Roy Cowan

James Robson "Roy" Cowan (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. His mother, Eileen, was the daughter of Ngāpuhi interpreter and genealogist Henry Stowell. Cowan was educated at Wellington College, From 1940 to 1945 he served in the New Zealand Fleet Air Arm. He also held exhibitions at New Zealand’s first modern dealer gallery, the Wellington-based Helen Hitchings Gallery. 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.

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.

His work was shown alongside Juliet Peter’s in 2014 at The Dowse Art Museum in A Modest Modernism: Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter.

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. In 1988, he was awarded the Governor-General Art Award and made a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to pottery, in the 2000 New Year Honours.

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.

He created a large scale ceramic wall mural for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, and a mural for the foyer of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. Another mural, Modern Madonna, was commissioned for the Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul.