reynell's reputation was slow to take off, in part because she worked to a great extent isolated from the larger australian art community (first at reynella, later at ballarat). in addition, because she was pioneering the field of ceramics in australia, she lacked both a community of peers and an educated audience. her work only began to be collected systematically in the late 1960s, and her pottery and other works (including paintings, linocuts, and sketchbooks) are now in major australian collections, including the national gallery of australia, the art gallery of new south wales, and the powerhouse museum in sydney. the south australian art gallery holds a portrait of reynell in her mid-twenties painted by her friend bessie davidson.