19 Facts About Klytie Pate

Klytie Pate was an Australian studio potter who emerged as an innovator in the use of unusual glazes and the extensive incising, piercing and ornamentation of earthenware pottery.

Klytie Pate was one of a small group of Melbourne art potters which included Marguerite Mahood and Reg Preston who were pioneers in the 1930s of ceramic art nationwide.

Klytie Pate's father remarried when she was 13, so Klytie went to live with her aunt, Christian and her husband Napier Waller encouraged her interest in art and printmaking.

Klytie Pate spent time at their studio in Ivanhoe, and thus her work reflected Art Deco, Art Nouveau, The Pre Raphaelites, Egyptian art, Greek mythology, and Theosophy.

In 1931, at the age of 19, Klytie Pate studied painting and drawing at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School under William Beckwith McInnes and Charles Arthur Wheeler.

In 1933 Klytie Pate took classes at the School of Applied Art at Melbourne Technical College now known as RMIT University.

Klytie Pate studied figure drawing and applied art under her uncle, Napier Waller, modelling under George Allen, and pottery under John Knight and Gladys Kelly.

Klytie Pate was surrounded by the flora and fauna of Australia, and its unique shapes and colours.

Klytie Pate strongly demonstrated the influence of "Australiana" during that period with lyre birds, kangaroos and native flowers incised into her pottery.

In 1941 Klytie Pate held her first solo exhibition of pottery at the Kozminsky Gallery in Melbourne.

Klytie Pate continued to exhibit regularly for the next 50 years.

Klytie Pate taught at Melbourne Technical College until 1945, when she was then able to pursue pottery full-time.

In 1983 Klytie Pate was the first woman in her particular field for which a retrospective was held at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Klytie Pate's work was collected by John Tallis, who owned Beleura and was a personal friend of the Pates.

Klytie Pate's pots take form in numerous shapes and sizes.

Klytie Pate made lidded jars, large bowls and vases, lamp bases, jugs, animals and birds, large decorated plates, wall tiles, tea sets and mugs.

Klytie Pate went through different periods where she concentrated on a certain colour glaze, shape, or theme in the production of her pots.

In 1991 Klytie Pate was awarded the Order of Australia, for service to the Arts, particularly ceramic art and sculpture.

In honour of Klytie Pate's contribution to the artform of ceramics, the Klytie Pate Award for Ceramics was formed and is a national prize, open to all ceramicists in Australia and New Zealand.