19/01/2021
John de Joux, who passed away in the autumn of last year, was an active professional potter in the Wairarapa from the early 1970s to early 1990s.
During this time he lived near Featherston, first along the Featherston-Martinborough highway for a number of years, and for a longer period of time on Boundary Road.
For the early part of his career, John focused on mainly household pottery such as bowls, plates, cups, vessels and dishes etc until the mid-1980s when the opening up of the local economy to cheap foreign imports decimated the New Zealand domestic pottery industry.
John then changed tack to large sculptural forms for the garden which he continued to make part time after being employed in the Martinborough wine industry from the early 1990s, before giving up pottery altogether.
John was always modest about his work and never signed his pots but they were of an equal standard to the work of many other better known potters working at the same time in New Zealand.
Furthermore, John was part of small group of artisans working in the Wairarapa in the 1970s and 1980s. While the work of the other artisans has been recorded for posterity, John went largely under the radar of the local art community.
Hence this exhibition, and a small book to follow, to record the memory of John and his work as a potter, at least as a part of Wairarapa’s arts and craft history.
John was a weekly visitor to Mazzola Jewellery & Gallery and shared a friendship with its director David Famularo, which usually involved a cup of tea and John’s often sardonic observations on art and life.
The works in this exhibition are primarily remnants from John’s home as he left it when he passed away, as most of his production was unsigned and scattered to the wind over the years.
Most of the pieces are not for sale, but just to be appreciated. But there are also six of his large outside sculptural works available for sale for $300 each with the proceeds from the sale of these going towards a small book about John’s career and art to go to local public libraries and also for sale to anyone who would like a copy.
Discovering John de Joux will be available to be viewed on Saturdays and Sundays for the first month after the exhibition opens and then continue on Saturdays till the arrival of winter.
Mazzola Jewellery & Gallery is located at the first intersection as you enter Featherston from the direction of Greytown, on the corner of Fitzherbert Street and Boundary Road. The gallery is on the corner itself with a wooden fence and native grasses in front of it. Turn into Boundary Road to park outside the gallery.
