Bea Hutton


Bea Hutton
Bea Hutton 1893-1990
Beatrice picked up the rudiments of woodcarving from her mother Clare; one of the first pieces she carved was a plaque of a reclining nude figure of her youngest brother Cameron c.1910. She first exhibited with the Society of Arts and Crafts of New South Wales in 1931.

She was a draughtswoman by trade and became an associate of the Queensland Institute of Architects in 1916 - probably the first woman member of an Australian institute. She lived in Sydney for seventeen years, where she worked as a draughtswoman and later as a junior partner in the firm Chambers and Hutton.

After the death of her father in 1935, Bea and her mother moved to Brisbane and opened up a craft studio, 'The Glory Box'. There she studied briefly with local woodcarving teacher, L.J. Harvey, and subsequently exhibited carved wooden lamp bases, coffee tables and wooden boxes with the Arts and Crafts Society of Queensland. Carved items were a principal product of the studio but embroideries, knitted dresses, rugs, paper bead and button screens, and pottery were also sold.


Coffee table

Coffee tables started to appear in Australian interiors from the 1920s. This coffee table, the border of which is carved with a repeat design of stylised tulips, probably dates to the late 1930s.