Marea Gazzard AM (1928–2013) was one of Australia's leading ceramicists. After studying in London, she returned with her husband to Australia in 1960 and set up a studio in Paddington. In 1973, with fibre artist Mona Hessing, Gazzard was one of the first craftspeople invited to exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. The exhibition, Clay + Fibre, generated much discussion about whether craft was art and accelerated acceptance of women artists. Through the 1970s and 1980s she exhibited large abstract works in a number of important group shows and solo exhibitions. Gazzard was also instrumental in the development of craft in Australia, including helping to set up the Crafts Council of Australia in 1971 and chairing the Crafts Board of the Australia Council in 1973. President of the World Crafts Council from 1980 to 1984, Gazzard was commissioned to create the bronze sculpture Mingarri: The Little Olgas (1988), which stands in the central Executive Courtyard of Parliament House, Canberra. The Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired her last major work, Selini I (2009), in 2012.
Artist Judy Cassab owned a 1966 work by Gazzard, Dial. It has been suggested that it was perhaps exchanged for this portrait of Gazzard that Cassab painted in the same year.
Gift of Marea Gazzard 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Judy Cassab/Copyright Agency, 2021
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