New Oval Bakers





I'm loving those geometric stamps and using several glazes together on each piece.  These bakers are about 15" L x 10" W x 3.5" D



Ottawa Guild of Potters Spring Exhibition & Sale at new location!



Potters in the lobby of the Shenkman Arts Centre




My display in the Richcraft Theatre

  

The Shenkman Arts Center is the new venue for the Ottawa Guild of Potters sales.  Thanks to all of you who made it out to Orleans to enjoy the grand and spacious facility at Shenkman.  All in all, it was a good sale, and volunteers will be busy in the coming months to tweak areas that could be improved for the fall sale.  The majority of potters were in the Richcraft Theatre (otherwise known as the Black Box Theatre, for obvious reasons) with the rest in the lobby, alongside the juried Exhbition. 



My platter that was included in the Exhibition.



Plates for Ottawa Food Bank volunteers

Each year the Ottawa Guild of Potters holds a fund raiser for the Ottawa Food Bank, called "Great Bowls of Fire".  Potters donate soup bowls, Ottawa restaurants donate soups and bread and the big event takes place at the Glebe Community Center.  It's a popular event; all 500 or so tickets sell out within days.  This year over $14,000 was raised for the Food Bank.  You can read about it here:      http://www.ottawaguildofpotters.ca/news/blog_view?Subject=Charity+fundraiser

This year the Ottawa Food Bank asked if some of the potters from the Guild would like to make plates that they will give to some of their volunteers at their annual Volunteer Appreciation Lunch.  Five potters were asked to make 50 plates.  They all have the phrase "may you never hunger, may you never thirst" written on them.  Here are a few of the plates I made.

On the back of each plate, the event is noted.

We all delivered our plates last week.  It was great to see the variety that were created!  Sarah at the Food Bank gave us a tour of their office and warehouse.  Very impressive work that they do.  You can read about them here  http://www.theottawafoodbank.ca/index.php



Here's one with a crystalline glaze by Deb Mcleod



Plates by Carrie Leavoy







Good Table Manners in Westboro!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the first Table Manners pottery show last week-end.  It was a relaxed, fun show for the potters, and we all heard plenty of positive comments from customers....lovely open space, decent lighting, nice size, great variety, yummy and inexpensive treats at the tea room, etc.  The photo doesn't really do it justice, but you get a sense of the space.

The hall has been booked for next year, so watch for Table Manners 2012.

"Table Manners" a new west end Ottawa pottery show!

I'm very excited about this new pottery show in Westboro!  I will be one of 24 potters showing & selling new works on April 9 & 10 at the Churchill Seniors' Center, 345 Richmond Road (a few doors west of Churchill Ave., right beside the church).  The potters will have a tearoom on site as well, featuring home baking and fair trade teas and coffee which you can enjoy being served from the potters' own teapots and mugs.

It sounds like a good excuse to come out and enjoy spring in Westboro.  Remember, there is some parking available one block north of Richmond Rd. (accessed off Churchill) on Madison Ave.

Texture and slip-trail

I used to do alot of slip-trailing (a calligraphic-type "trailing" of coloured clay or "slip") and I miss it.  I've been thinking of ways to add decorative interest to platters.  Lots of ideas, including slip trailing, come to mind, so I've been trying some of them--thickening up the edges, adding texture by scratching into the surface, or by imprinting with stamps, spraying several overlapping glazes.....Here are a few results from the first kiln load.  I'm looking forward to developing these techniques.




Here are a few mugs with imprinted border patterns.













Tony Clennell workshop

Tony making a teapot

Last week-end Tony Clennell, professor at Sheridan College in Toronto and owner, with his wife Sheila, of Sour Cherry Pottery in Beamsville, ON, came to Ottawa to present a two day workshop.  It's always a priviledge to see how other potters work, and to hear what inspires them.  Tony had lots to offer us in terms of his own insights, technical expertise and anecdotes, lots of anecdotes. 

Tony is comfortable throwing large, robust pots which are often constructed in several pieces.  He likes surface texture and at the workshop he decorated pots with impressions from wooden stamps.  He is also well known for his handles--  they seem fluid, luscious, spontaneous, and they are numerous.  There are lots of different ways to make handles but his love of the traditional "pulled" handle was evident. 






Applying texture with wooden stamp on casserole dish

Tony's many comments and observations on the state of pottery, and handcrafted items in general, have stayed with me this week.  I have recently felt, like him, that the last decade or more has seen a decline in the appreciation of well-crafted items, for a variety of reasons.  He noted that Sheridan is the only pottery degree granting institution in all of Canada!  So where do our craftspeople learn their craft?  And what kind of standards do they follow?  What sort of clay artists does this background breed?  We don't have a tradition of monitored apprenticeships as do some EU countries, nor do we have the numerous pottery schools, from teaching studios to graduate degree programs, as in the US.  We do have plenty of fine craftspeople; how do they survive and thrive? 

                            
It's good to feel challenged in one's work and it's probably a good thing to have to struggle to do what you want to do--challenge and struggle can be good motivators.  So, too, are acceptance and recognition.  Hopefully there's a balance in there for the dedicated craftsperson.                  



One of those "juicy" handles


The workshop was inspiring.  I have been experimenting with texturing some of the pots I've been making this year, and am happy to add a few wooden stamps to my toolkit.  I had also returned to pulling handles after years of coiling them and I'm enjoying the look and feel of them.  Such workshops are a great opportunity to reflect on one's own work and I look forward to processing some of the ideas Tony's workshop presented in the weeks and months to come.