Grute, Margaret A. (nee MacDonnell)
Item
Maker Name
Grute, Margaret A. (nee MacDonnell)
Studio name
Cottage Pottery
Tillicum
Kumtuk
Marks
Biography
A graduate of British art schools, Grute came to Victoria around 1918. She received her first pottery instruction with Mary Young in 1923 at the Victoria Summer School for Teachers and subsequently taught there for seven consecutive years from 1924-1930.
In the Fall of 1923, she taught one of the first night school pottery classes in the province which she continued doing until the late 1940s. She was a central figure in the development of pottery in Victoria through her teaching, production, lecturing, and exhibitions.
She established her studio in 1924, arguably making her the first studio potter in BC.
In 1929 she formed the Victoria Pottery Club and was its first president for several years. She was instrumental in installing and firing a large kiln donated by Lt- Governor Walter Nichol to the Victoria pottery community, initially in a downtown location and later at a designated ceramics facility at the Kingston St School.
Her studio work consisted of both hand-built tourist items (eg totems) in the spirit of her friend Emily Carr and bowls, vases and other vessels with incised Indigenous motifs or local floral decorations in reds, blues, and other bright colours. Although some of these were hand-built, many were made on the wheel which Grute had had been using since 1923.
Her pottery career was featured in several important newspaper articles, Maclean's magazine (1927), and the Canadian Geographical Journal (1944)
In the Fall of 1923, she taught one of the first night school pottery classes in the province which she continued doing until the late 1940s. She was a central figure in the development of pottery in Victoria through her teaching, production, lecturing, and exhibitions.
She established her studio in 1924, arguably making her the first studio potter in BC.
In 1929 she formed the Victoria Pottery Club and was its first president for several years. She was instrumental in installing and firing a large kiln donated by Lt- Governor Walter Nichol to the Victoria pottery community, initially in a downtown location and later at a designated ceramics facility at the Kingston St School.
Her studio work consisted of both hand-built tourist items (eg totems) in the spirit of her friend Emily Carr and bowls, vases and other vessels with incised Indigenous motifs or local floral decorations in reds, blues, and other bright colours. Although some of these were hand-built, many were made on the wheel which Grute had had been using since 1923.
Her pottery career was featured in several important newspaper articles, Maclean's magazine (1927), and the Canadian Geographical Journal (1944)
First name
Margaret A
Last name
Grute
Career dates (start and end)
1923
1948
Date of Birth
1881
Date of Death
1948
Place of Birth
Queenstown, Ireland
Place of Death
Studio location
Formal Education
Major Exhibitions
Island Arts and Crafts Society exhibitions, Victoria, 1923 to late 1940s
Great West Canadian Folk Dance, Folk Song and Handicrafts Festival, Calgary 1930
Affiliated organizations
Source
Allan Collier
Item sets
Linked resources
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