Amphorae in Bodrum Museum
We had a very happy evening with quite a few members of TriCity Potters here on Wednesday. Lots of yummy potluck food and conversation. It's always fun to show our collection of pots from England, the US Southwest, Mexico and pots made around here. There are many interesting activities planned for our local potters in 2011.
Today I'll continue with showing pottery-related inspirations from Turkey. Our travels took us to Bodrum on the Aegean. The crusaders' castle is now mainly a museum of marine archaeology. Sunken ships nearby have yielded a vast collection of goods so there is a chronology of amphora shapes. 
I have a badly photographed description of the amphora production. Click on the image to enlarge and read it.
and a fine floor mosaic of amphorae..
and another..
There is a mural showing the contents of an Aegean trading ship and following that I have put a photo of the same pots as they were found at the bottom of the ocean.
and finally some handled bottles that have been reassembled and are displayed in the Bodrum museum.
Christmas Party
Tomorrow evening we are looking forward to welcoming local clay enthusiasts to our home for a potluck party. If you live close enough do join us, even if you aren't currently a TriCity Potters member. We will try to persuade you to come to our regular meetings!
CHRISTMAS PARTY
at Gillian and Alan McMillan's home on DECEMBER 8, 2010 at 6:30 pm
2214 St. George St. Port Moody, BC tel:604-937-7696
If you can, please bring some finger food for sharing (on a plate of
your own making if possible), and bring a contribution for the Food Bank.
Feel free to bring a partner or friend to join in the holiday cheer.
It would be good to email Gillian just to let her know if you can come
or not.
But do not let any of the above stop you from being there. The most
important thing to do is just COME!
Joe Fafard
Yesterday Al and I drove into Granville Island to let the galleries have the few new jugbirds I have for them. Surprise! There was a new poster - fame at last!
Then we checked out some South Granville street galleries. One well-known Alberta/BC Gallery is showing Joe Fafard's new work. I always enjoy his huge bulls in city locations - Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto. In the seventies I took a workshop with him at Surrey Art Gallery. At that time he was concentrating on clay sculptures of Canadians and Van Gogh.
All the sculptures are bronze. This Emily Carr is nicer than the one in the street at Granville and 7th.
We were told that it took Joe 3 years to make this running horse. It is lifesize and fabulous!
Today was one of those beautiful frosty Winter days. Here is the view north from our house, the North Shore mountains, specifically Mount Seymour.
The other view is looking east towards Golden Ears with Port Moody's Newport highrises in the foreground.
Not a bad place to live!
Kiln opening day
My first blog for December.. It has taken me several weeks to make 17 jugbirds (really with Christmas in mind) and a few other pieces. The cone 04 firing went well, the slips and the one 'Radiant Red' underglaze all did their thing nicely.
I chose to make a casserole with a lid, which I almost never do now, for a friend and hooray! the oval lid popped off perfectly. Sometimes the terra sig causes them to stick a bit.
Daughter-in-law asked for some mugs too.
Mainly a lovely lady in New York asked for several Jugbirds and this evening we've had long trans-continental conversations and she's settled on 5 that I'll have to pack up and ship to her asap.
Three Red Cardinals..
Two Pileated Woodpeckers..
Miniature Jugbirds..
4 more miniature Jugbirds..
and I made and fired two more plates that Eric Metcalfe painted with his signature motifs.
All in all an exciting day!