Ann Verdcourt
Biography
Ann Verdcourt was born in Bedfordshire, England, and immigrated to New Zealand with her husband in 1965. Her work references many other artists and art movements, drawing from her extensive knowledge of art history. Accessed 9/07/2012 from Masterworks Gallery http://www.masterworksgallery.com/index.cfm?action=artists&page=profile&artist_id=77
"In her work one can find allusions to artists including Velasquez, Matisse, Modigliani and Brancusi to the famous earthenware depiction of the Venus of Willendorf.
Verdcourt says of her work: 'Unless the work is a commission I don't make working drawings or scale models before making. I like to be surprised as the work builds, that way I keep it fresh. Sometimes I can visualise the finished object and build it in one go. Most of the time I will have several starts/stops and decide it's not going to work and wedge up the clay and start again. I may wonder if I had done this or that differently, would the work be better? That is how I end up making three similar groups, e.g. 'Ted, Fred and Karla'. Each piece is still individually modelled with its own style which keeps the work alive.
I don't have a set way of making. I coil, pinch, pile the clay up and squeeze it or make solid lumps and hollow it out. I have made plaster press moulds for the cartons but avoid using moulds if possible. Fifty years of using clay has not dulled my enthusiasm for it.'
Verdcourt has been working with clay since the 1950s, and has work in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, the Auckland Museum, Auckland, Te Manawa, Palmerston North, Sarjeant Art Gallery, Wanganui, the James Wallace Collection, Auckland, Hawke's Bay Museum, Napier, and the Dowse, Lower Hutt."
From Aquisition report:
September 2010:
Ann Verdcourt: Ceramics, essays by Nicola Jennings, Greg Donson, Gregory O’Brien, Roger Blackley, Janne Land. 60 page full colour publication to accompany the survey exhibition, published with the support of Creative NZ.
Thrill Me Every Day: The Celia Dunlop Collection, essay by Jill Trevelyan. 2009
Pakeha Now!, exhibition catalogue. The Suter Gallery, Nelson, 2007.
Welcome to the South Seas: Contemporary Art for Young People, Gregory O’Brien. Auckland University Press, 2004.
Ceramic Figures: Directory of Artists, Michael Flynn. A & C Black, UK and Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, USA, 2002.
Contemporary New Zealand Sculpture: Themes and Issues, Priscilla Pitts. David Bateman, 1998.
New Zealand Craft Artists, Helen Schamroth. Random House, 1998.
Contemporary Ceramic Art in Australia and New Zealand, Janet Mansfield. Craftsman House, 1995.
Art New Zealand, 125, Summer 2007-08, “Reflection and Reconciliation: Pakeha Now! at Nelson”, Ngahiraka Mason, pp 38-42.
Ceramic Review UK, July/August 1996.
Art New Zealand, 54, Autumn 1990, “Playing with the Velazquez Girls: Ann Verdcourt at the Dowse”, Lucy Alcock, pp 44-46.
NZ Crafts, NZ Craft Council, Spring 1986.
NZ Potter, various issues.
"In her work one can find allusions to artists including Velasquez, Matisse, Modigliani and Brancusi to the famous earthenware depiction of the Venus of Willendorf.
Verdcourt says of her work: 'Unless the work is a commission I don't make working drawings or scale models before making. I like to be surprised as the work builds, that way I keep it fresh. Sometimes I can visualise the finished object and build it in one go. Most of the time I will have several starts/stops and decide it's not going to work and wedge up the clay and start again. I may wonder if I had done this or that differently, would the work be better? That is how I end up making three similar groups, e.g. 'Ted, Fred and Karla'. Each piece is still individually modelled with its own style which keeps the work alive.
I don't have a set way of making. I coil, pinch, pile the clay up and squeeze it or make solid lumps and hollow it out. I have made plaster press moulds for the cartons but avoid using moulds if possible. Fifty years of using clay has not dulled my enthusiasm for it.'
Verdcourt has been working with clay since the 1950s, and has work in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, the Auckland Museum, Auckland, Te Manawa, Palmerston North, Sarjeant Art Gallery, Wanganui, the James Wallace Collection, Auckland, Hawke's Bay Museum, Napier, and the Dowse, Lower Hutt."
From Aquisition report:
September 2010:
Ann Verdcourt: Ceramics, essays by Nicola Jennings, Greg Donson, Gregory O’Brien, Roger Blackley, Janne Land. 60 page full colour publication to accompany the survey exhibition, published with the support of Creative NZ.
Thrill Me Every Day: The Celia Dunlop Collection, essay by Jill Trevelyan. 2009
Pakeha Now!, exhibition catalogue. The Suter Gallery, Nelson, 2007.
Welcome to the South Seas: Contemporary Art for Young People, Gregory O’Brien. Auckland University Press, 2004.
Ceramic Figures: Directory of Artists, Michael Flynn. A & C Black, UK and Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, USA, 2002.
Contemporary New Zealand Sculpture: Themes and Issues, Priscilla Pitts. David Bateman, 1998.
New Zealand Craft Artists, Helen Schamroth. Random House, 1998.
Contemporary Ceramic Art in Australia and New Zealand, Janet Mansfield. Craftsman House, 1995.
Art New Zealand, 125, Summer 2007-08, “Reflection and Reconciliation: Pakeha Now! at Nelson”, Ngahiraka Mason, pp 38-42.
Ceramic Review UK, July/August 1996.
Art New Zealand, 54, Autumn 1990, “Playing with the Velazquez Girls: Ann Verdcourt at the Dowse”, Lucy Alcock, pp 44-46.
NZ Crafts, NZ Craft Council, Spring 1986.
NZ Potter, various issues.
b.1934, d.2022
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