On Wednesday evening, a week ago, Ceramic artist Malory Tate was the presenter for TriCity Potters’ March meeting. Since last Fall she has occupied the little pottery studio in the clay department of Port Moody Arts Centre as this year’s Ceramic Artist in Residence.

Malory grew up in Kamloops BC, the daughter of literary parents who gave her the romantic name. Perhaps this is why she has had a passion for things baroque, decorative and Pre-Raphaelite and has followed an independent path in her ceramic explorations. She travelled across the country to attend Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and told us that she was much influenced by then-retired but still hugely important ceramics instructor Walter Ostrom. His well-known maiolica glazed and decorated earthenware forms have led to a distinctive look that is recognizably NSCAD to this day.

In particular Ostrom is well-known as a mad keen gardener so it is no surprise that he created flower bricks and tulipieres. In spite of gentle pressure to head in a different direction Malory stood her ground, and now, a year or more since graduating, she is intent on producing elegant, porcelain tulipieres and centre pieces.

We were invited into her tiny studio, ‘do not touch!’ and had a glimpse of some of the pieces she’ll show in her end-of-the-residency show (in July I believe). Tantalizingly lots of her work was shrouded in plastic so we’ll have to wait for a few months to see what she’s been up to.

Thank you Malory for a fun introduction to your work, personal information about yourself and telling us a little about your hopes for the future. Malory had given a workshop to current Clay Drop-in Members at PMAC and supervises the Tuesday morning drop-in time. She also teaches at Trout Lake Community Centre. With the long commute on public transit from downtown Vancouver Malory works hard when she’s in the Arts Centre and hasn’t really had a chance to see much of Port Moody. So now we are hoping to show her Rocky Point Park, Gallery Bistro and have her visit us local potters. Clive and Ysy took her to Clive’s studio on Monday and I think she’ll visit Ysy’s next and perhaps mine soon after.

One small suggestion from her was that there could in fact be two ceramics artists in residence, for company and bouncing ideas and suggestions off each other. With the Arts Centre only opening at noon nowadays she lets herself in to get working and is often alone. Interesting idea.. there is another little ‘office’ available right next to hers. In fact it is the room that was my studio from 1996 to ’99 and Clive’s for some eight years after that.

Good luck with your Summer show, Malory, and best wishes for your emerging career in ceramics.

http://malorytate.com 

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Then I decided to use the non-rainy day to take plates out to the kiln shed rather than make a mad dash up to the Coquitlam Craft Fair. I hope all my pottery friends had a successful weekend there, and elsewhere. The days of my packing pots to those events are over! My kiln is now started, rising slowly to make sure all the plates painted yesterday are completely dry before I crank the heat up later this evening.

Three raiders, Mina, Cindy and Marlene, were out here two weeks ago so their plates were loaded first. Six more artists came yesterday; Renee and Monique, Eric invited newcomers Garry and Cathy, and Marlene joined us in time for lunch. All but one of the finished plates are now cooking. I am expecting a final small group soon so fear not, all the work will be fired by Christmas time. I didn’t get any new pieces of my own made – it’s taken all my ‘free’ time to make enough plates. The Raiders are asking for the new, larger ones and although they look great they do take up more shelf space. Some want the bottoms glazed too so I need to get some more stilts (anybody have some I can buy to save myself a Greenbarn trip?) and that’ll mean more space taken up between shelves.

Garry Neill Kennedy and Cathy Busby recently moved to Vancouver from their home in Nova Scotia to teach at UBC. Garry was the founder and director of NSCAD. This link will take you to an interview with Garry on his book The Last Art College, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design 1968-1978. 

http://nscad.ca/en/home/abouttheuniversity/news/qawithgarryneillkennedy.aspx

I was pleased to be able to tell Garry that NSCAD’s ceramics master, Walter Ostrom was out here at ECIAD in the summer of 1993, to give what was my third summer ceramics course. We worked with luscious red earthenware and maiolica glaze techniques mainly, BUT Walter introduced us to the use of coloured slips on earthenware, and 23 years later, that’s what I still do! (Except for occasional salt-firing).

Eric refers to Garry as a conceptualist, and certainly his minimal work yesterday would bear that out. Cathy is a political artist and her two large platters have a message. You’ll be interested to see their finished pieces in a week or so. The others produced their usual carefully thought-out and executed work.

And as usual we had a vast lunch, this time including home-made soup and quiche, baked leeks and potatoes, fine fresh loaf of bread, cold cuts and cheeses. I do enjoy these sociable working days in my studio and am fascinated by what the artists choose to paint on my plates and platters.