Walter Keeler at NCECA
We've just returned from 4 exciting days in Seattle attending NCECA, the biggest Ceramics Conference on the Continent. My Medalta friend Brenda Sullivan flew out from Port Hope, Ontario to drive down with us. We heard that some 400 Canadians joined the roughly 6,000 Ceramic artists attending and certainly lots of BC and Alberta folks drove or flew down. It was a such fun to keep running into TriCity Potters, BC Potters Guild members and the Medalta crew. As usual there was a vast room set aside for promoting College and University courses, Community Centres, Ceramic suppliers offering glazes, tools, wheels, kilns, what-have-you and there were tours to consider and piles of paper: posters, brochures, invitations galore.
In ballrooms one could listen to discussions, watch slide shows and watch demonstrators. I found myself unable to move from watching British potter Walter Keeler throwing and assembling his unique teapots and jugs. In 1990, a year before I decided to go to Emily Carr U I so enjoyed attending a workshop he gave there on a hot August weekend. At that time he was already making his recognizable metal-like jugs and teapots but he also made several of the large oval vessels with outrageous loopy handles. The assembled work dried so quickly!
Later, in 2005, Alan and I arranged for our little tour group of potters to drive up the Wye Valley to his studio. He was so welcoming and talked to us while sitting at his kick wheel as if we were a group of his students. While we admired some of his work and the collection of old pots, cans and found objects that inspire him he was watching his kiln, waiting for the moment to start salting. If only we could have been there 3 days later to see the results of the firing!
On this week's occasion he shared the stage with marvellous Tip Toland. As I don't do sculpture of figures I hadn't expected to enjoy her side of the stage but she entranced us with her petite energy and unfailing confidence in creating an enormous head. Sharing 3 hours side by side gives the presenters time to work while the other person speaks and the audience can see both types of work inching towards completion, helped by enormous screens behind the two.
I took photos from way back in the audience but with iPhoto enhancements they aren't too bad. This is a link to the Picasa/Google album and includes photos of finished WK pots on display at Pottery Northwest.
https://picasaweb.google.com/112208740085943894765/WalterKeelerAtNCECASeattle2012
Next Saturday, April 7th, Walter will be in Vancouver, speaking at the Museum of Anthropology. Details are in my next post. Basically Walter will speak at 3pm and there will be time beforehand to learn more about MOA's Ceramics collection.
When I have time I'll post another album of all the other Ceramic work we saw in and around Seattle.
Glenn Lewis
Wednesday evening's meeting of the TriCity Potters was held in my studio/basement because the local schools are on Spring Break. We rented some folding chairs and with a screen and our projector we managed well. 25 people attended to hear our guest Glenn Lewis.
Barry Brickell & Driving Creek Railway
As I sort the hundreds of photos from our trip Down Under I thought that the visit to the pottery and railway of Barry Brickell would make a nice Picasa/Google Album. It has too many photos to post here in a blog so just click the link and you should see what a fun day we had on the Coromandel Peninsula. It is half a day's drive from Auckland.
Barry Brickell, now 77, has had a lifelong devotion to making pots and sculpture and is also incredibly capable as a designer and builder-from-scratch of his own railway. Initially he built it to transport clay from higher up on his property in very rural and steep terrain. Now that tourists are welcomed to enjoy a loopy train ride up to a viewpoint 'Eyeful Tower', he has helpers in a ticket office/gift shop and resident artists who assist in running this out-of-the-way commune/workshop/garden. New Zealanders are proud to recommend a visit to their famous potter/environmentalist.
I'm trying to find out if a mural in the entrance to the complex was made by our own BC Potter Bob Kingsmill. Sure looks like it! Can anybody tell me?
https://picasaweb.google.com/112208740085943894765/BarryBrickellDrivingCreekRailway?noredirect=1
New Plymouth potters
For a number of years Port Moody has had a relationship with the city of New Plymouth in Taranaki province, New Zealand. Both cities have taken the title 'City of the Arts' and exhibitions have been exchanged. I contacted Dale Copeland, an enthusiastic Arts Advocate in Taranaki, and asked about potters there. The New Plymouth Potters' president, Cecily Bull, kindly invited me to visit their group's workshop and gallery, to give a presentation if possible and to stay chez the Bulls.
So, during our recent two and a half-week stay in New Zealand, Alan and I drove into New Plymouth on Thursday February 16th. Cecily took us into the centre of town where the guild is lucky enough to have the use of a city-owned workshop space next to a beautifully restored stone Vicarage which is used as their gallery. In return for the group's studio space members of the guild man the gallery voluntarily.
