford also made pottery on a potter’s wheel. Before his death in 1970 he

generously demonstrated his skills with aspiring studio potters and became the
14
patron of the Keirunga Potters’ Group in Hawke’s Bay.

Huelin Fulford. Photo: New Zealand Potter.

Most of the early potters worked in conjunction with brick works, pipe factories or

commercial flowerpot makers but the studio pottery movement also looked to a
small number of early studio potters who worked independently of these commercial

enterprises. In contrast to the nineteenth century, where men dominated the

industry, the interwar studio potters where predominantly women.

Early Studio Potters

It is unclear what sparked Elizabeth Lissaman’s interest in pottery but from an

early age she was aware she wanted to make pottery. She began her pottery career

in Marlborough and increased her understanding of clay during a period when she

Constructing Craft