Guy Martin a'Beckett Boyd was born on the 12th of June, 1923 at the family home, Open Country , Murrumbeena, near Melbourne .

His father, Merric Boyd, was Australia 's first art potter. His mother decorated pottery and was a painter. Their home and studio-pottery, in a riotous garden of tangled trees, sheltered a family that was prolifically creative.

The environment gave rise to the growth of the talents of the five children – Lucy, Arthur, Guy, David and Mary. All were strongly influenced by their parental grandparents, Arthur Merric and Emma Minnie Boyd, both artists for whom painting was a way of life.

Guy Boyd studied sculpture with Lyndon Dadswell at East Sydney Technical College Art School after World War II. While doing so he established the Martin Boyd Pottery in Sydney with Duncan Miller as one of his partners – a venture which rapidly expanded.

In 1952 Guy returned to Melbourne to start the Guy Boyd Pottery in partnership with his wife, Phyllis. Guy and Phyllis were to have a family of seven children and to generate in their own home the creative environment that had become a family tradition.

Moving from pottery to sculpture in bronze, Guy established a flourishing career in fulfilment of a childhood dream.

He travelled extensively on a Churchill fellowship. He had exhibitions across Australia and in London and felt the need to expand further. The family moved to Canada and Guy exhibited his work in galleries across North America including Montreal , Toronto , Washington and New York .

Five years later, the family returned to Australia and bought the house and studio formerly owned by Arthur Merric and Emma Minnie Boyd in Sandringham, Victoria, where Guy continued his work.

Basic to Guy Boyd's sculpture is a reverence for the human image and a love for the natural environment. He was a committed conservationist, involved in many conservation issues. His concern for social justice led to his involvement in securing a review of the Chamberlain case.

At the end of his life he produced several monumental works, a combination of a lifetimes experience and expertise.

His final piece, ‘Jacob and the angel' was a short time from completion when he died suddenly. It was cast as he left it on the morning he died, 26th April, 1988 .

Anne von Bertouch