1960s Mid-Century Modern Studio Pottery Tea Set by Jan and Helga Grove Canada- 5 Pieces

Description

RARE Mid-Century Modern Studio Pottery Tea Set by Jan and Helga Grove Canada
Set includes: 1 teapot (6 cups / … more RARE Mid-Century Modern Studio Pottery Tea Set by Jan and Helga Grove Canada
Set includes: 1 teapot (6 cups / 48 OZ capacity), 1 creamer, 1 sugar bowl, 2 cups
Very good original condition!

Biography

Jan: 1930 – 2018. Born Hamburg, Germany
Helga: 1927 – 2018. Born Stettin, Germany

Signature/Mark/Chop: Jan’s initials are a stylized potter’s wheel; Helga’s an ‘H’, two parallel lines with a dot in between. Both marks together on the piece indicate it was thrown by Jan and decorated by Helga. Jan’s mark alone is very common, as he did all the throwing and glazing of the utilitarian ware and the solid coloured, studio pieces. There are other combinations of marks, eg dates, Victoria BC, Victoria Canada, etc. They are always marked by hand. Grove Victoria BC and later by ‘Grove Victoria Canada’. They stopped using the Victoria element in the 1990s preferring date, mark and Grove BC

Jan and Helga Grove. Have you heard of them? Then you should. The exhibition ‘Life With Clay: Pottery and Sculpture by Jan and Helga Grove’ at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria focuses on their lives and work. This article is not a review of the exhibition or its catalogue but does share the research of curator Allan Collier and images of works in the exhibition. Thank you, Allan.

For so much of the last half of the twentieth century the influence of the Leach-Hamada tradition in Canada seemed supreme. Yet there were other major traditions, solid, well grounded. In this case the Northern European tradition and its aesthetic. This difference is not a counter balance, after all, this is not a zero-sum calculation. Traditions, although sometimes blending, will also often co-exist like siblings or cousins in a broader family. While Jan and Helga Grove while in Canada have lived and created in the Victoria area of Vancouver Island let’s take look at a brief overview of their lives and careers before their arrival in Canada.

When asked why they pot Helga answered directly:

”It was the only thing we knew how to do!” 7
Their opportunities for development were limited in the tangle and upheaval of post-War Europe.

Jan born in 1930, originally from Hamburg, came from an established artistic family. His mother, herself a certified Master Potter his father a sculptor, set up their studio in Lübeck after World War II.¹ Ironically in his early years Jan said:

“When I was in high school I told everyone, I would never be a potter. I wanted to be an architect, but by magic, when school was finished, I started to pot. Once you begin you never can stop.” ¹
Helga, born in 1927, originally from Stettin, Germany, came from a more Bauhaus-influenced environment. She moved to Lübeck in the last stage of World War II where she apprenticed with the Groves from 1946-49. Her interests would take her into design areas such as painting and textile decoration: she would be the one adding the more painterly or graphic design elements to their pottery and her own sculptures surfaces.¹

The Groves earlier European training was traditional in format, one unfamiliar to most Canadians of the time. Jan undertook a three-year apprentice regimen with his parents in Lübeck in 1948, becoming a qualified journeyman in 1951. Helga similarly apprenticed with Jan’s parents, starting in 1946. Romance and marriage followed in 1952. Over the next decade Jan would continue his ceramic studies, to become accredited as a Master Potter in 1956. Helga’s interests took a short art and applied diversion in textile design, taking master classes under the Bauhaus Master, Georg Muche and graduating in 1952.¹

While both would create their individual works in their individual styles this role-sharing, form-maker and surface decorator, was not unusual in European inspired pairs, for instance the Deichmanns in New Brunswick and Folmer Hansen and David Ross in Saskatchewan. Perhaps a bit of banter between Jan and Helga could some up some key reasons for their success:

“Jan: She is a better artist than I am! I’m more of a technician.

