My mother …was the backbone of our family. Without her, our life would have fallen to pieces. – Arthur Boyd
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd was born at Murrumbeena, Melbourne, on 24 July 1920 to artists Merric and Doris Boyd. His paternal grandparents Arthur Merric and Emma Minnie Boyd were also artists. Arthur grew up at Open Country in an environment where everyone is encouraged to paint, draw, or model in clay. The Brown Room was the focus of family life.
Arthur’s father Merric Boyd- the father of Australian studio pottery- experimented with high heat in a gas kiln. There was a fire at the kiln, the pottery, studio kiln and recipes for glazes were destroyed. Merric suffered a breakdown and his epilepsy worsens.
