Change afoot..

Gillian McMillan — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 04:23:32 +0000

The Top Nine images that I’ve posted on Instagram in 2024 illustrate the important things in my life very nicely. Clockwise from top left: part of a video of me carving stoneware, front shelves of a Shadbolt soda firing, an early salt-glazed jugbird, Susan Johnston of Semiahmoo potters with a bird planter, visitors at my SHUFFLE studio in June, a favourite lidded soda pot, a view of our house and garden in Summer, my pots on display at Jonathon’s Gallery, London, Ont., and a sgraffitoed earthenware plate in the middle.

For the last few months Alan and I have been preparing to sell our 1914 house. We bought it in 1971, a year after Al started teaching Anthropology at Douglas College. We’ve been fixing it up and adding bits ever since and I’ve loved planting whatever will survive in our large ‘yard’. Now it’s time to find a home that requires less maintenance and gardening. In the Spring we’ll list this ‘heritage’ (Port Moody insists the house must be saved/restored/moved, not bulldozed) house and try to find a capacious townhouse, hopefully in the TriCities area.

With that in mind Alan has been diligently editing his extensive library, only keeping one bookshelf-worth, he says. It’s horrific how many magazines, journals, reports and text books have gone in to recycling. But we hope the best books can find new owners soon.

Our next home will have to include a study and a studio. Yes, my wheel, slab-roller, tables and more will have to come with me. When I consider glaze, slips, extruder etc I get a bit anxious. I realize that most townhouse strata don’t allow kilns..

Knowing that I shall no longer have a large space for groups I finally got around to a long-promised clay day for my kind neighbours just before New Year. I gave them some plates to paint with underglazes and then Grandma Liba, Mom Klara and daughters Emma and Sophie each had a go on the wheel and tried hand-building.

While getting their pots bisque and glaze-fired I did take some time away from sorting stuff and played with four wheel-thrown and some slab plates. I shall never get tired of opening a glaze kiln with new work to consider. Here are four new lunch plates, Jennifer!

I painted the slab plates with various coloured slips and then sgraffitoed them. You’ll see that one was made of ‘Snow’ white earthenware clay and the others are made with D’Arcy red clay, hence the different drawing lines.

Now I’ve invited ten TriCity Potters here to paint plates. Some have noticed my long-time ‘Raids’ with artists painting plates here and hoped I’d let them do it too. So today they came to make their own plates and next Sunday they’ll spend a day here, chatting and painting.

Now I’m hoping that there will be a day in February when I can invite the Raiders here for a final get-together in my studio before we must leave.

Make a note in your diaries, pottery collectors. I plan to hold a SECOND HAND event here on Saturday March 1st. The unusual spin is that the pots will be ones I’ve collected, bought from the artist, traded, thrifted or been given, and some of mine, and you will be invited to pay whatever you think is right. 10am, no early birds!

making plates – Gillian McMillan — Rara Avis

Change afoot..