My mother, Joan Brown, who has died aged 89, was an artist and potter who exhibited widely in Britain and occasionally abroad.
Born in Aberdeen, she was the daughter of Walter Bruford, a codebreaker in both world wars and eventual professor of German at Cambridge, and his wife, Gerda (nee Hendrick), who gave art classes in Edinburgh after Walter was appointed professor there.
Joan went to Craigmount and Esdaile schools in the city, then trained in drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art at an exciting time when John Maxwell and William Gillies were teaching and there was a strong “Edinburgh school of painting”. This was part of a combined course (1945-49) that also involved studying the history and theory of art at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a master’s degree, followed by postgraduate courses in textile design and etching, the latter at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London (now Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design).
In 1954 she married the landscape architect Michael Brown, and they spent the next few years in Philadelphia, where she studied printmaking.
In the 1960s Joan exhibited her woodcut prints and paintings in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and the US. She took up pottery in 1967, building her own workshop and working in that medium from then on. She particularly enjoyed the freedom of various hand-built methods to create objects that were very original and often sculptural in nature. Through collaborating with landscape architects, she created decorative bricks and water features, including a large ceramic water sculpture for the roof garden of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.
Joan loved music, was a keen amateur cellist and studied many languages. Her artwork was often inspired by her travels abroad, Italy and China being particular favourites. She was also a keen gardener and grew her own fruit and vegetables.
In 1995 Joan moved back to Edinburgh, where she produced some small, organic pieces inspired by natural forms as well as many sculptural figures. At a Visual Arts Scotland annual exhibition, she won an award for the most original work. In 2008 she moved to Bath.
Her marriage ended in divorce. Joan is survived by her sons, Robin and Jonathan, me, her grandchildren, Luca, Elias and Leilah, and her sister Jennifer.
