Helen Wilmot Mason (née Valentine; 30 April 1915 – 22 August 2014) was a New Zealand potter as well as the co-founder and editor of the '' New Zealand Potter'' magazine for which she also wrote. She was appointed to the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to pottery, in 2005.

Biography

Born in Darfield in 1915, Mason grew up in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. In 1938 her engagement to Malcolm John Mason was announced, and the couple married the following year. Mason took up pottery in 1953, attending classes and buying a diesel kiln from her husband's aunt,

Elizabeth Matheson Elizabeth Matheson (born 1942) is a prominent photographer in North Carolina. Early life and education Elizabeth Matheson was born in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She earned a bachelor's degree from Sweet Briar College in 1964 before attendin ...

. Over the next few years she met and worked with other New Zealand artists including potters Olive Jones,

Barry Brickell Ian Barry Brickell (26 October 1935 – 23 January 2016) was a New Zealand potter, writer, conservationist and founder of Driving Creek Railway. Biography Born in New Plymouth in 1935, Brickell was the son of Shirley Margaret Wooler and Mauric ...

Len Castle Leonard Ramsay Castle (23 December 1924 – 29 September 2011) was a New Zealand Pottery, potter. Early life and family Born in Auckland on 23 December 1924, Castle was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School. He went on to study at Univer ...

and

Doreen Blumhardt Dame Vera Doreen Blumhardt (7 March 1914 – 17 October 2009) was a New Zealand potter, ceramicist and arts educator. Early life Vera Dorren Blumhardt was born on 7 March 1914 in Huanui in the North of New Zealand. Her parents were German- ...

, and painter

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston and ...

, and by 1957 had exhibited and sold her first pot. In 1958, she and Blumhardt co-founded '' New Zealand Potter'' magazine, which Mason edited for nine years. The same year she was commissioned to produce the crockery for Wellington's first cafe, the Monde Marie. A stoneware experimentalist, she had by 1964 exhibited in Australia, Japan and Washington. The early 1960s saw Mason become a full-time potter, and she abandoned her home and marriage, moving to the

Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...

, then

Ōtāne Ōtāne is a town in the Central Hawke's Bay (district), Central Hawke's Bay District and the Hawke's Bay region, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The small village, has a school, general store, cafe and pub, and is located just o ...

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

and, in 1974,

Tokomaru Bay Tokomaru Bay is a small beachside community located on the isolated East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is 91 km north of Gisborne, on State Highway 35, and close to Mount Hikurangi. The district was originally known as Toka-a- ...

. It was there that she was involved with establishing the Tauira Craft Centre with

Ngoi Pēwhairangi Te Kumeroa "Ngoingoi" Pēwhairangi (29 December 1921 – 29 January 1985) was a prominent teacher of, and advocate for, Māori language and culture, and the composer of many songs, including ''Poi E''. She spearheaded the Māori Renaissance in ...

. In the 1990s she lived in a house truck, purchased with the proceeds from the sale of a McCahon painting, near Brickell's home in

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

. She later returned to Hawke's Bay where, from 2006 to 2011, she resided in the eponymous Helen Mason House at the Waiohiki Creative Arts Village. In the

2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and ...

she was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to pottery. Works by Mason are held in the permanent collection of the

Dowse Art Museum The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 20 ...

. Described as an influential figure in New Zealand crafts and ceramics at the forefront of the emerging New Zealand pottery movement in the 1950s, Mason exhibited widely in New Zealand and internationally. As well as editing ''The New Zealand Potter'', Mason contributed to the ''New Zealand Listener'' and wrote a number of books on pottery and crafts, including ''Ten years of pottery in New Zealand'' (1967), ''Waima of Tokomaru Bay'' (1984) and ''Commitment to clay'' (2008). She featured in an episode of the television arts show ''The Big Art Trip'' in 2002. In 2005, she published her memoir, entitled ''Helen Mason's scrapbook: 50 years as a backyard potter''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Helen 1915 births 2014 deaths People from Darfield, New Zealand New Zealand potters Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Women potters New Zealand ceramicists New Zealand women ceramicists