I gave a Power Point Presentation 'Gillian McMillan's Jugbirds' to an enthusiastic group of members and had many interested questions to answer. It was also most interesting to me to see who had given them workshops over the years and what the influences were. Many members are doing pottery as a hobby but there are some making a living from their work. Coincidentally there was an annual show of Ceramics at the Real Tart Gallery in New Plymouth and its theme was 'Birds of a Feather'! I was invited to contribute work to the show seeing I would be there then so I had couriered two smallish jug birds to them when we arrived in Auckland. It was fun to see plinths displaying all sorts of birds, functional and not.
Cecily has sent me some photos - yours truly after my talk visiting their gallery, the shelves of work for sale, and a nice photo of the charming Vicarage building/gallery. I am also attaching a pdf of the recent newsletter which tells of my visit and also gives an idea of the sort of activities they organize over a year.
Many thanks to Cecily and her husband Tom for having Al and me to stay for two nights and for organizing my happy evening with New Plymouth potters. It was so good to meet local people when on a trip so far from home and to have places of interest shown us.
Wouldn't it be nice of more pottery groups in the lower mainland could have permanent studio/gallery/presentation spaces like theirs? Is this something TriCity Potters should pursue?
Home again!
If you checked my blog during the last 5 1/2 weeks you'll have noticed that I didn't post anything. My apologies. Alan and I have been 'Down Under' all that time, first in New Zealand for over two weeks and the rest of the time in Australia. There are so many memories and many of them will be kept alive by the hundreds of photos Al and I took. Over the next little while, even as I'll be noting pottery related events happening now and here, I'll be posting photos and accounts of some of our adventures on the other side of the world. Australia was mainly a huge collection of places to see and animals and birds to exclaim over. But in New Zealand I was able to connect with potters in New Plymouth and in Wellington and was made to feel very much at home. Watch for accounts of those meetings soon.
Meanwhile here is one photo of a delightful Kookaburra, taken on Kangaroo Island SA. I hope I find time to take advantage of all the inspiration to produce some new jug birds or non-functional birds soon.
Alberta/BC in a Box
Quentin Randall at Medalta has sent this invitation to the joint showing of Alberta/BC in a Box. I saw the Alberta part late last year (see posts for Wide Open Nov 17/11) and as mentioned yesterday the complete BC part will be shown in Seattle as part of NCECA. Our theme is On the Edge. I'm looking forward to connecting with other BC potters at the opening. Apparently we can wear a 'Potter from BC' button if we stop by the BC Potters Guild table at the Conference Centre. I'm considering volunteering for a couple of hours but first need to take a careful look at the agenda of presentations.
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BC Potters at NCECA
There is an extensive review by member Kathryn O'Regan of Brendan Tang's talk to the Contemporary Arts Society the other day, illustrated with several of Brendan's complex Manga Ormolu creations.
Our BC in a Box show, which is currently being shown in Medicine Hat with the Alberta version, will be part of the huge selection of Ceramics shows in and around Seattle for NCECA in late March. That's an exciting opportunity for the BC guild. Also showing in the same gallery will be work by the 'Fired-Up' collective of mainly Vancouver Island clay artists. Details below:
BC-in-a-Box/FiredUp! joint Exhibition
The BC Potters Guild invites all members to attend the reception for BC-in-a Box and FiredUp! at the Fraker/Scott Gallery in Pioneer Square on Thursday, March 29, 5 to 9 p.m. The exhibition, entitled British Columbia Presents: The Edge of Here/The Salish Sea will be on display from March 1 to 31. We hope to see you there!
Fraker/Scott Gallery
121 Prefontaine Place S.
The Tashiro Kaplan Building, Pioneer Square Seattle, Washington 98104 www.frakerscottgallery.com
Contact phone: (206) 883-4633
Hours and dates of exhibition:
March 1 to 31, 2012
Tues. to Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reception: March 29, 5 to 9 p.m.
Green, Blue-Billed Bird Teapot
I've added 2 photos from Land Artist Chris Mackenzie to my blog of Jan 10th, and a little more on the 2D art currently on display at Port Moody Art Centre.
Yesterday it was time to open my latest glaze kiln and retrieve some ordered pieces - the 8 jugbirds for Crafthouse YVR, a flicker and sugar pots and a wild Green, Blue-Billed Bird Teapot. Other pieces will wait here for the April ArtWalk.
Customers who have enjoyed a blue-billed green jugbird since last year's ArtWalk commissioned me to design a matching bird teapot. I really like the combination of colours so was happy to draw and make one. We'll see whether he's big enough for their needs - I think that when he's filled with tea he's heavy enough. Luckily the odd bill/spout has produced a good pour!
Here is a little photo essay on the process of his manufacture. I threw the body first, then its lid and then a cylinder which I later cut up to form the spout/bill. 
