Dame Doreen Blumhardt
Philip Clarke explains how a generous bequest became a foundation that made a unique contribution to New Zealand craft.
The Blumhardt Foundation, established during her lifetime by Dame Doreen Blumhardt, 1914-2009, is just as unique as its remarkable founder. Her entry in Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand begins “Doreen Blumhardt was one of the most important figures in New Zealand’s arts and crafts world in the second half of the twentieth century. Her twin passions, for education and for the arts, were to help revolutionise the teaching of crafts in New Zealand schools, and she was widely recognised for her commitment to studio pottery.” Doreen became a member of the Order of New Zealand, the country’s highest honour, in 2006.
Her career included arts practice, its advocacy and the institutions that transmit art knowledge and appreciation from one generation to another. In many ways, it isn’t surprising she created another institution, the Blumhardt Foundation (BF) to help consolidate her lifetime interests. In 2002 she quietly established an organisation to advance “applied arts”, specifically excluding practices associated with the visual arts. BF was publicly launched in 2006. Its activities can be considered as falling into three phases.
Dowse Years 2006 – 2015
Located in greater Wellington The Dowse Art Museum has a national reputation in contemporary craft because of its collecting and exhibition programmes. At the time of the BF launch, Dowse Director Tim Walker was a Foundation trustee and the driver of museum expansion. In 2007, with support from BF The Dowse opened a new exhibition space, the Blumhardt Gallery which was largely dedicated to contemporary craft. The new gallery opened with The Gift curated by inaugural Blumhardt Curatorial Intern Grant Thompson. In 2007 BF, partnering with The Dowse, entered into a multiyear agreement with Creative New Zealand (CNZ) to jointly fund craft/object art curatorial internships.
In 2009 Dame Doreen died. A selection of her collection of local and international ceramics was placed by BF on long-term deposit at The Dowse. Given that the Internship was BF’s most visible activity and the Blumhardt Collection its most visible asset, it’s not surprising the Foundation was perceived at this time as more or less solely focused on The Dowse.
Professionalisation 2016 – 2020
‘Modern Ming’ by Peter Hawkesby purchased by Tūhura Otago Museum with Blumhardt Fund assistance.
In 2008 the Foundation established the Blumhardt Scholarship to assist an outstanding tertiary student. Brian Wood, later a trustee, won the scholarship which was offered only once due to funding constraints. During Dame Doreen’s lifetime, BF was effectively a conduit for her philanthropy. Following her 2009 death, almost her entire estate was bequeathed to the Foundation and the focus for trustees became growing the capital. They were aware BF had a low profile and was perceived as Wellington-focused despite its national remit. In 2015 former Objectspace director Philip Clarke was recruited as the first non-Wellington trustee. By this time the capital was generating a good income and trustees agreed the focus should become providing financial support to the national craft/object sector. In 2016 trustees launched a suite of, mainly contestable, funding programmes; Blumhardt Grants, Blumhardt Residency, Blumhardt Lecture and Dame Doreen’s Gift.
This phase saw BF engage directly with the craft/object sector through granting, dialogue facilitation and social media which helped it establish itself as the only independent, national and resourced organisation that could address the breadth of practices and issues that constitute the craft object sector. The suite of programmes delivered funds transparently, but a contestable funding approach managed by volunteers was onerous and not sustainable. A project approach to funding to some extent meant that funding priorities overlapped with other agencies, diminishing the distinctiveness of BF’s contribution. In many ways, the most successful new initiative was Dame Doreen’s Gift a cash gift presented to an outstanding establishing practitioner that required no application.
Partnerships 2020 onward
A landmark for the sector was the 2019 launch of the history Crafting Aotearoa of which BF was a significant funder. For the first time, this publication presented the stories of three contemporaneous making traditions; Pakeha/European, Maori and Moana Oceania (17 specific cultures). It became evident that engaging with this expanded conception of the craft/object sector was something that the Foundation had to address and that a contestable funding approach wasn’t the way to go. This, and addressing ideas emerging from a series of national sector forums organised by BF in 2019, led trustees in 2020 to make the bold decision to largely abandon its suite of funding programmes. With a relatively small budget available trustees agreed to focus funding around the concept of legacy, moving away from the standard ‘project’ focus. Today the bulk of funding is distributed through the Blumhardt Fund which is an acquisition subsidy programme for the purchase of contemporary craft/object works by participating public art museums. This initiative was partly informed by learning about the work of Norwegian Crafts. The Blumhardt Fund had many merits in that it supported artists, dealers and the public through presenting contemporary practice. Receiving proposals from art museums all over, the Foundation eventually entered into multiyear partnerships with four institutions.
