The huge new exhibition which has just opened at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology is not what you would expect from a Ceramics show. Curator Carol Mayer has assembled an astonishing collection of ceramics, all made by BC-based artists during the last eighty years. This is not a pottery show, rather this is a chance to see an inspiring display of clay creations that are not thrown on a pottery wheel, and which are not intended to be functional. As explained in the invitation, the work by these eleven selected artists is destined to live in museums, with a focus on bringing our attention to their process or to social and environmental issues, the every-day, nostalgia and the passage of time.

We invite you to the opening of our stunning new group exhibition featuring 11BC-based artists who have created a series of extraordinary ceramic works that express opinions and offer commentary on the state of the world around us.

There was a packed gala opening, with hundreds of MOA supporters and ceramic artists,  on Thursday night at MOA, for the long-awaited opening of an exhibition dedicated to the ceramic material, through the works of eleven BC artists.  The works range from the 1960s to 2018, loaned from other institutions, the artists, and collectors. Dr. Carol E. Mayer, Head of the Curatorial & Design Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Museum of Anthropology, has been working towards this exhibition for over a decade – seeking an opportunity to shine the light on ceramics made in this region.

Instead of simply showcasing ceramics, Carol and her imaginative installation team, headed by Skooker Broome, created visual environments that in themselves were commentary on theworks.

Nine of the artists, Ying Yueh Chuang, Judy Chartrand, Gathie Falk, Jeremy Hatch, Ian Johnston, Glenn Lewis, Alwyn O’Brien, Bill Rennie, and Brendan Tang have works arranged in generous displays, in the Audain Gallery, David Lambert’s 1960s pottery, embellished with his versions of indigenous designs, is in a vitrine in the Multiversity Gallery, and in the Koerner Gallery there is an installation of Debra Sloan’s work, dispersed within the tin-glaze collection.

The artists were greeted at the beginning of the evening with potters Keith Lehman and Vin Arora playing ceramic drums.

Barbara Tipton joined Alan and me for the drive out to UBC on Thursday for the opening celebration. We were invited to the museum’s awe-inspiring Great Hall to hear a Musqueam representative welcoming us to their traditional territory, MOA Director Anthony Shelton describing the exhibition as one of the most important in BC and its curator Carol Mayer explaining the theme and the artists. As we moved away to find the Audain Gallery and to enjoy refreshments in the café area, we took the opportunity to meet or reconnect with so many of the friendly folk in our local clay community. The evening was well worth the drive from Port Moody.

I took some photos and I’ll just include one to represent each of the artists to whet your appetite. I had already planned to return to the museum on Saturday for ‘Catching Fire: Artists in Conversation’ so would take time to make a more considered selection of images for the record. It turned out to be a fascinating chance to learn more about the artists, their methods and their intentions. I do believe I shall need more than one blog to describe the work and show more images. Meanwhile do make a point of taking in this exhibition which will run until March 29th 2020.

There was a day of discussions with the artists, moderated by Tam Irving,  Paul Mathieu, Carol Mayer, and  Alwyn O’Brien on Saturday November 23 from 11-3.  Workshops related to this exhibition are taking place through-out the duration of the show, led by Alwyn O’Brien, Sharon Reay, and Debra Sloan.