The Fraser Valley Potters’ Guild has a juried show for its members every year and they make a point of taking the show to galleries all over the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver. This year, for the first time, this large group of potters has chosen Port Moody Arts Centre and ‘Clay Explorations’ opened there last night.
As a very long-time but now lapsed member of that guild I was looking forward to seeing the latest work from current members and connecting with many friends. Several local potters, Eliza Wang, Kay Bonathan, Carlene Akester, Clive Tucker, Laura Giesbrecht and Ronald Boersen, belong to FVPG and to TriCity Potters (have I missed anyone?) and have pieces in this show. Fraser Valley Potters Guild have their monthly meetings at Kwantlen University in South Surrey and are enjoying close ties with Kwantlen’s Ceramics instructor Ying-Yueh Chuang. She encourages her students to take part in FVPG activities and several of her students received awards in the student category this year.
Port Moody Arts Centre’s gallery manager, Janice Cotter, welcomed artists and visitors, expressed thanks for funding and volunteers and introduced the artists showing in the three galleries. The two artists featured in the two smaller galleries were last year’s recipients of the Kwi Am Choi Awards. These are intended to provide emerging artists with funds and an exhibition opportunity in the following year.
Elmira Habibullah’s show ‘Grasping the Moment’ features her ceramic pieces painted in traditional Iznik style and installed as an exploration of cultural identity and contemporary art.
Yandy Chau spent some days at the Arts Centre engaging with children and adults in a clay mono-printing exercise. These prints are now displayed on banners as ‘Laces of Community’. Both these shows make for a somewhat related and pleasing complement to the ceramics exhibition.
For me the main event was seeing the variety of ceramic work in the central gallery. Janice introduced past-president Pat Schendel and current president Carolyn MacLaren who then announced the prize-winners and honourable mentions. No, I don’t have the list yet so I won’t list any. But congratulations to all. Nelson potter Robin Dupont was this year’s juror, and I’m told that even though he is an ‘atmospheric’ firer he was pleased to see a variety of other firing methods in the show. I’ll just post my quickly grabbed photos from the very busy evening and I recommend you take Skytrain out to Port Moody to see this show. There are many more pots and sculptures than I have shown here.
Lovely work submitted by wonderfully talented potters.