 Interview with Les
What was it that got you fired up about ceramics so long ago?
As a student I was in love with the idea of being a painter and that drove me for a few years however along the way I was introduced to the Ceramic Department at East Sydney Tec - The National Art School - and I persuaded Peter Rushforth and Molly Douglas to take me on in their department. Once I began it was obvious to me that I had found what I really wanted to do. A combination of using my mind and eye together with skilful hands to make three-dimensional objects. It was the 3D thing that really got to me, plus all the things necessary for ceramics to work, skill, process, understanding the complexity of materials, and using fire - learning to control it.
It's good to see you spent the proceeds of your first exhibition on a sports car - do you still like to splash out on the occasional toy?
My father was a speed fanatic - for a short while in the late 1920's he held the record at Brooklyns Race Track UK - 105 MPH in an Austin 7. That was crazy then and now!
I do enjoy good motorcars. The first was a Morris 8/40. For a time I enjoyed a SLC Merc - seriously fast - however I am reformed, and need, and drive a Ute. Whether its' cars or boats it is to do with good lines. They need to look pretty.
In 1963 you first went to Japan - it must have been quite a cultural experience, how did it affect you, your work and relationships?
Japan was a big influence in many ways. The craftsmanship in almost everything you looked at or used was impeccable. The attention to detail was the learning curve. The language was difficult and frustrating, but the eye was most compensated for - a wealth of visual delights. The architecture and Zen Temples in particular + Zen Buddhism worked by osmosis. Overall it was a formative time.
How does working with glass compare to ceramics - Richard Marquis is a great friend of yours do you still work with him?
The glass period began around the Board Table of the Craft Board of the Australia Council in North Sydney in 1974, of which I was an inaugural member. It resulted in amongst other things an Artist in Residency Scheme.
Richard Marquis came to Australia to tour a mobile glass workshop, and it came to the Tasmanian School of Art Mount Nelson in '75. The following year he returned for a yearlong residency and we made a glass studio within the Ceramics Studio. Hot Glass was very attractive to a committed ceramist and I became Dick's apprentice. Strange role being the head of ceramics and apprentice in the glass shop all at the same time under the same roof.
I enjoyed the whole process and the wonderful quality of the medium. However when the decision was made to close down the glass studio some eight years later I did decide reluctantly to leave glass behind and take up work with clay again.
Richard remains a good friend and we visit each other from time to time.
You recently trademarked Southern Ice Porcelain - it seems to be incredibly strong and quite translucent, how did you do it?
When I returned to run the Ceramic Studio at the School of Art in 1999 part of the brief was to get engaged in research projects. The development of high quality porcelain clay was one such project. Funded by the Australian Research Council and the University of Tasmania it became a six-year project. It was a long, hard project, but with consistent testing we eventually had a material that was looking better than the imported counterparts that were being used up to that time. We called it "Southern Ice Porcelain" to locate it to this part of the world that had inspired it - Tasmania in the Southern Ocean. It remains a very special material and has developed a big export market.
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