INFO
| Name | Wailin Elliott (she/her) |
| Also known as | 黃惠蓮, Wailin Wong, Wailin Hing |
| Born | 1939 |
| Died | 2024 |
| Country of Birth | Aotearoa |
| Place of Residence | Te Tara-o-te-Ika-a-Māui Coromandel |
| Ethnicities | Chinese |
| Artform | Craft/Object, Visual arts |
| Decades Active | 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Wailin Elliott was an artist best known for her pottery. She was also a spinner and weaver, as well as a painter, writer, printer and publisher. Beginning in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and continuing in Te Tara-o-te-Ika-a-Māui Coromandel, Elliott was part of the thriving studio craft movement that swept Aotearoa from the 1960s onwards and was a close friend and colleague of renowned potter Barry Brickell.
Elliott grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau, the third of four sisters. She attended Epsom Girls Grammar School, where her interest in pottery began after coming across a copy of A Potter’s Book by the 'father of British studio pottery' Bernard Leach, and she was encouraged by art teacher, May Hardcastle. Elliott was a member of the Auckland Studio Potters Society during its early years in the 1960s, and a grant from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council around this time helped her transition to focusing on pottery full-time. During this time, Elliott was a stallholder at a co-operative craft market called Browns Mill on Durham Lane.
Elliott lived in Te Tara-o-te-Ika-a-Māui for several decades with her husband, wood carver Tom Elliott. With a studio at Driving Creek Railway and Pottery (the now-famous craft and conservation complex established by Barry Brickell), Elliott became very involved in the running and development of Driving Creek — she was, at one time, its General Manager, and contributed to local conservation efforts as a trustee of Driving Creek’s wildlife sanctuary.
She worked in earthenware, stoneware, and terracotta. As well as producing studioware such as pots, Elliott was known for her small human figures. Many of her works exhibit an innocent charm. Of her work, she said:
My figures termed "peopilics" were first modelled on my daughter and son when they were young children. My Chinese heritage shows itself more in my early pots when I lived with my family but over the years I find myself returning to some of the shapes that are typically oriental again.
Alongside pottery, Elliott has said that her interests include “sericulture the raising of silkworms, reeling off the silk thread and weaving as well as painting and printing books on a hand-press.”
