Jeffrey Mincham AM

On Thursday, 27 August 2020, we were delighted to induct Old Collegian, Jeffery Mincham AM, into the Princes Men Gallery in recognition of his contribution and acclaim as an artist and ceramicist.

Jeffery was a Boarder at Prince Alfred College in his final year of school in 1969. He quickly made the most of available opportunities, with notable achievements in a number of area. Jeffery: 

• Took up rowing and rowed in the second VIII.
• Was Dux of his class.
• Became President of the Senior Debating Club.
• Was a Troop Leader in the Scouts.
• Wrote the winning entry in the Kenneth Harley Memorial Short Story Competition.
• Had a poem published in the 1969 Chronicle.
• Was the first student to ever complete Year 12 Art at PAC.

Jeffery is one of Australia’s most prominent and influential ceramic artists. He studied at the South Australian School of Art and the Tasmanian School of Art. He has been a guest lecturer at over 100 workshops in summer schools across Australia, the United Kingdom, USA and New Zealand. Jeff has had 86 solo exhibitions since 1976 in Australia, New Zealand and the USA and is the winner of many awards and prizes nationally and overseas. He has been a judge in over 20 major art and ceramic awards throughout Australia and New Zealand and is a member of many arts-related advisory panels.

Jeffery’s work is represented in over 100 permanent public collections and all major State and regional galleries in Australia and prominent International collections such as:

• The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra
• Parliament House Canberra
• Government House in South Australia.
• The Australian Chancery in Saudi Arabia
• Aberystwyth Art Centre in Wales
• The National Galleries of Malaysia and Taiwan
• The State Collection of Hawaii and the Silber
• Stephen Alpert and Johnson Collections in the USA.

Jeffery was honoured as Australian Design Centre’s 2009 Living Treasure. In 2011, he became a Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the visual arts as a Ceramic Artist. He also received a Centenary Medal, for service to the community through the arts.

Writing about the influence of landscape on his work, Jeffery notes:

“I’ve always thought of myself as living in a landscape, perhaps because I’ve never lived in a city or even a town for longer than a few months. The events of the landscape draw me towards it. My works explore my engagement with its moods, its changes and dramas. They speak of harsh, dry, windswept lands, of the shimmering distance beneath brooding skies. A passing moment of mystery and wonderment captured by the eye and embedded in the memory.”

In his induction speech Headmaster, Bradley Fenner, remarked “ In pursuing his creative passions in a way that has taken him to the very top of his creative field, Jeffery has set a wonderful example for all of us. The esteem in which he is held nationally and internationally makes Jeffrey Mincham a Princes Man of whom we should all be very proud.”

View Jeffery’s acceptance speech video below.