KEMP, Brian Francis (1937-2017)
Modified on Wed, 17 May 2017 10:43 by Con — Categorized as: Biography - All, Biography - Staff, Geelong College
KEMP, Brian Francis (1937-2017)
Brian Kemp, talented potter, and staff member at the Preparatory School from February 1963 to 1971 and part-time at Senior School in 1972 was Head of Art and Craft at the Preparatory School though involved himself in a variety of other school based activities. He established Junior Hockey in 1963 and established the Adventurers Club which at one time had a ‘Flying Fox’ across the River. With Class 2J Brian cut the original track from the Preparatory School down to the Barwon River. Fellow staff member, Les Hatton described Brian as
‘all enthusiasm, and that his teaching, particularly with academic strugglers was ahead of its time. Whatever Brian was involved in became a success.’
Brian was born in New Zealand on 20 July 1937 and attended Napier Boys Secondary School and completed two years’ teacher training and his probationary first year of teaching in 1957. He came to Australia and taught at Bostock House from 1959 to 1961 before travelling overseas in 1962. He then completed a Diploma of Art and Design (Ceramics) at Gordon Institute of Technology in 1969.
He later studied with Haruki Okishio at Minato Kama, Kurashiki, Japan for three years before setting up his Koyama Pottery in Wallington in 1975. During the 1980s he authored two books on fibre-kiln glazes and in the 1990s taught at the Ceramics Department at the National Institute of Singapore (NIE) before returning to Wallington in 1997. Brian died in February 2017 at Estia Health, Bannockburn.
Sources: Pegasus Dec 1963 p67; Pegasus December 1965 pp 60, 62, 67; Pegasus June 1969 p45, Pegasus Dec 1969 p68; Pegasus 1972 p81; Brian Hatton; www.austalianpottery at bemboka.com.au; Geelong Advertiser 4 Feb 2017.