Joan Campbell

Joan Ruth Campbell MBE (1925–1997) was a Victorian born potter/ceramic artist. Joan Campbell was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1925. At the age of fifteen, in 1940, her family relocated to Western Australia. She took up pottery later in life, at first as just a hobby before pursuing it as a craft. She constructed a wood-fire kiln at her Scarborough home, teaching herself firing techniques. In 1959, Campbell worked with Johannes de Blanken, a Dutch potter who had moved to Western Australia. She then partnered with Eileen Keys and they resolved to use only locally available materials in their work. In 1966, the two experimented with the Raku firing techniques, which then became her preferred method of firing. Campbell held her first solo exhibition in 1969 at the Old Fire Station Gallery in Fremantle. In 1970 she travelled to the United States and worked with Paul Soldne