Artists statement

"I am an Australian of German parents born in Persia. I was taught by Peter Rushforth, with a very strong Japanese influence. My work attempts to incorporate these four elements of my history. For form, my influence comes from Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil as it is called in Germany. Techniques are informed by pottery from Japan, China, Korea and Germany. My colours are inspired by the Australian landscape. Using the language of woodfiring, I create a personal vocabulary with new subjects, grammar and syntax, which make each pot a one-off object containing all my diverse influences." (Roswitha Wulff)

Historical information

Roswitha WULFF (1941- )
Born Tabrize, Iran. Arrived Austrqalia c1949

Roswitha Wulff spent her early childhood with her mother, potter Helma Klett, in Germany. In 1964, she obtained a ceramics certificate from the East Sydney Technical College. From 1964-65, she worked with Robin Welch and Ian Sprague at Sprague's Mungeribar Pottery in Upper Beaconsfield, VIC. In 1966 she worked at the Sturt Pottery in Mittagong, NSW under Les Blakebrough. Between 1967 and 1969 Roswitha Wulff travelled overseas, spending 6 monthe with Robin Welch after his return to England and 9 months as a full-time thrower at Briglin Pottery, London, as well as working in potteries in Denmark and Germany. From 1969-70, she worked in North-West Pakistan as a research scholar for the Smithonian Institute and the University of NSW. Returning to Australia in 1970, she set up a workshop in Paddington, NSW, with the help of an Australia Council grant and taught part-time at the East Sydney Technical College and the Willoughby Workshop Art Centre. Since then she has been a lecturer and Head of Ceramics in many institutions, including the National Art School. In the 1990s she moved her studio to Botany Bay, NSW..

While working with the vessel form, she sees her pots as abstract landscapes. Recently she has also been working with wall tiles. During a residency at the Canberra School of Art in 2002, she developed tiles that looked like woodfired pillows with soft rounded rims. In 2007, she used such tiles to create a mural commemorating the Sesquicentenary of St Vincent's Hospital in Paddington.

Physical description

Woodfired stoneware bowl with flay ash

Inscriptions & markings

Signed on base