When long-time potter friend June MacDonald heard that I needed to be in Lund by noon on Friday July 5th she suggested I head out on the Thursday and spend the night at their rural home in Madeira Park. So that was my destination on the first day of my big salt-firing adventure!
I left Port Moody early and was able to get on the 9.50am ferry for the 40 minute ride from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. In no particular hurry, I enjoyed stopping for whatever took my fancy. First stop was in downtown Gibsons where I parked behind the Gibsons Public Art Gallery. Inside I enjoyed a show of 1950s photos of Canadian Indigenous people (now ended) and the gift shop. Yes, Georgina Brandon, I was amused by and bought some of your cards!
In Roberts Creek the mandala hasn’t been repainted yet so was merely the scuffed version of the one Al and I saw last year. A stroll on the ‘pier’ reminded me of how much ‘I do like to be beside the seaside..’
Finding the Sechelt Community Arts Council Gallery was a challenge. It’s off the main highway and is a custom-built log structure. Inside was a fine show of work by local artist Bill Wilkinson, due to open on Saturday, of painted 2D forms, looking as if they are folded boxes. I was pleased to see them and noticed how well they fit in to the unusual building. Here are several photos of his pieces. ‘Evolution of a Series’ runs until August 4th.
On then, I took Redrooffs Road, instead of the main road and found the country getaway belonging to Allyson Clay and Greg Bellerby. Sally has been one of the regular Raiders, joining us very recently, and Greg came one time. We chatted about Greg’s writing and he showed me a copy of his recently published book about an Arthur Erickson house in West Vancouver. This March 2019 review in the Globe and Mail gives an excellent explanation of Ericksen’s design and the context of the 1980s building.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/reviews/article-a-house-of-eppich-architecture/
When he told me about his next project, a possible show of work by members of ‘Slug Pottery’ which was based in Roberts Creek in the seventies, he took a lovely bowl out of their kitchen cabinet and told me that he’d bought it from Mick Henry back then. Nice salt bowl! The S is for Slug Pottery.
By late afternoon I’d found June and Don’s home in Madeira Park, and relaxed with a cuppa on their deck which overlooks a little tidal inlet. We watched kingfishers and other birds in this delightful setting. Thank you MacDonalds for a little drive around that part of Pender Harbour, a tour of your studio, a comfortable evening and a fine meal. Next morning saw me heading north to catch another ferry.
