Les Blakebrough: Ceramics

2005 – 2007

In a career spanning five decades, Les Blakebrough (born 1930) has become one of Australia’s most acclaimed and influential ceramic artists. His body of work has ranged from earthy functional wares to more recent, delicate forms. The ethereal beauty of these later works emphasises the translucency and fragility of the Southern Ice Porcelain he trademarked and spent more than five years developing. His passionate research and development of the techniques and materials of ceramics have led him on journeys of discovery from studying with master potters in Japan in the 1960s to working with leading manufacturers of industrial ceramics in Scandinavia in the 1990s. 

Blakebrough has made an extraordinary contribution to visual art, craft and design in Australia as a practitioner, teacher, mentor and visionary advocate. He has been Director of the Sturt Pottery and Sturt Workshops, a founding member of the Crafts Board of the Australia Council, Head of Ceramics at the Tasmanian School of Art and a Principle Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania. He has been awarded numerous awards and commissions and his works are held in all major public collections in Australia and in many others around the world.

Les Blakebrough is an Australian Design Honouree. Explore Australian Design Honours here

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Image (top): Les Blakebrough, Oval Form (from the Forest Floor Series), 2004, unglazed Southern Ice porcelain, deep etched, shellac resist. Photo: Peter Whyte.