Enamels By Perkins Enamel Plate

Item Details

Enamels by Perkins enameled plate, in a wonderful shades of lustrous blues. Plate easel not included.

Bio from: The Royal Canadian Academy Of Arts website: http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/membersnews/memorials_archives.html

Arthur Alan Perkins RCA, enamellist
1915 – 2005

In 1968, inspired by friends of his well-known jeweler wife, Reeva Perkins, A. Alan Perkins left his 35-year profession in architecture to pursue a new career in ‘glass on metal’. He formed his own company, ‘Enamels by Perkins’, and produced functional handmade hollowware and decorative panels in vitreous enamel on metal. He created liturgical art and frequently worked with interior designers to make complete assemblages for architectural spaces.

In 1974 Alan had two goblets featured in the World Craft Council exhibition ‘In Praise of Hands’ at the Ontario Science Centre. By 1980, building on his combined skills, he created his Early Ontario Series of thirty-five architectural drawings on porcelain enamel. Other works in sequence were Homage to Le Corbusier Series (1988) and Coastal Impressions (1989-90) which further demonstrated his strong colour and sensitive line. For his retrospective exhibition at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in 1990, Perkins returned to the chalice and goblet forms of his early career. His participation in exhibitions in the US and Europe, both individual and juried, secured his international distinction.

As an educator, Perkins was always energetic, enthusiastic and resourceful. He took his early expertise into Northern Ontario in the 1970’s in OCC-funded workshops. Alan also taught enamel at Haliburton in summer programmes. Form 1968 until his retirement in 1993, Alan was Enameling Master at George Brown College. During all these years he sold enamel supplies to schools and to students and was an available and invaluable resource for the small burgeoning Canadian enamel community.

Throughout his enamelling career, Alan continued to investigate and incorporate new techniques exploiting the natural qualities of glass and metal, challenging and extending the boundaries of his materials. As a senior artist, he created abstract enamel paintings of great vibrancy, combining fired and unfired enamel, segments of foil and other materials

Alan was the recipient of numerous awards, honours and international recognition. He was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1974), the Society of Canadian Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (2000) and in 1999 was the first Canadian to receive the Creative Achievement Award from the American Enamellist Society. His candor and his colour, personally and creatively, will be missed, especially in the enamel community.

(Fay Rooke RCA).

Condition

Some wear to enamels surface, see photo

Dimensions

Item #

13CIN152-149