[6] Trained as an architectural draughtsman, Sprague spent the Second World War in the AIF in New Guinea as a signals officer.
[9] He returned to Australia in February 1962, planning to make ethical pots in the Anglo–Japanese tradition founded by Bernard Leach, David's father.
On the estate he set up a pottery,[14] designed and built a new house nearby[16] and renovated an existing five-room cottage.
[17] From England he had imported a Homer kiln capable of the high temperatures needed to make stoneware and porcelain rather than earthenware, and a Boulton's cone-driven wheel and pugmill.
[22] Dismayed by the quality of teaching in art schools and technical colleges, he ran many workshops around the country on the textural treatment of clay.
The other apprentices at Mungeribar were Grattan Burley (for six months),[19] Christopher Sanders (1976–78),[20] who became a lifelong friend, and Trevor Hanby (1978–80).
After 14 years of hands-on pottery making, Sprague ceded to Hanby the job of developing a full range of pots to be sold under the Mungeribar mark.
[29] In 1965 the famous Japanese potter Shōji Hamada had made a range of pots at Mungeribar; they are now in the Hamilton Gallery.
[6] In the mid-1970s Sprague, following Robin Welch, produced a series of sculptures by adding anthropomorphic features to spindly thrown pots.
[32] Ovoid forms originated on the wheel but were beaten and scraped into expressive asymmetry and ornamented with clay disks and straps.
[33] From 1973 at the latest he specialised in fireclay panels for architectural use as wall plaques or free-standing sculptures (Littlemore's Nine Artist Potters first edition of 1973 has photos of six of them).
Sprague laid out a design of 20,000 ceramic tiles in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne, in 1979 to form a "people's pathway".
[14] Ian Sprague: studio potter 1920–1994, a retrospective exhibition curated by Relton Leaver, was held at the Victorian State Craft Collection Gallery in 1995.
[41] The review in The Age, headed "Master potter hailed", wrote of his "legendary contribution to contemporary ceramics".
A photo by Kraig Carlstrom in Nine Artist Potters shows Sprague at Mungeribar in the late 1970s wearing a zippered turtleneck jumper over blue denim flares.
Tall stoneware vase with textured neck and cross-scored body, 1970s; 21cm x 64cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Lidded storage jar,
Tenmoku
glazed; 14cm x 15cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Iron-glazed stoneware cups and saucers from a set of six, 1960s; cups 105mm x 70mm, saucers 120mm x 20mm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Two ash-glazed storage jars, one with lugs, mid-1970s; 15cm x 10cm (with lugs), 13cm x 11cm (without); both with Ian Sprague mark.
Celadon-glazed pottery bas-relief of his dog Sprint 1979; Ian Sprague mark.
Sand dune drawing, Ian Sprague 1991; unsigned and undated. Made below Shirley Hannan's beach house inside
Bournda National Park
, NSW.
Ink pen and wash in a sketchbook; 380mm x 295mm;
S. Pietro
8/58, signed Sprague.
Ink pen and wash in a sketchbook; 350mm x 230mm;
Forum di Roma
’58, signed Sprague.
Ink pen and wash; 380mm x 280mm;
Fontana di Quattro Fiumi—Piazza Navona—Bernini
, signed Sprague, undated.
Ash-glazed tea pot, 1960s; damaged spout; 180mm x 235mm; Ian Sprague mark.
Iron-glazed stoneware cup and saucer from a set of six, 1960s; cup 105mm x 70mm, saucer 120mm x 20mm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
White glazed cylindrical vase, incised texture with a cobalt underglaze; 90mm x 80mm; Ian Sprague mark.
Ash-glazed salt pig, 1960s; 260mm x 210mm; Ian Sprague mark.
Iron-glazed teapot with white-glazed decoration, 1960s: 180mm x 220mm; Ian Sprague mark.
One of a set of six cups, white-glazed with cobalt decoration, 1960s; 100mm x 70mm; Ian Sprague mark.
Iron-glazed bowl with white glazed splashes from a production line set, 1960s; 170mm x 65mm; Mungeribar stamp.
White porcelain bowls from a production line set, 1960s; 170mm x 65mm; Mungeribar stamp.
Ash-glazed dinner and side plates from a production line set, 1960s; 280mm x 24mm, 205mm x 22mm; both Mungeribar stamped.
Lidded stoneware canister from a set, 1960s; 12cm x 5cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Ian Sprague stoneware canister from a set, 1960s; 10cm x 18cm; no stamp.
Lidded pottery jar
Tenmoku
glazed; 14cm x 15cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Glazed jug, 1970s; 10cm x 15cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Small lidded jar with
Tenmoku
glaze, early 1970s; 6.5cm x 8cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Two-tone bottle; 14cm x 14cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Jar with ridge, 1970s; 23cm x 18cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Rice steamer, 1970s; 15cm x 24cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Thrown bowl in the
Bernard Leach
manner, 1960s; 13.5cm x 9cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Chün
glazed dish early to mid-1970s; 38cm x 8cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Textured stoneware vase, ash-glazed on a raw body, 1970s; 7.5cm x 25cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Bottle, ash-glazed on a raw body, 1970s; 38cm x 9cm; Ian Sprague mark
Lamp base (with shade), brown dry glaze with central design, 1970s; 32cm x 22cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Fireclay bowl with iron oxide over decoration, 1970s; 12cm x 52cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
White jar with circles; 24cm x 18cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Rope-textured pottery bottle by Tatsuzo Shimaoka formerly in the collection of Ian Sprague; 27cm x 24cm.
Textured ovoid form in fireclay, 1970s; 33cm x 21cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Coiled and beaten ovoid form with a dry glaze and iron oxide; 21cm x 20cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Khaki ovoid form with a dry ash glaze from the late 1970s; 15cm x 32cm; Ian Sprague mark.
Vertical wall plaque, central design, red-glazed fireclay; 77cm x 23cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Ian Sprague, fireclay wall plaque in a metal frame, red glass in the mid-level circles; 1970s; 80cm x 40cm; Ian Sprague and Mungeribar marks.
Fireclay wall installation for the Hannan House, Beaumaris; seven panels by six; Ian Sprague mark and signed SPRAGUE 1977.
Ian Sprague pencil drawing on rag paper of his whippet Sprint; unsigned and undated.
Pencil and ink sketch of Sprint; signed Ian Sprague 9/79.
Landscape monoprint on butcher's paper; Ian Sprague 1980s; unsigned.
