I spent much of today emptying a very full bisque kiln-load and applying liquid wax to the base of all the pieces. There are twenty or more slab plates which were painted by the Vancouver ‘raiders’ and some of my jug birds. I also sieved my bucket of ‘Deb’s Clear’ cone 04 glaze so that tomorrow I can quickly get all the glazing done and get the glaze firing turned on.
Meanwhile there are a couple of little items to mention. A couple of weeks ago I was pleased to welcome Alberta potter Barbara Tipton here for a cuppa. She has been spending the Winter out here in Coquitlam where her daughters live. Since the sad loss of her husband, well-known Canadian clay artist John Chalke, Barbara is considering whether or not to move out to the coast. What a difficult decision to make. Of course I’d like her to find a home here and I’m sure her family would too. Perhaps she can keep a summer spot in Alberta to connect with her friends and all the clay contacts there.
I invited Barbara to join TriCity Potters for our meeting last Wednesday, when we had Brendan Tang speaking to the group. It turns out that her two daughters are taking pottery classes with Vin Arora at local Place des Arts, and one came with her to the meeting. As luck would have it Vin was there too, to hear his friend Brendan’s talk.
Twenty years ago Barbara was the editor of Contact Magazine which was published in Calgary. For several years it was Canada’s own magazine devoted to the Ceramics of this country and we were all very sad when it ceased production. Shortly after my graduation from Emily Carr College of Art & Design I had a solo show at the Gallery of BC Ceramics titled ‘Many a Slip’ and to my great delight a review appeared in Contact. To this day I don’t know who sent the information to the editor, Barbara, but it was an important step in my pre-internet career. So now I can thank you, Barbara.
This line appears in the biography on my website, under publications:
Gillian McMillan, in Contact : Ceramics from a Canadian Perspective. Winter 1996/97. #107, pp.41, 43.
and in a rather pale scanned copy, here is a pdf of that article:
All that is ancient history now, but I think I might make another ‘Pope’s Hat’ plate again one of these days, and have fun painting with my slips on something other than a jug bird.
That particular edition of Contact magazine featured an article about Cathi Jefferson building her first kiln, in North Vancouver, an article about Takeshi Yasuda’s Workshop at Shadbolt Centre by our BC Potters Guild newsletter editor at that time, Karen Opas, and a fascinating article by Tony Clennell about how his uncle Jimmie established Pinecroft Pottery in Ontario. It’s fascinating to read how Tony’s uncle and father learnt all about pottery when they worked at Medalta, Medicine Hat. You may have to borrow my copy to read it all. Maybe it’ll appear online one day.
I’ll talk about the other two little items I had in mind in another blog soon.
