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COLUMBIA

Recent work by Donna Partridge.

Do you consider
yourself a
professional potter?
By Jinny Whitehead

Recently, I received an enquiry from
Tourism BC. The caller was working on
a project on how artists contributed to
the economy of B.C. and she wanted to
know how many of our members were
professional potters.

We don’t actually have that kind of info,
so I posed the question to a few members.
The immediate response was that you
had to make your living from your art in
order to consider yourself “professional.”
Another response was that not all income
needed to come from working with clay,
providing it was your main occupation.
Yet another said that it didn’t even need
to be your main occupation, if it was your
Passion.

For myself, it is something I feel deep
inside me. When people ask me what I
do, I respond “Tm a potter”. And yet, I
couldn't survive on what I make from my
art, other people do; I wish I did, but I
don't. I guess that puts me into the third
category of having a passion.

What about you? How do you
identify yourself? What are your views
on the question? This is such a subjective
question. I would particularly like to hear
from the professionals out there. Email
me at vwhitehead@shaw.ca.

Remember to renew your

membership this September!

The benefits of guild membership
By Donna Partridge

After graduating from Kootenay School
of the Arts in Nelson, I was encouraged by
my former teacher to jury into the Gallery of
BC Ceramics on Granville Island. I mustered
up the courage, filled out the forms, carefully
dropped off my work and waited. To my great
disappointment, I was rejected.

I nursed my bruised ego for a few months
and then slowly went back into the studio to
begin a new series. One small piece at a time,
the series grew and I began to sell it at studio
sales and craft fairs around Vancouver. With
the feedback I received from clients and other
potters, my skills improved over time and I
developed a more cohesive body of work that
truly reflected my love of clay.

I found the courage one more time to
drop off my work to be juried at the guild.
Thankfully, the second time I was accepted
into the gallery.

In hindsight, it was a good thing I didnt
get juried in that first year. I would not have
been able to keep up with the sales the gallery
makes or be able to keep the gallery with a full
stock of my work. I’m always a little surprised

and extremely pleased when I receive a cheque
each month from my gallery sales. But that’s
not the only benefit that comes from selling
there.

Shop owners and gallery managers from
across Canada come to the Gallery of BC
Ceramics to see the work of British Columbia’
ceramic artists. Most of the stores that carry
my work first spotted it at the gallery or on
the guild website.

My sincere thanks go to our gallery
committee of volunteers, our gallery manager,
Brenda, and her fantastic staff. With their
help, my work is now in hands and on tables
across Canada and around the world.

Wheel-Throwing & Hand-building
Clay Fundamentals

July 28-Aug. 1 — $265

S.Mignosa

Foundation techniques of wedging, center-
ing, opening, pulling and forming on the
wheel; hand-built sculptural forms with slab
and coil. Basic and advanced processes; all
work to be finished and glazed. Materials

included.

Art in the Country

Summer art workshops for Jr/Sr students & adults

Now entering its sixteenth year of summer art classes in
Aldergrove, Art in the Country offers participants an
intensive yet refreshing opportunity to study and create.
Susan Gorris (BFA, MFA, Certified Art Teacher & Profes-
sional Artist) and Santo Mignosa (Diploma, Art institute of
Florence, MFA Alfred University) offer workshops through-
out July and August. Beginners are always welcome!

Pre-registration & information:

604.856.0634 « www.susangorris.com (click on Class Registration)

Pit-Firing Workshop

Aug. 18 (9-3), Aug. 21 (9-12), Aug. 23
(9-4), Aug, 24 (1-3) — $265

S.Mignosa

Create figures, pots and more in first session.
Then apply terra sigillata, followed by an ex-
citing all-day pit-firing and pot-luck dinner on
the Art in the Country Aldergrove farm. On
Sunday, stunning finishes are revealed as par-

ticipants dig their masterpieces from the earth.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - July/August 2008