AUSTRALIAN POTTERY AT BEMBOKA

David & Hermia Boyd

David Boyd (1924-2011) was born in Murrumbeena, VIC, the third son of Merric and Doris Boyd. He learnt pottery, painting and music within the family circle. After leaving school and working in a number of temporary jobs, he entered the Melbourne University's Conservatorium of Music at the age of seventeen, but was conscripted to the army after one year. Upon his return, he studied painting at the National Gallery School on an ex-serviceman's grant. In late 1946, he joined his brother Guy in Sydney to help him set up a pottery there. In Sydney, he met his future wife, Hermia Lloyd-Jones (1931-2000), who was studying art at the East Sydney Technical College and decorating pots for Guy on a piecework basis. David and Hermia were married in 1948. They settled in Sydney and set up a pottery with fellow Melbournian Tom Sanders, producing a range called Hermia Ware as well as making larger one-off pieces for exhibition. In 1950, they went to Europe where they established pottery studios in London and in the South of France. In 1956, they returned to Australia, basing themselves at Murrumbeena and continuing to make and exhibit ceramics. Boyd also began seriously to work as a painter at this time. In 1961, they moved to Rome, then London where they closed their last pottery in 1968 to concentrate on painting (David) and etching and sculpture (Hermia). After spending time in Spain and the South of France, they returned permanently to Australia in 1975. In their ceramic work, they used earthenware and terracotta clays to make wheel-thrown functional and sculptural forms glazed and finely decorated using sgraffito techniques and medieval imagery. Marks were painted or incised and include 'Hermia Ware', 'Hermia', 'Boyd / England', 'D + H Boyd' and 'David + Hermia Boyd'.

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