The Dry Poet

June Black (1910-2009) was a sculptor, painter, and printmaker who introduced existential concerns with humour and irreverence into the New Zealand art scene of the 1950s. At a time when domestic pottery was the norm in the ceramic arts, Black worked with clay to create sculptures using ingenious methods of construction. Her figurative and conceptual works reflect her extensive reading and interest in existentialism, surrealism, and the theatre of the absurd. A feminist in advance of her time, Black’s work looks to make sense of life using wit and an untethered imagination. In her journals, plays and ceramics, she built an alternate reality with characters based on human fears and questions. Her absurdist play The Purple Umbrella follows a group up the Mountain of Eydull Chatta, and she held exhibitions titled The Search for the Fabulous idea and Expedition to Save the Twentieth Century, which reflect her quest for life’s deeper meaning.

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