Tam Irving led the second ‘conversation’ at the Museum of Anthropology with Glenn Lewis and Debra Sloan. With carefully planned questions he encouraged the two artists to reveal the thinking behind their work, Glenn’s from 1969 and Debra’s from her very recent year spent as ceramic artist-in-residence amongst the Koerner Ceramic Collection.

Tam pointed out that both artists have strong connections to the Leach Pottery in St. Ives. Glenn was an apprentice to Bernard Leach back in the day, honing his wheel-throwing skills before returning to Vancouver and becoming involved with ‘Intermedia’. He recently returned to St. Ives, along with fellow apprentice Warren MacKenzie, for a historic workshop.

Debra has given three workshops at the same studio, and although she can and does throw functional ware she is primarily a sculptor and while at St. Ives she chose to use Bernard Leach’s whimsical roof finials as inspiration. Several roofs in the much-loved seaside town now sport new ceramic finials. Debra has responded with more details on her St. Ives residency and workshops, on Koerner’s intentions and with more thoughts on David Lambert’s work from the last century. To read her letter go to the next blog.

The assigned word for this pair was CENSORSHIP so Tam gave some dictionery definitions and explanations of same before asking the straightforward question, ‘should galleries be free of any form of censorship?’ That was easy.. both said ‘yes’! But then Glenn went on to explain what had happened with the large mural that is his one piece in the current show. It is composed of one foot square tiles superimposed with a salt or pepper shakers. Some are broken. All are white. He made eight on each day and on two days he kept a journal instead of adding the shakers. This somewhat tongue-in-cheek artwork was considered too risqué by the Canadian embassy folk so they decided to send it all the way back to Ottawa from Osaka, where it was intended to be part of Canada’s Pavilion for the Osaka World Fair in 1969. It sat in storage for years and now is owned by the Vancouver Art Gallery. Do you think the shakers are too phallus-like? for Japan?

Debra, having worked with Walter Koerner’s life-time collection of Anabaptist pottery from his home country of Czechoslovakia, feels that he had a connection to their struggles and escape. Not Anabaptist but Jewish, he escaped Europe and made his home in Vancouver. As part of his huge financial funding of the Museum he insisted that the folk pottery from his homeland be housed all together in the Koerner Gallery. Debra has used her signature press-moulded babies as a canvas for applying decals and painted images that reflect the tin-glazed ware in the collection. She thinks of them as cautionary containers. The Museum has now instituted an ongoing residency for ceramic artists to work with the collection for some months. Sharon Reay has the position now.

Although the show ‘Playing With Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary’ is intended to celebrate the unusual rather than the predictability of functional ware, I think that some work or artists were chosen as a way of bringing to light the History of Ceramics here in BC. Tam told me to be honest so I shall note here that I think that the mid-Century work of David Lambert should not be considered extraordinary, except as politically incorrect ware from the past, and certainly should not be housed in the Multiversity Gallery. I can see that this is probably a temporary display but it doesn’t fit into this show and I think that Indigenous and other visitors to the collection will be dismayed. I’ll add the curator’s explanation here. Am I being a censor?

My next blog will look at Paul Mathieu’s conversation with his students Ying Yueh Chuang and Alwyn O’Brien.

Earlier this year Vancouver sculptor Debra Sloan was an artist-in-residence at the Leach Pottery in St. Ives. Debra has taught pottery and sculpture for many years and can certainly make pots on the wheel, but she did not make Leach-inspired pots while she was in Cornwall. It turns out that Bernard Leach did in fact make clay sculpture as well as his writings, wheel-throwing and drawing. He made whimsical roof tiles for several buildings in St. Ives which feature horses! So Debra chose to take his horses as inspiration for her work during her residency and she made some marvellous horses of her own during that time. I know that the Leach Pottery will cherish her depiction of Leach, Hamada and others astride horses!

Since then she has allowed herself to pursue her childhood passion for horses and it is the theme for her current show at the Gallery of BC Ceramics. She writes that she drew horses constantly when she was a girl, but wasn’t interested in riding! The horses she is showing are recognizably Sloan, with babies with spiky wire hair riding some horses, but there are no dogs, her other favourite animal to sculpt. One or two pieces could function as vases but generally the work is meant only to be looked at, with an understanding smile.

My photos are of just some of the pieces that grabbed me when I was at the Opening last Thursday evening, but I recommend that whether or not you make clay sculpture you see this show. You’ll be inspired to see how she deals with the problem of stability of forms with four legs, and how to consider the surface of the completed horse. She uses a variety of clays and firings, showing her experience in teaching and making sculpture. Plus the work is fun!

The show  DEBRA SLOAN   HORSING AROUND – IN THE YEAR OF THE HORSE  will be up until November 2nd at the Gallery of BC Ceramics.

DS  “The horse is redolent of things past, facilitating human life for millennia. With the advent of the motor that intimate relationship has been lost.”