Page 55 - Constructing Craft

Australia but trained in London. After moving to New Zealand she worked in

Wellington before the First World War and in Auckland after the war. She
maintained studios and displayed work at exhibitions in both cities. Her most

productive period was between 1922 and her death in 1927, when she was
producing jewellery made of gold and silver with inset stones. She was also an

accomplished enameller.

Edith Morris was born in England in 1895 and moved to New Zealand with her
husband and children in 1924. By 1934 the family had settled in Wellington and

Edith took a course in metalworking at Wellington Technical College. Nelson Issac,
as has been noted, was head of the School of Art. Having completed the course by

1936 she began producing jewellery and metalwork from a workshop at her home in

Days Bay – an area considered to be culturally and physically conducive to such
activities. Edith, like many others who became craftspeople between the wars, was

talented across a range of cultural pursuits. She was a gifted pianist and she also
drew, painted and sewed. Edith Morris was one of a few women in New Zealand

during the middle of the twentieth century who earned a living as a practising
craftsperson. She died in Wellington in 1965.

Edith Morris. Photo: Moira White.

Constructing Craft