TriCity Potters

It was a clay-packed weekend! On Friday evening Linda took June and me over to the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts for the latest in the NorthWest Ceramic Foundation's series of lectures. Nora Vaillant had studied Leach apprentice and sometime BC resident John Reeve and his influence on West Coast potters for her MA thesis. This talk was a somewhat extended version of the presentation…

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Loading the kiln

I do enjoy the drive out to Matsqui Prairie for these occasional salt firings at Herman Venema's country studio. The mountains you see to the North as you drive over the Pitt River bridge, reflected in the river, are spectacular. And further on, near Ruskin, there's Mount Baker, seemingly just across the Fraser River. When I arrived Herman and Dave were ready to start work,…

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Opening the salt kiln July 20th 2013

It was worth the wait! Alan came out with me to Abbotsford for the kiln opening and most of today's photos were taken by him. Sadly Nora's daughter Isla developed a strep throat so Nora couldn't join us. I've brought her pieces home and she'll get them soon. The photos into the kiln show three stages of the opening. They're useful for us to have…

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My second salt-firing in the Fraser Valley

On Tuesday I drove out to Abbotsford and was there about 11.30am. Herman had to drive to the airport so Dave and I were in charge of getting the salt kiln loaded. Actually Dave did all the hard work of deciding how the work was placed and lifting in and stabilizing all the shelves while I busied myself applying wads with glue to all Nora's…

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High Fire Culture show is over

After spending the afternoon at Horseshoe Bay's Art Walk Al and I poddled along Marine Drive and stopped for a bite of supper at Park Royal's White Spot.   We had a little walk along Capilano River, under the railway bridge and out towards Ambleside Beach.     Then we drove into Vancouver over the Lion's Gate bridge, through Stanley Park and in to downtown.…

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