Last Monday I waxed all the bisque-fired plates and jugbirds, and because it was a warm day I was able to get the glazing done and then reloaded the kiln. So it was firing all the next day while Alan and I went in to St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver to meet the cardiac surgeon. When that was over we treated ourselves to lunch in Vancouver Art Gallery’s cafe and enjoyed the ‘Picasso and His Muses’ show. The kiln turned off after 11pm that day.

With 24 hours to cool I wasn’t able to unload all the gorgeous finished work until Thursday. Al took photos of everything again, so here are shots of the most recent ‘raiders” plates.

Eric’s continuing his small series of pieces referencing ‘Dazzle’ work from the mid twentieth century. The idea is to destroy the shape of the vessel (in this case, ceramic not Naval) with optical interruptions. Our recent visitor Ciara Phillips’ ‘dazzling’ ship design in Scotland is another example of the idea.

Elizabeth Zvonar chose to paint four matching coupes for her first experiments in painting with underglazes. I think she’ll be happy with her work and there are several ideas that she might like to pursue next time she joins us.

Mina also chose the coupe shaped plates, with two showing gentle splooshes on layered backgrounds, the third with bold oranges and black and the larger platter is simply coloured to allow the food presented on it to claim the spotlight!

Now, this Saturday morning, Eric and his friend David Barnhill drove out for coffee and to pick up all the plates. David chose to purchase two of my most recent jugbirds for wedding presents  (a Northern Flicker and a Red-Breasted Sapsucker) and has also decided to give a home to a piece he’s thought about owning for a while. It is my ‘Bird-Handled Chalice’ which was shown at Esplanade Gallery in Medicine Hat and appears in their catalogue, ‘Contemporary Canadian Ceramics’ 2006.