Helga: Jan is a fantastic thrower on the wheel.

Jan: Both of us work well together. I did all the technical parts, like glazing.

Helga: And we didn’t work against each other.

Jan: That’s the wonderful thing. I admire Helga because she has fantastic ideas.

Helga: And I admire him too!” 7
Meanwhile, Jan and Helga worked at establishing their own studio and reputations. From 1957 to 1960 they operated the family studio back in Lübeck, and started to exhibit in group shows.¹ They thus gained their valuable exhibition, technical and business experience from these early beginnings.

Yet there was a yearning for something more. During an interval of five years they worked in Istanbul, Turkey, at Tatbiki Güzel Sanatlar Yüksek Okulu an Istanbul applied fine arts school.¹ This teaching experience was to serve well in later years in Canada as many Canadian workshop and class attendees came to know the to the name, style and techniques of the Groves.

It was while in Istanbul that German-Canadian artist, Herbert Siebner, convinced them to come to Canada, particularly, Victoria, BC. Helga jokingly remembers Siebner’s “crafty” promise:

“ I loved to ride horses. He lured me by saying: ‘You can ride there!’ ” 9
Siebner was also critical in helping them establish themselves in their new home and establishing their artistic network.

Things then moved quickly. The Groves came to Canada in November,1965, bringing a level of experience almost unknown in this country.¹ Their timing was fortuitous. Not only was there an expanding interest in craft in general but also the catalysing effect of plans for the 1967 Centennial celebrations, including Expo67, meant funding was generous and exhibition opportunities more available. The time was particularly ripe for exhibiting, selling and teaching.

Consummate professionals Jan and Helga immediately set about establishing their presence. Within a week they had bought a property – a mink farm – in Colwood, just west of Victoria, where they would stay for twenty five years.4 Jan planned for an electric kiln and designed and built his first kick wheel. With the help of Siebner they connected with such well know Island artists as Leonard and Mary Osborne who shared their knowledge of materials and equipment. They started submitting to Centennial-based exhibitions. Jan was accepted at the National Gallery of Canada’s Canadian Fine Crafts, and at Expo 67, followed up by purchases.

Their studio was fully up and running by 1966. It would continue operating with one location change until 2009. They would support themselves with their studio production, teaching and exhibiting. They sold firstly more locally and then across the country.¹ Although a bit of a luxury sculpture would also be a significant output of the studio throughout this period: they made sculptures almost from the moment they opened their studio in 1966 right up until 2005.¹ The studio would finally close in 2009.

The Groves responded to the need for creating high quality ceramic work, continuing their success with exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and solo exhibitions with the Canadian Guild of Potters in Toronto, among others. Their work would be illustrated in magazine such as Canadian Art. Their emphasis on high production standards helped shift general public and professional opinion out of the doldrums of viewing pottery as only a hobby.

The teaching years in Turkey paid off , not only in visibility but also in the quality message. A sampling of the scope of the teaching work done is extensive:

Night Classes at local school and Nanaimo
Workshops via Emily Carr College of Art and Design’s Outreach Programme throughout BC
Night classes at the Education Faculty of University of Victoria, and
Pottery classes in their own studio
Inevitably their studio became a popular tourist spot.

Their studio, exhibiting, teaching and sales helped them connect with other major BC ceramists such as Walter Dexter, Gordon Hutchens, Byron Johnstad, Wayne Ngan, Sally Michener and Stan Clarke.¹ Further networking with the artist group, the Vancouver Island-based Limners which they joined in 1981¹ further consolidated their reputation in the professional class of artists.

Allan Collier writes on the importance and dedication of Jan and Helga Grove and their approach to their creations:

“[their] pottery is a testament to the Groves’ strong belief in the value of craft in contemporary life, where the handmade object – original with subtle variation – gains a favoured status amid the conformity of mass production. … the Groves reinforced in their own work a direct link between product and artist, always signing by hand each piece made in their studio.” less