Robert Barron - Curriculum Vitae
Born in Harpenden, England. Robert Barron commenced potting full-time in the family pottery at Croydon, Victoria, in 1976. In 1979, he left Australia on a five-year journey to New Zealand, North America, England, Europe, and South Korea to work with woodfiring potters. During this time, he visited Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge Pottery, Cornwall, UK. He was engaged as an apprentice at Cornwall Bridge Pottery, Connecticut, USA and frequented many workshops, art schools, galleries, and museums.
Returning to Australia in 1984, he established Gooseneck Pottery at Kardella, Victoria and with the assistance of a Crafts Board grant built a 1000 cubic ft five-chambered woodfired kiln. Influenced by the philosophies of Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, and with a passion for the pots made by traditional crafts people throughout the world, he continues to develop ideas and techniques by exploring the intricacies of woodfiring.
Aquisitions
Arts Victoria 1978 Festival Collection; Westpac Corporate Art Collection; Shepparton Art Gallery; Victorian Ministry for the Arts; Diamond Valley Shire Collection; Australian Crafts Centenary Collection; Sale regional Art Gallery; Myer Collection; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery; Water Phillips Gallery Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; Victorian Ceramic Group; Latrobe University; Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy; numerous private collections in Australia and overseas.
Awards
1979 Victoria Ceramic Group 10th Anniversary Pottery Award; Diamond Valley Art Award; Pugmill Award, South Australia.
1980 BP Australia Ceramic Award.
1984 Crafts Board Grant.
1991 RSPCA Ceramic Award; Victorian Ceramic Group Exhibition; Northcote Pottery Award.
1992 RSPCA Award.
1994 Visual Arts Crafts Board Grant; South Gippsland Crafts Prize.
1995 RSPCA Ceramic Award.
1998 Poyntzpass Pioneers Ceramic Award; Sidney Myer Fund; Shepparton Art Gallery.
1999 Gold Coast Ceramic Award - Merit Award.
Exhibitions
1976 Group Show, Gallery 99, Carlton, Victoria.
1978 Gallery 99, Carlton, Victoria.
1979 Fletcher Brownbuilt Exhibition, Aukland, New Zealand.
1981 Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada.
1982 Surroundings Gallery, New York (group show with potters from Cornwall Bridge Pottery, Connecticut, USA).
1987 Sale Regional Art Gallery; Leongatha Art Gallery; Coalface Gallery, Yallourn.
1989 Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn.
1990 Northcote Pottery Gallery, Thornbury.
1991 Shino Show, Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn.
1994 Artworks Gallery, Nungurner, Victoria; Crystal Creek Resort, Dinner Plain, Victoria; Westpac Private Bank Exhibition, Melbourne.
1995 Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada.
1996 Australian Woodfire Survey 1996 (8th National Conference, Canberra); Artworks Gallery, Nungurner, Victoria.
1997 Then and Now - Works from the State Craft Collection and Contemporary Works, Meat Market Craft centre, Melbourne.
1998 Beaver Galleries, Canberra; Woodfire Show, Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn; Fletcher Challenge Exhibition, Aukland, New Zealand.
1999 Woodfire Masters - Qdos, Lorne, Victoria; Different Stokes, Iowa University, Iowa, USA.
2000 Sidney Myer Fund - Shepparton Art Gallery, Gallery 101, Collins Street, Melbourne; Cloudehill, Olinda, Victoria.
2001 Cloudehill, Olinda, Victoria; Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy.
2002 Ceramics Masters - Skepsi, Swanston Street, Melbourne.
2003 Meeniyan Art Gallery, Victoria.
2004 Ceramics Masters � Skepsi, Swanston Street, Melbourne
2004 Sydney Myer Fund � Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton.
2004 New Energies � Meeniyan Art Gallery, (Travelling show) Victoria.
Artist-In-Residence & Lecturing Experience
1981 Woodfiring Residency Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; Workshop at Chicago Art Institute, USA.
1986 Conference Paper at Woodfire '86.
1987 Sessional Teaching at Yallourn TAFE.
1987-2002 Regular workshops and demonstrations at Gooseneck Pottery to visiting college groups.
1988 Demonstration at VCG Festival of Ceramics; Slide Presentation at Ceramics '88 (National Conference, Sydney).
1989 Conference Paper at Woodfire '89.
1990 Lecture and Workshop Tour of USA, Bradley University, Illinois; Iowa State University; Juniata College, Pennsylvania.
1995 Residency at the Leighton Artists Colony and Slide Presentation, Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; Slide Presentation at NCECA Conference, Minnesota, USA.
1998 Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramic Award Conference, Shepparton Art Gallery.
1999 Demonstration / Slide Presentation / Fire Master, Qdos Woodfire Conference, Lorne, Victoria.
2001 Demonstration / Slide Presentation, Monash University, Melbourne.
2003 Slide Presentation / Panel Discussion, - �Ignition�, National Ceramic Conference, Bendigo, Victoria.
2004 Slide Presentation / Demonstration, Chisholm Inst. / Monash Uni.
Bibliography
1986 Woodfire '86 - Proceedings of National Woodfire Conference.
1989 Woodfire '89 - Proceedings of National Woodfire Conference; Craft Victoria 7/89; Pottery Australia Vol. 28, No.3; Meat Market Craft Centre Export Video 1989.
1990 Ceramics Art and Perception, Issue No. 2; Pottery in Australia, Vol. 29, No. 3.
1992 Ceramics Art and Perception, Issue No. 7.
1994 Pottery in Australia, Vol. 33, No. 3.
1995 Woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain by Jack Troy.
1997 "The Kiln at Kardella," Ceramics Technical, No. 3, 1997.
1998 Pottery in Australia, Vol. 37, No. 1.
1999 Ceramics Art and Perception, Issue No. 35.
2000 Bourke's Back Yard, Channel 9, August 2000.
