Featured Artist
ANNE BLAKE

Our Featured Artist is Guild member and porcelain artist Anne Blake. An active member of the Guild since the mid 1990s, Anne is a past president and was awarded life membership in 2013.

Born and raised in the UK, Anne recalls always having an interest in art. While working in London in the 1970s she attended art classes sponsored by her employer British Petroleum which introduced her to a variety of different media.

Shown right:
'Cruising the Reef' plate

Shown left:
Redback Spider Vase

Anne moved to Perth in the mid 1970s where she met and married her husband Mike. It was some time after this an advertisement for china painting classes caught her eye. Curious, she enrolled in a class run by Frances Caird and from there developed an enduring love of the media.

Her work reflects an appreciation of Australian flora and fauna, influenced by experiences in remote outback regions of Australia. Anne and her husband were members of the Underwater Explorers Club of WA and dived on many of WA's historic shipwrecks. This enabled Anne to explore the marine environment off WA's coast and inspired a range of coral and reef fish designs.

Shown above harlequin wildflower mug set

In addition to traditional painting Anne enjoys incorporating different techniques into her designs. Her reef scenes utilise a variety of texture finishes to create corals and layered blue lustre ocean. A collection titled 'Golden Outback' utilised ochre collected in the WA Goldfields which was applied using texture paste.

Ore-Vein Vase	Time Movement plate	Pink Forget-me-Not dish

In the 2006, with the encouragement and support of local author and porcelain collector John Thomson, Anne developed a history project for the Guild. A questionnaire was circulated to members enquiring into their painting career, preferences and background. It was optional but the project was well supported by members. The collated information forms a valuable database reference of early and current WA china painters associated with the Guild.

On completion of the questionnaire project Anne joined forces with Kaye MacLean to write the history of the WA Guild of China Painters. There followed several years of detailed research before the writing of the book commenced. Once completed and due to budget constraints Anne and Kaye undertook publishing and printing of the book themselves. "Golden Reflections - A Celebration of 50 Years" was launched by the Hon Richard Court AC, during the Guild's Golden Jubilee celebrations in May 2014.  Read more about the book.

Shown Above 'Golder Reflections' book launch
L to R Anne Blake, Kaye MacLean, Hon Richard Court AC and President Heather Tailor

Having participated in exhibitions with the Guild and private galleries, Anne has received many trophies and awards. Her work has been acquired for the Guild's 'Collectables' and by the WA Museum. She is a regular participant in china painting exhibitions and events, judges and teaches at workshops.

For more information visit Anne's website at www.anneblake.com.

Forget-me-Not Miniature Jug	Seashells in Lustre	Above: Blue Leschenaultia Plate At Right: White Leschenaultia on Blue

All photographs in Gallery 4 are © A Blake. All rights reserved

back to top