Eileen Constance Keys born Eileen Constance Mitchell (24 December 1903 – 16 September 1992) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

born potter. She returned from studying art in London inspired by clay. She created pottery using locally sourced materials and these are in galleries across Australia.

Life

Keys was born on Christmas Eve 1903 in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. Her Methodist parents were Alice May (born Pleasance) and John Martin Mitchell. Her father was an English immigrant who made furniture and her mother was born in New Zealand. She had three elder siblings and another followed her. She attended the Anglican school for girls, St Margaret's College, before she went on to study at Canterbury College School of Art. She learned the Montessori approach to caring for young children. After travelling in Europe she began work as a teacher at the Cathedral Grammar School in her home city in 1925. She was there for four years until 1929 when she married a fellow teacher named George Eric Maxwell Keys. From 1939 to 1941 she experimented with ceramics as she studied at the

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, produ ...

in London. Her husband was also in England studying education. It was reported that while in London she went to buy interesting minerals and the vendor commented that she should use the minerals of her native Australia. This was a theme of her later work. In 1947 the family were in Perth where her husband was the new head at Scotch College and she became the boys' art teacher. She encouraged her students to bring in clay they had found locally and this was combined with glazes made from ashes to create their pottery. She taught elsewhere and she created her own artworks. She and weaver Hilda Stephens had a joint exhibition of their work. In 1951 she had a joint exhibition with the painter Elizabeth Durack. They put their work together in still-life arrangements inspired by

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

. She was a founding member of the Craft Association of Australia. She was a strong influence on other artists like the basket weaver Nalda Searles. Keys has been called "the godmother of West Australian ceramics".

Death and legacy

Her husband died in 1986 and Keys died in 1992 in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Her work has appeared at auction. In 2022 one of her pieces was sold for about 1,100 USD. Keys work is in galleries in Ballarat, Brisbane, Christchurch, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Eileen Constance 1903 births 1992 deaths People from Christchurch Australian potters Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts New Zealand potters New Zealand women potters