There was total silence for a while on Friday night as members of TriCity Potters concentrated on scratching, scraping, drawing or carving into leather-hard pots and tiles. We were all engrossed in the process of sgraffito. Executive member Maria Palotas, an experienced pottery teacher, had offered to lead this group activity, since she had recently used the technique on cups and bowls. We had asked members to bring along some leather-hard pots that had been painted with two or three coats of a contrasting slip or underglaze. For those who couldn’t Maria brought some 6″ red clay tiles painted with white slip. (We’d spent a happy hour in my studio using my slab roller and tile cutter earlier in the week and Maria took them home to firm up and paint the slip).
PoMoArts Gallery Manager Janice Cotter joined us at the start of the meeting to make two announcements.
*TriCity Potters are invited to prepare a show for PoMoArts Gallery for Feb 23-March30 2023. This exhibition will join several shows planned to coincide with the Canadian Clay Symposium on March 25th. The theme for 2023 is ‘Stoked’.
*Janice introduced the newly appointed Ceramics technician and manager, Ysabella Choung. Ysabella has lots of experience teaching, firing kilns and mixing glazes and has operated her own gallery and teaching studio for many years, right here in Port Moody. Lucky us, she lives in Port Moody too so the new position will be very convenient for her.
Janice brought along a vast tray of Ferrero Rocher treats for us as a thank you for the continued support TriCity Potters have given to the Arts Centre. We have made plates as a fundraiser and for at least the last two winters have donated many pots which were sold in aid of PoMoArts. She told us that these donated pots brought in $1246.00 in December!
Linda Lebrun chaired the meeting this evening, welcoming old and new members, clarifying our newly established online banking for membership fees, a mentorship plan and other ideas for future meetings. Check our website http://www.tricitypotters.ca or TriCity Potters facebook page for news.
Then Maria showed us some photos of her sgraffito work (projector operated by Kay Bonathon) before giving some pointers on suitable tools so that we could all begin to carve our own designs on a pot or tile. Some images and tracing paper were available for those hoping for ideas. What a companionable, comfortable hour or so we spent together!
Here are random photos of TriCity Potters at work, and some ‘Photo Collage’ collections of sgraffito pots we brought along for inspiration and of the completed work from each member.
The work has all been taken home for bisque and glaze firing and I hope that the finished pieces will be brought along to our next meeting in April.
What a great evening for you all!