From the MTG: Artist's career intensely productive but short

Collection of Hawke's Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, Whacko by Avis Higgs. Photo / Supplied

As I write this Christmas column, MTG's Social History Curator Gail Pope is working on a display of Clarice Cliff pottery for next year's Art Deco week.

Clarice Cliff was a British ceramic artist whose bold innovative patterns brought Wilkinson's pottery into popularity through the difficult years of The Depression.

Clarice's work (Google it) delighted with upbeat colour and vivacious designs, earning her a reputation as the sunshine girl of the Deco era.

Her work is pure joy and there are many similarities to the work of Avis Higgs in the Museum Trust collection. Not just that these two both broke the glass ceiling in the design industry, but for the sheer joy or 'joie de vivre' of their creations.

Design historian Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins, said of Avis Higgs' that her 'work as a textile designer ranks among the most important and engaging bodies of work yet created by a NZ designer'. It's the sheer enjoyment, communicated in Avis' designs that make them so engaging.

Nothing smacks of the height of summer like surfing and beaches, as this wonderful gouache design attests. Conceived by Avis Higgs as a design for a fabric print it was produced in 1949 decades before surfer fabric patterns were a thing.

This is one of a number of Avis Higgs works held in the Hawke's Bay Museum Trust collection. The collection has a number of fabrics and dresses printed with Avis' designs as well as working drawings and gouache designs such as this.

Te Papa's Claire Renault was lucky enough to meet Avis Higgs in her home in 1999 and was wowed by her gouache designs for textiles – which she said, 'were as fresh as the day they were painted'.

In the 1940s and 50s, Avis made designs from stylised plants, birds and seashells from Australia and New Zealand. She created patterns from Māori motifs and beach life, putting them together with a sparkling freshness, a real celebration of exuberant aspects of life.

Avis' career was intensely productive albeit rather short. As a young woman at the beginning of World War II, armed with a portfolio of fabric designs, watercolour sketches and drawings she set out to look for a job in Sydney.

Her potential was recognised by Silk & Textile Printers Ltd. straight away and the company created a position for Avis - she was on her way.

With the many in the company conscripted during World War ll, Avis was given plenty of latitude as Head Designer there from 1942 to 1945. As was the experience of women all over the world, at the end of the war Avis found herself sidelined when the boys returned home.

Working in the industry for only a few further years, she eventually returned to New Zealand and immersed herself in her new career as a wife and mother. From this time on Avis focused on painting as her primary creative outlet making, some ... yes joyous, watercolour works.

There will be lots of joy out there this Christmas as families are reunited after a long tough year – for many international families, years.

So from MTG Hawke's Bay, here's to you and yours, hoping you have a peaceful holiday and that you find plenty of joy in it.

• Toni MacKinnon is art curator at MTG