{{short description|New Zealand artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox artist | name = Roy Cowan | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|MBE|size=100%}} | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = James Robson Cowan | birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|01|05|df=y}} | birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|07|17|1918|01|05|df=y}} | death_place = Wellington, New Zealand | spouse = {{marriage|Juliet Peter|1952}} | field = Pottery, printmaking, illustration | training = Wellington Teachers' Training College<br>Slade School of Fine Art | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = {{nowrap|Governor-General Art Award <small>(1988)</small>}} | elected = Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts <small>(1988)</small> | website = }} '''James Robson''' "'''Roy'''" '''Cowan''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|MBE|size=85%}} (5 January 1918 – 17 July 2006) was a New Zealand potter, illustrator, and printmaker. His wife Juliet Peter was also a New Zealand potter, printmaker, and sculptor.

==Early life== Roy Cowan, the son of New Zealand writer James Cowan, was born in Wellington on 5 January 1918.<ref name="Cape, 1969">{{cite book|last1=Cape|first1=Peter|title=Artists and Craftsmen in New Zealand|date=1969|publisher=Collins|location=Auckland, London|pages=29–35|url=http://natlib.govt.nz/records/21478341}}</ref> His mother, Eileen, was the daughter of Ngāpuhi interpreter and genealogist Henry Stowell.<ref name="DomPost obit">{{cite news | title=Labour of love a lasting legacy | date=27 July 2006 | work=Dominion Post | page=7 | first=Diana | last=Dekker}}</ref> Cowan was educated at Wellington College,<ref name="DomPost obit"/> and he then went to Wellington Teachers' Training College, where he first met artist Roland Hipkins, who influenced and encouraged his artistic pursuits.<ref name="Blumhardt, Brake, 1981">{{cite book|last1=Blumhardt|first1=Doreen|last2=Brake|first2=Brian|title=Craft New Zealand: The art of the craftsman|date=1981|publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed|location=Auckland|isbn=0589013432|pages=282–283|url=http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22158171}}</ref> From 1940 to 1945 he served in the New Zealand Fleet Air Arm.<ref name="Blumhardt, Brake, 1981"/> In 1952 he married potter Juliet Peter.<ref name="DomPost obit"/>

==Career== Cowan held his first exhibition at the French Maid Coffee House in 1947.<ref name="ART NZ, 2006">{{cite web|title=A Modest Modernism: An Interview with Juliet Peter|url=http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue119/peter.htm|website=Art New Zealand|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref> He also held exhibitions at New Zealand’s first modern dealer gallery, the Wellington-based Helen Hitchings Gallery.<ref name="ART NZ, 2006"/>

In 1953, he travelled with Juliet Peter to London, where he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art through an Association of New Zealand Art Societies Scholarship.<ref name='FG'>{{cite web|title=Roy Cowan|url=http://www.fernergalleries.co.nz/default,330.sm|website=Ferner Galleries|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref> He worked for the Education Department in the School Publications branch from 1955. The following year, he began beginning experimenting with pottery, and resigned from the Education Department in 1959 to become a full-time potter.<ref name="Cape, 1969"/>

In an interview in ''Art New Zealand'', Cowan and Peter's “most significant contribution to modernism” was described as “studio pottery – both through their own pottery, and their contribution to the ''New Zealand Potter'' magazine which they helped start in 1957.”<ref name="ART NZ, 2006"/> Their contribution to ceramics is “significant” as they operated largely outside of Bernard Leach’s pervasive teachings which emphasised Anglo-Oriental pottery practices.<ref name="ART NZ, 2006"/>

At a time when knowledge and use of oil-fired kilns in New Zealand was limited, Cowan built and experimented with oil-fired kilns, assisting other potters and contributing to wider knowledge of kiln-building and firing.<ref name="Cape, 1969"/><ref name="Blumhardt, Brake, 1981"/> In 1966 he was awarded a QEII Arts Council grant to study kiln design, firing processes and material.<ref name="Blumhardt, Brake, 1981"/>

Cowan worked for the QEII Arts Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs as a commissioner, curating touring exhibitions of New Zealand art for international audiences. As well as exhibiting with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, he worked on its Council.<ref name="Roy Cowan Tribute">{{cite web|title=Roy Cowan Tribute|url=http://dowse.org.nz/news/media-releases/2006/roy-cowan-tribute|website=The Dowse Art Museum|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cowan, Roy|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/3454/|website=Find NZ Artists|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref>

In 1999 Cowan was included in ''The Eighties Show'' at The Dowse Art Museum, an exhibition of artists who were still active in their eighties, including Doreen Blumhardt, John Drawbridge, Juliet Peter, and Avis Higgs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lloyd-Jenkins|first1=Douglas|title=Avis Higgs : joie de vivre|date=2000|publisher=Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust|location=Napier|isbn=0473067382}}</ref>

His work was shown alongside Juliet Peter’s in 2014 at The Dowse Art Museum in ''A Modest Modernism: Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter''.<ref name='TD'>{{cite web|title=A Modest Modernism: Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter|url=http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/a-modest-modernism-roy-cowan-juliet-peter|website=The Dowse Art Museum|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref>

Through the 1950s and 1960s Cowan was a frequently used Artist for various publications issued by the New Zealand Government, particularly the School Publications division of the Department of Education. His illustration and photography work is found in many School Journals and School Bulletins of that period.

==Honours== In 1945, Cowan was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his service in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19450626.2.93 | title=Naval award made | date=26 June 1945 | work=Auckland Star | accessdate=7 February 2015 | page=6}}</ref> In 1988, he was awarded the Governor-General Art Award and made a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzafa.com/web/fellowship |title=Fellowship |date= |website= |publisher=New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts |accessdate=7 February 2015}}</ref> He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to pottery, in the 2000 New Year Honours.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2000 | title=New Year honours list 2000 |date=31 December 1999| publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | accessdate=18 August 2019}}</ref>

==Collections== Cowan’s work is held in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, The Dowse Art Museum, and the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu.<ref name='TD'/><ref>{{cite web|title=Roy Cowan|url=http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3332/object/29065|website=NZ Museums|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Roy Cowan, Large Sculptural Form|url=http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/objects/73-253/|website=Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu|accessdate=18 December 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218063418/http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/objects/73-253/|archivedate=18 December 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

He created a large scale ceramic wall mural for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka,<ref>{{cite web|title=Story: New Zealand culture overseas|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/45842/expo-70-roy-cowan-mural|website=Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zealand|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref> and a mural for the foyer of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in Wellington.<ref name="Blumhardt, Brake, 1981"/><ref>{{cite web|title=The Reserve Bank's Foyer Art Displays|url=http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/fact_sheets_and_guides/3192791.pdf|website=The Reserve Bank of New Zealand|accessdate=18 December 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115164517/http://rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/fact_sheets_and_guides/3192791.pdf|archivedate=15 January 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Another mural, ''Modern Madonna'', was commissioned for the Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul.<ref>{{cite web|title=Modern Madonna|url=http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/modern-madonna-mosaic/|website=Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul's|accessdate=18 December 2014}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Roy}} Category:1918 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Artists from Wellington City Category:Ngāpuhi people Category:People educated at Wellington College, Wellington Category:Wellington College of Education alumni Category:Royal New Zealand Navy personnel of World War II Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Category:New Zealand potters Category:New Zealand printmakers Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:20th-century New Zealand ceramists Category:Military personnel from Wellington City