Every three years the North-West Ceramics Foundation hosts a Gala Fundraiser and Award Presentation. This year it was again held at the elegant Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and I treated myself to a ticket. I had been invited to donate a special piece of my work and this year I made a large Puffin jugbird as my Auction contribution to this important BC Ceramics organization.…
There was a small Raiding party on Friday with just Mina, Pierre and Michelle. But the group worked on several plates, we had another marvellous lunch and now I have quite enough pieces to fire, along with some work of mine. Mina and Michelle were happy to have work from the previous Raid to take home, and…
My Pinterest collections include pots, birds and jugs of course, but also patterns, painted plates and Mid-Century designs. I particularly like the work of Sonia Delaunay and her circular patterned abstract paintings and angular shapes on fabric and clothing designs. So I suppose it is no surprise that one night, after making some more slab dishes and plates for the Raiders in my bisqued moulds,…
I found myself taken back to a Canadian kitchen of the fifties the other day. Saltspring Island artists Melanie Thompson and Judith Barnett have collaborated on an installation in Port Moody Arts Centre which honours the memory of a Vancouver homemaker. When Judith Barnett lived in Vancouver she became good friends with her neighbour, Mrs. Williams. They…
Any time you fire with flame rather than predictable electricity you are going to have surprises. Whether your work is in a reduction-firing in a gas kiln, in a wood kiln or a salt or soda firing you can never be sure how things will work out. There are sometimes serendipitous happenings and other times when the surfaces are flat, rough, crunchy or the wrong…