It’s probably a good thing the rain’s returned today. When the sun makes its rare appearances it’s too tempting to spend hours outside. I never thought I’d actually enjoy digging out weeds, making room for the perennial plants that I want to have flourish. But now I’ve had two urgent requests from Crafthouse YVR for some more jugbirds. I keep telling people that having my work displayed at the airport is super exposure but that they sell slowly. But since leaving ten to add to their last two on our way to Mexico in late January, I’m told there’s only one left. With ArtWalk coming up I’m looking at a serious shortage of new work to show.

I’ve been out of my studio a lot lately because it was used for the jurying of the upcoming TriCity Potters’ show “Fantastic Feast”. Last Wednesday our members brought their creations to the meeting. Each person described what they’d made and for whom. There were some really creative ideas and lots of helpful hints shared. Afterwards all the work was delivered to my house.

On Sunday morning Linda Lebrun and Kay Bonathan helped unpack and display it all. 26 people responded to this challenge. To enter you had to be a member of our group and pay $10. We decided that this time we’d have our show juried. Emily Carr and Shadbolt Centre instructor Fredi Rahn came out from Vancouver to make the selections. 35 pieces were chosen from 53. Thank you Fredi for being our juror and choosing the work. Fredi will be our speaker at our April meeting so I’m sure members will be asking about her selections and the overall vision. Below are her Juror’s notes

Jurying the work for the TriCity Potters’ Group’s show, themed “A Fantastic Feast” gave me the opportunity to see a wide range of work, made by artists at many stages in their development.  The challenge for me was to choose from the wide range of styles and themes represented to curate an exhibition that is both cohesive and inclusive of the many wonderful interpretations members chose to explore.

Here are a few of the qualities I looked for in choosing the pieces: inventiveness, risk taking, a sense of narrative and/or the artist’s personality, richness and complexity, a strong connection between form and surface design, and craftsmanship, or technical mastery.   I chose not to include pieces which had technical flaws, forms and imagery that seemed generic or derivative, and also some ambitious pieces where I felt there was a significant lack of cohesiveness in the work’s execution. 

Obviously, a selection process like this isn’t black and white, especially with such a range of work.  My own biases played a role in choosing favorites, as you would expect. Overall I was impressed by the enthusiasm and imagination shown by the members who submitted, and I hope I have chosen a show that reflects the skills, artistry, and quirkiness of your works.

Thank you to all the members who brought their work to our meeting or dropped it off at my house, and special thanks to those who helped arrange it, pack it and unpack it all and especially Kay, Grace, Christine, Martha and Clive who made the  3D gallery into a feast room this morning.

Our invitation shows food served at our Christmas party. Because the work for the show was juried we couldn’t know what would be in the show until this week so we just used the idea of feast food. In fact it now looks as if there would be very different food served at our Fantastic Feast. Gnomes, space men, environmentalists, children, hockey fans, sea creatures and fungi are invited to the feast!

Do join us at the opening this Thursday, or find a chance to see the unusual pottery on display during the next month. The show is one of a series of ceramic shows timed to be open when more than 300 potters attend the Ceramic Symposium at Shadbolt Centre this Saturday.