Blumhardt Fund partnerships replaced onerous administration. It gave the Foundation a unique role that continues to create a legacy and enables its financial support to reach a greater diversity of makers and communities. In endeavouring to address a more culturally complex field of contemporary making trustees recruited leading NZ Maori curator Nigel Borell MNZM to the board. Trustees devoted time to auditing how we were doing in this ‘new’ widened landscape and instituted changes to how BF operates.
BF weathered the turbulence of the pandemic as well as its principal activities, Dame Doreen’s Gift and the Blumhardt Fund were able to continue. Lockdown support for individual makers was delivered through funded takeovers of BF’s Instagram which also re-enforced a sense of community when many makers were temporarily isolated. A constant in BF’s life was the Blumhardt Curatorial Internship and related partnerships with Creative NZ and The Dowse. Arrangements naturally expired in 2019 after 12 internships. BF was in discussion with CNZ about a new curatorial initiative when the pandemic hit. CNZ’s biennial Craft Object Fellowship was the richest prize in the sector however the Fellowship and the curator partnership seem to have been pandemic casualties at CNZ and their absence identifies issues BF might address.
Over the 22 years since its launch BF has demonstrated an ability to be bold, pivot and be prudent, all at once. Through partnerships, it has been able to leverage a greater spend than just its own money and develop an operation congruent with its voluntary nature. It has developed a role that is unique and currently irreplaceable in the craft object sector of Aotearoa NZ.
Current trustees
- Suzanne Blumhardt
- Dr Emma Bugden, Chair
- Philip Clarke ONZM
- Lily Hacking
- Dr Bronwyn Lloyd
- Milly Mitchell-Anyon
- Katherine Smyth
- Isaac Te Awa
Examples of what we do
Blumhardt Fund
Tūhura Otago Museum participates in the Blumhardt Fund which sees BF subsidise dollar for dollar, to an agreed amount, the contemporary craft acquisitions of three art museums. In 2023 the Otago Museum celebrated its partnership by exhibiting its acquisitions in Formation – Contemporary Aotearoa Craft. A particular focus of Formation says curator Moira White was “where tradition and originality meet…. Jeweller Lisa Walker has said she researches ‘the differences between an acceptable notion of beauty or stereotype, and something else.'” Ceramicist Richard Stratton has been described as inspired by the “ways a teapot on a kitchen table ushers a history of cultural politics into the domestic world”.
Instagram Takeovers
At the start of Covid lockdowns in 2020, when the world was literally shutting down, BF came up with the idea of supporting makers by paying them to take over our Instagram account @blumhardtfoundation. When all of us had plenty of time and required diversion, providing opportunities for diverse makers to talk about their practice was something many enjoyed. Highly successful from our perspective, it’s a lockdown initiative that has survived, delivering funds and new promotional opportunities to makers around the country whilst enhancing a sense of community. Image sent separately
Dame Doreen’s Gift
Gifts are awarded annually to two makers, one established and one establishing, who have demonstrated commitment to an outstanding practice and who have garnered the respect and admiration of peers and institutions. Recipients are selected by trustees; no applications are made. A highlight of the year is to call up recipients and tell them they have $10,000 gift for which there are no conditions: they just have to accept it. Jeweller Frances Stachl and weaver Annie Mackenzie were the 2024 recipients. In announcing Frances’ award Chair Brian Wood noted “Frances Stachl was awarded the gift for dedication to her practice as a self-supporting working jeweller, which balances making with selling; her development as a maker, respect for material, acknowledging her heritage and being a great support to others in the sector.”
About Philip Clarke
Philip Clarke ONZM lives in Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand. He was the inaugural director of Objectspace 2004-15 and has been a Blumhardt Foundation trustee since 2015, and Chair 2018-22.
