Merric Boyd

Date of birth
1888
Place of birth
St Kilda, Victoria
Date of death
1959
Place of death
Murrumbeena, Victoria
Nationality
Australia
Biography

Merric Boyd (1888-1959) is considered Australian’s first studio potter. Boyd studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne, enrolling in the drawing school in 1910; drawing subsequently became a major part of Boyd’s output. In 1913 he settled at a property he named Open Country in Murreumbeena, Melbourne, where he set up his studio, and lived and worked for the rest of his life. In 1918, after war service, he attended pottery classes at the Stoke Technical School and in the following year attended pottery classes at the Stoke Technical College. Boyd returned to Open Country in 1919, and within a few years was established as the major studio potter in Melbourne.

Boyd's work in clay employed both wheel-throw and hand-built techniques and his pots often have a rugged, earthy quality. He fredquently included gum trees in both applied decoration and form as well as koalas and his work drew heavily on the Australian landscape.