Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Wigley, Derbyshire, England, UK

Biography

Commercial artist, potter and painter, was born Grace Furniss in the small village of Wigley, Derbyshire. In 1902 her family migrated to New Zealand and in 1904 settled on a farm, Brooklands, near Huntly on the North Island. In her early twenties Taylor moved to Auckland and began working as a commercial illustrator, a popular career for women at the time. Her main work seems to have been advertising drawings of women’s clothing for newspapers and magazines. In 1924, she enrolled in figure drawing at the Elam School of Art. However, after six months at the school, she returned to commercial art as she could not afford to continue studying. This brief period was to be her only formal art training. In 1926 Grace and her younger sister Amy, also an artist, travelled to Sydney in search of work. Amy returned to New Zealand in 1927-28, but Grace remained in Sydney and only returned for a brief trip in 1930 or 1931. By 1932 she was working as a commercial artist for Berlei, Sydney. In 1933 she travelled to England. On her return she moved to Brisbane and found work with McWhirter’s Department Store as an advertising illustrator. In Brisbane Grace met and married Jimmy Taylor, who enlisted in the second AIF at the outbreak of World War II. Initially rejected because of a chronic skin condition, in 1942 Grace was accepted into the Australian Women’s Land Army (AWLA) as a field officer responsible for the administration of AWLA workers. She originated an unofficial paper for the Land Army Girls, the LAG RAG , to which she contributed humorous verse, prose and cartoons. She travelled extensively around the Queensland camps, working to improve conditions and facilities for AWLA members. Her niece recalls: she was a dashing figure to us. When she visited on leave, there were rides in the Jitterbug, the little Austin sports car she took with her into the AWLA. It was popular with the LAGS too, who no doubt found our aunt’s driving as exciting as we did. Soon after the war Grace and Jimmy separated and Grace returned to Sydney. In 1946 she purchased a small studio pottery in the centre of Sydney, where she produced ceramic wares under the label 'Tesmic Art Pottery’. The pottery specialised in glazed ornaments of animals, 'and as sure as we modelled an animal there was a demand for a baby animal to go with it’. In 1949 Tesmic moved to premises in Bankstown and was able to expand. During this time Taylor exhibited her work frequently, often with the NSW Ceramic Art and Fineware Association. In 1956 she sold the pottery and returned to New Zealand. In 1958, while on holiday in England, she worked briefly as a modeller at the Spode Potteries. Returning to New Zealand, she began to sculpt large-scale figures; but increasingly she turned her energies to politics, joining the Social Credit Political League. In 1966 she married Henry Boshier, a childhood neighbour. She died in 1988 at the age of ninety-one. Her niece considers that 'the Land Army experience was probably the only major period of my aunt’s life when she didn’t earn her living from art of one sort or another’. Writers: Rensch, Elena Date written: 1995 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 1897

Summary

Grace Taylor (1897-1988) was a commercial artist and potter who grew up in New Zealand and migrated to Australia in 1926.

Gender

Female

Died

1988

Age at death

91