Assembling the pieces and then adding a handle/tail, eyes and a 'crest' on the lid is totally absorbing and satisfying. I leave the completed piece under soft plastic to even out the moisture for a day. I then paint it with my coloured slips before allowing it to dry slowly.
A final step before the bisque firing is the application of terra sigillata (very fine red clay slip) to give the base and lid 'seat' a pleasing finish.
After the bisque firing all the work is dipped in a clear glaze and fired again to Cone 04, an earthenware temperature which melts the glaze to a bright glossy food-safe coating.
Snowy day in Port Moody
Today was a good day not to drive in to Vancouver, so we still haven't been to see the Audain Collection at VAG. But there was an impressive snowfall last night and we don't have Winter tires. I terra sigged the bases of the 13 pieces that I've managed to complete since early December and loaded and turned on the kiln.
Alan and I walked around the local streets. I took a photo of this elegant oak tree from St. Andrews lane looking north. Port Moody legend has it that Colonel Moody planted it when he was here from England to survey this mill town at the end of the railway. Seedlings fom the oak keep volunteering in our garden and we've allowed two to stay. We keep them clipped as small bushes rather than letting them grow tall.
My MacBook and iPad are now synced so contacts, calendar and mail are on both. I can have Internet etc when traveling and leave the Mac at home. But arranging downloads and learning to use iPad has taken hours! The panoramic stitched photo is app Dermandar, a free download Margaret Hsu told me about.
The people who commissioned a new bird teapot have enquired about its progress. Luckily I did get that made and it's in the kiln too. I took photos of the process so that'll be my next post.
Land Art in Port Moody
The official opening of Port Moody Art Centre's current shows will take place on Thursday evening Jan 12th. between 6 and 8pm. But the work has been on view since last week, partly I'm sure so that Land Artist and photographer Chris MacKenzie can have one of his two planned outdoor Art pieces installed before the opening. So I popped by on rainy Saturday to see what he'd done and to take a quick look at what's up in my local Art Galleries.
As a long-time fan of British artist Andy Goldsworthy who installs magical arrangements of stones, ice, leaves and sticks in natural settings I was interested to find out what Chris Mackenzie is making. Like Andy, Chris is a fine photographer and it seems to me that once one has spent years taking photos of the best natural scenes one comes to a point of wanting to introduce surprises. Google Andy Goldsworthy to see images of painstaking arrangements of beautiful colours, often in circles outlining odd holes. These works of art may never be seen by anyone except the artist but the photograph capturing this fleeting gift is what we can see in books.
Chris has been working on Land Art for the last two years after many more in photography. His show, 'Stones, Chestnuts & Snow' in the 3D gallery features large format photos of some delightful arrangements in local forests and by streams. Large rocks on the floor, a video showing waves gently lapping over pebbles towards red chestnuts placed at the high-tide mark and an accompanying sound-track make the little gallery a pleasing introduction to his ideas and one is then intrigued to see the arrangements of sticks on the outside lawn of the Arts Centre. Next Saturday he plans to work publicly again, installing 8 more rectangles of sticks on the island in front of City Hall.
Gallery curator Susan Jessop asked artist Angela Gooliaff to indicate the feelings of an artist confronted with display cases for her work. The resulting ants scurrying inside and outside the cases are a fun surprise! 'Cabinet of Curiosity Series' with Tony Chu.
Time ran out so I shall take a better look at the other two shows at the opening on Thursday - Maegan Elise' 'Goodnight Goodluck' mixed-media drawings based on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan - and the abstract drawings of Rosemary Burden 'Breeding Ground'.
The Opening Reception was a week ago now. I do enjoy the opportunity to hear more about each artist and the ideas and work behind each person's exhibition. After spending time with the 2D work this time I appreciated the mixed-media work by Maegan Elise. She is in third year at ECU and her paintings have already been selected for a show in North Vancouver and one image has been chosen by Translink to appear on a bus or a sky train for the next two years. She is this year's recipient of Port Moody Art Centre's Kwi Am Choi award for emerging artists. He would have enjoyed her work. I found them to be moving and powerful.
The other 2D works, showing on the walls of the Plum Gallery, are abstract drawings by Rosemary Burden. These warrant a careful look. They have a delicate botanical feel and I enjoyed them a lot.
Since I started this blog over a week ago Chris Mackenzie has been in touch. It was a snowy day last Saturday when he completed the second of his Port Moody installations. I'm afraid we merely walked around our neighbourhood and did not drive down to the end of the Inlet to watch him. But he has sent me two photos of the work as it looks today in the snow. Who knows what effect the next few weeks of rain, frost and then Spring will have on his careful arrangement?
I do hope there will be lots more public art in our city, whether it is ephemeral and a passing pleasure like Chris' sticks and last year's now-fading, but thought-provoking blue trees or more permanent sculpture, painting, plantings and even buildings.
