This work was displayed with this label to mark Rosemary Perry's death in January 2021.

Rosemary Perry was one of Canterbury’s founding potters, particularly esteemed for her porcelain ceramics and celadon glazes. Her works are respected for their simplicity, clean lines and carefully controlled coloured glazes, usually a rich-red oxide or a pale celadon. Raised in Dunedin, as a teenager Perry took painting classes with Doris Lusk and then in 1957, after returning from overseas to Christchurch, she learnt to make earthenware with Lusk at Risingholme Community Centre. Throughout the 1960s Perry participated in various courses and ceramic workshops, including studying sculpture at Ilam School of Fine Arts, and she bought her first electric kilns to make work from home. Over the years she experimented with a range of clay types and glazes, researching and refining her work in porcelains to achieve a perfect translucence and exceptional glaze quality.

Since 1966, Perry was a member of the New Zealand Society of Potters and exhibited regularly, at the CSA, Several Arts Gallery and with the Canterbury Potter’s Association. She was a frequent selector and guest exhibitor at Potters Associations nationally. Drawing on her nursing background, in 1986 Perry wrote the booklet Potters Beware, an essential guide to controlling hazards encountered in making, glazing and firing ceramics. Her works are held in many public and private collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa, Sarjeant Gallery and Kurashiki Museum in Japan.