Joan Campbell Australia, 1925-97

Joan Campbell (1925-1997) was an Australian potter and ceramic artist. She was born in Geelong, Victoria, and moved to Western Australia with her family while a teenager. She developed an interest in pottery after attending a hobby class and this led her to pursue pottery as a craft, building a wood-fire kiln in her suburban backyard. In the late 1950s she worked with Daniel de Blanken, a Dutch potter who had settled in WA. and later with the Australian potter Eileen Keys (1903-1992). In the mid 1960s she developed an interest in the Japanese technique of raku, which became Campbell’s preferred way of firing. In 1968 Campbell helped establish the Western Australian Branch of the Crafts Association of Australia (later Craft Association of Western Australia) as the Association's secretary. She was a foundation member of the Crafts Board of the Australia Council (which was established in 1973), and was a member of the Australia Council from 1974 to 1977. She held her first solo exhibition at the Old Fire Station Gallery in 1969, and exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 1972. In 1977 she was awarded an MBE (member of the Bristish Empire) for her work in the Arts.

In our database, 17 works by Joan Campbell are listed as being offered for sale, the earliest in 1999, of which 15 (88%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $4,025 for Warrior sold by GFL Fine Art in November 2015. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2022. Works by Joan Campbell are held by the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia and a further five major public national galleries (see list below).