HAND BUILDING AT THE OLD MAN RIVER POTTERS GUILD

                                                                        WINTER - 2022

 Our clay class which began in January, lasted for 6 weeks. It was a perfect retreat from the dark and cold of winter. We laughed and occassionally cried working our way through different strategies for making usefull forms. We learned that clay is finicky but not unmanageable. Below are a few pictures of this journey.

The last phase of all of this was the surface. A potter has so many choices (smooth, textured, glossy, matte, one colour/many colours) s0 we experimented to see the possibilities).

Surface experiments below:
Far left milk pitcher: guild glaze
Middle: Underglazes (bisque fired) Glaze fired with Clear Glossy
Far right: Transparent (vs opaque) Turquoise 
(all are mid-fire, cone 6 glazes)

                                                                                    

                                                               Milk and Sugar Set 

                                When using Underglazes, it is possible to achieve a watercolour

                                transparency by decreasing the layers of applied Underglaze.

                               Above 3 photos show application if Underglazes with a variety of brushes.

                      

Creating textures

Top Left: Teapot Construction and Right: Darting

Cone 6 Matte Glaze
Plate: Two Glaze (one glossy and one matte)

Thank you to all the dedicated students in this class - your output was sensational!

2018-2019

Selected Work 2016

Selected Work: 2016

Mural section 1: Interlude with Some Voices

Tumblers: based on my 3D design, 3D printed, mold made of print and slip cast (Cone 6). Surface: underglaze, glaze, lustres.

Vases: Constructed from cut up 3D designed parts that were slip cast (cone 6). Surface: white glaze, lustre

Serving plate: Cone 10 reduction glaze, decal

Serving Plate: Cone 10 reduction glaze, decal

Mural: Interlude with Some Voices in Three Parts

Work from 2015-2016

Top:Stone Ware Plates with glaze and deals (cone 10), Below: Porcelain, silk screen pattern and decal

Above: 3D software designed, slip cast with under glaze & lustres. Right: slip cast & altered

Cacophony - craft objects celebrating Craft Year

Porcelain plate, underglazes, glaze, multiple firings

Porcelain plate: stencil relief, underglazes, tissue print, glaze

Artist Statements- Spring/Summer, 2014

Con Sum Ere
 (In the juried Medalta International Spoon Show, September 1-November 29, 2014)

Title: Con Sum Ere

The Latin ‘consumere’ is remarkably encompassing in its meanings. On the one hand, it references consuming and eating, at the same time, it can signify -  to exhaust, use up, squander/waste, swallow up and spend. In other words , ‘to consume’ can be life-giving as well as, life-destroying.

Represented here are three spoons, inspired from the ladle form whose function was/is for sharing the essential  food of the hearth, the broth. The disturbing surfaces of the ensemble however, separates them from the mundane and suggests perhaps a refocus on their conceptual function - the idea of consumption alluded to in the Latin title. 

Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling - a Trophy
(For the Exhibition "Shoe-In", Saskatoon, SK)

To me, "Shoe-In" conjures up the idea of select candidates vying for a plum job. Both women and men recognize this experience and are often aware of who the shoe-in might be. However, if the job is that of a CEO, egalitarian ideals seem to diminish. Women were/are frequently excluded. So evident was this that the term "the glass ceiling" was coined in the 1980's.

This small trophy sculpture celebrates the women who were not shoe-in but dared and occasionally succeeded. The flower-like upper portion references these women whose names are inscribed on the stepped platform. Beneath the glass are the seed pods, alluding to journeys already begun as well as, impending travels made not so much easier but at least, with the possibility of attaining the goal.