Allan Lowe (Australia) ceramics

Allan James George Lowe was born in Collingwood, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria in 1907. He originally trained as a painter, but in the late 1920s, he taught himself pottery, and in 1930 was employed as a potter at Hoffmans Brickworks in Brunswick.

He began making pottery full-time after World War II. from his home in Ferntree Gully in the Dandenong Ranges. His work combined Chinese forms with Aboriginal motifs. He is considered to be one of the first potters to have drawn sympathetically on Aboriginal colours, themes and motifs. Much of his work shows the elegant simplicity of oriental design. He made several trips to central Australia in the 1950s and 1960s to draw inspiration from the indigenous people there.

Allan Lowe was active in local arts societies including Ferntree Gully Arts Society and the Pottery Group of the Warrandyte Mechanics Institute and Arts Association. Allan Lowe more... and Klytie Pate were both awarded a Bronze medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics Art Festival, and, in 1979, Alan was made a Fellow of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts.

The Pottery Group of the Warrandyte Mechanics Institute and Arts Association was formed following a talk by Alan Lowe from the 1955. Allan and Klytie Pate were both awarded a Bronze medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics Art Festival, and, in 1979, Alan was made a Fellow of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts.

 A retrospective of his work was held by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1979, the year he ceased work. Some of his work and his wife Peg’s work is held by Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.

Allan died at the age of 93 in 2001. less...