ARNAUD BARRAUD

Apart from new work, I am still enjoying reworking favourite glaze combinations. ‘Red Iron’ uses a thinly brushed matt iron glaze over a splattered iron surface. The result strongly evokes the Australia ‘Red Centre’ for me.

Born Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1942. Initial training, self-taught, from 1970. Started pottery career accidentally. He was working as a painter in Sydney in late 1960’s rarely selling a painting, so in 1970 returned to Auckland, stayed for a short while with a potter, Adrian Cotter. Adrian suggested he try making pots, to support his ‘painting habit’. He was given by Adrian, two glaze recipes, a stoneware body recipe, a good look at his kiln, and that was the start of his pottery career. Moved back to Sydney 1976, set up a pottery in a house in Newtown. The kiln was in the disused out door ‘dunny’. 1978, moved to Port Macquarie NSW, worked in an abandoned timber mill, sharing it with a varieties of snakes, 1980 settled in Kalorama, Melbourne. Works primarily with reduction-fired stoneware, but falling under the spell of translucent porcelain. 2014 highlight: teaching assignment, Brooklyn Pottery School, U.S.