Large Turquoise Bowl
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This piece of Deichmann pottery is in excellent condition. It is signed on the bottom.
Biography
Deichmann pottery was produced by Kjeld and Erica Deichmann in New Brunswick from 1935 to 1963. Until 1956 their studio was located in rural Moss Glen on the Kingston Peninsula near Saint John. In 1956 it was moved to Sussex, where it operated until Kjeld Deichmann's death in 1963.
The Deichmanns called their pottery studio Dykelands because there were several small dykes on their property.
They divided the labour between them, with Kjeld using a potter's wheel to throw the pots and operating the kiln, while Erica developed and mixed the glazes, painted the pottery and decorative tiles, and sculpted fanciful animal figurines which she called "goofi".
The Deichmanns became part of a circle of artists and poets, including Miller Brittain, Jack Humphrey, Louis Muhlstock, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, P. K. Page, and Kay Smith, who visited them at Dykelands. Early and influential patrons were the historian John Clarence Webster and his wife, who purchased Deichmann works for their personal collection and for the New Brunswick Museum. Local people and tourists also visited the studio in increasing numbers, purchasing work directly from the Deichmanns and providing "a major source of income".
Deichmann pottery was included in the Canadian Handicrafts Guild's group exhibition at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. Their work was also shown at the British Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938 and the 1939 New York World's Fair. In 1940, representing the province of New Brunswick, they exhibited their work and gave live demonstrations of pottery making at the Montreal Arts and Crafts fair on Saint Helen's Island. In 1946 their work was shown in the League of Canadian Potters show in Toronto, and they exhibited regularly at the Canadian National Exhibition, winning prizes for pottery and glazes.
In 1955 the New Brunswick Museum exhibited Twenty years of Ceramics: Retrospective of Deichmann Pottery, and in 1961 the University of New Brunswick Art Centre hosted an exhibition of their porcelain and stoneware. The Canadian Museum of Civilization has a collection of 64 pieces of Deichmann pottery ranging from 1935 to 1963. This collection was the basis of an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1991.
The Deichmanns were Canada's first studio potters.
