Featured Artist

Malcolm Boyd

Malcolm BoydLindsay Roberts: You now live in Fernbank with your studio out the back. I remember in the late eighties, early nineties visiting your studio when it was just off the Princes Hwy between Stratford and Bairnsdale. Have you always lived in East Gippsland and if not, what drew you to the region?

Malcolm Boyd: I have lived in East Gippsland for the past 23 years. Drawn by the environment, wild country, bush, lakes, rivers, nature and diverse cross-section of people.

LR. Your work is well known and collected in Gippsland. Where did you study or learn your craft; do you remember the first firing; and was it a success?

MB. I finished a Diploma of Visual Arts at the Gippsland Institute of Advance Education (Now Gippsland Monash) in 1978. The first firing was, undertaken in a cave tunnel kiln that I had constructed in a clay bank. Pots were made with hand, dug clay and decorated with earth pigments, then wood fired to about 10000C. Very memorable!

LR. Do you still have that first piece if not, any of your early work?

MB. I have no work left from the firing, all given away to friends. I may have some photographs still.

LR. How has your work developed, since those early days?

MB. Work has developed in terms of technical skills, formulation of glazes, clay bodies, firing and building techniques.

LR. What motivates you? Out of all the career choices, what drew you to a career in arts and working with ceramics? What do you enjoy about art? Do you express different feelings when creating work?

MB. I’m motivated by nature, art history, anthropology, other artists, humanity. Love working with clay, the link with soft technologies, stone age or primitive cultures. The magic of taking a material from the earth – subjecting it to enormous temperature and changing it into something that’s hard, vitreous – magic!

LR. What do you think is the most important influence in your work?

MB. My most important influence is too difficult to isolate. All of the above.

LR. What do you believe is more important; content or technique?

MB. Both are essential. The idea needs some concrete means or vehicle for communication. The means is technique – be it language, movement, visual, whatever. Better the technique, the stronger the communication of the idea.

LR. Do you work certain hours each day, or only when you are inspired to work?

MB. Very disciplined work regime. In the studio by 8.30 each morning, work until 4.30 or 5pm. Sometimes, longer hours to meet deadlines of exhibitions, etc.

LR. Where do you feel art is going? What is the role of the artist in society? What is the place of your work in society?

MB. I don’t dwell on where art is going. I have a strong personal drive to make works, this keeps me sane and happy. That is somehow noticed by others, often inspiring their own creativity. Very important to communicate, through your work, how you feel about things. Maybe that is the role of the artist.

LR. You exhibit widely. Do you still get a buzz from producing work and exhibiting?

MB. Stress of producing work for a deadline can be hard going. Once set up and observing the feedback is stimulating.

LR. Where can people find your work?

MB. People can find my work at


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