Yancouver, B.C. V6H JR7
(604) 683-9623

Potters Guild of British Columbia

1399 Cartwright St., Granville Island

NEWSLETTER

MARCH 1989

ISSN 6319 812x

Form & Function: A Workshop

For someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, I'm
definitely in the wrong profession. It dominates my life
fromm late summer on. Only afew potters can afford to
ignore the Christmas Rush - I'm not one of them.
Consequently, | spend the long hours in my studio
devising pleasant and relaxing things to do in the first
2 weeks of January. Attending a pottery workshop
doesn't usually top the list.

So | surprised myself last fall when I decided to apply
for the two week Form and Function workshop at the
Banff Centre, Walter Ostrom from the Earthenware
Capital of Canada was a big draw, of course, but more
than that, I needed a break from the isolation of solo
studio potting. Delivering pots to stores and getting
cheques In the mail {s all very well, but it doesn't
exactly fill all my needs as a ceramic artist,

After 1 was accepted to the course, friends in Vancou-
ver asked what exactly | was going to Banff to do. The
promo literature said, “the two weeks will be used to
produce a body of work that will become a catalyst for
the exchange of views and criticisms within the group
as well as with the visiting artists". We were also to
be invelved in “discussions of aesthetics and various
aspects of technique”. I told my friends I just wanted
to go hang out with other potters.

The workshop officially began at 9 am January 3rd at
a meeting of all Form and Function and Winter Cycle
participants and staff with the Visiting Artist for the
first week, Penny Smith. Penny is a studio potter from
Tasmania who uses slip-casting and other industrial
techniques to produce highly decorated functional
ceramics. She had already spent three months in
Bantf as a member of the Leighton Artists’ Colony, a
residence program that allows established artists
time and space to explore new Ideas, The week she
was to spend with the Form and Function group would
be her last commitment before flying home to Austra-
lia.

l retain a vivid impression of that first meeting, rather
stiff and formal as these things often are, but !
remember little of what was said. We did find out that
our group of nine women and two men would almost
double the size of the ceramics department, that the

studio was open 24 hours a day, that we could work
as much as we wanted, that Form and Function was
a big burst of energy for the department at the
beginning of the January session, and that we could
order more clay from Calgary ifwe needed it. [thought
to myself as I sat in that meeting that I'd be lucky to
get through the three boxes I'd ordered for the course.
I didn't seem to feel very inspired about making pots
at all, but put my lack of enthusiasm down to the
earliness of the hour and the long drive the day before.

Over the next couple of days Penny demonstrated,
lectured, and gave long individual critiques to each
member of the group. Most of us set about designing
and making plaster moulds using the techniques she
showed us. But by the time the moulds were ready, I
had noticed that one or two people were quietly not
doing any work at all. Instead, they were spending
their time reading ceramics books and magazines,
looking at slides, sketching and talking, | wondered
what was stopping me from doing the same thing. It
took me a while to realize that I must have dragged my
Protestant work ethic along with to Banff, instead of
leaving it at home in my Studio where it at least helps
me to pay the rent. Lf 1 didn’t produce boards of pots
and stay in the studio until 2 am each night, I would
surely be wasting my time and money, risking offence
to both Visiting Artists, and ensuring a curt refusal
should | ever wish to attend another workshop in
Banff. Well, once I got that out of my system, the rest
of the course was an absolute delight.

Walter Ostrom flew tn from Nova Scotia on January
Sth and began his stint of demonstrations, critiques,
and lectures. While Penny and Walter both consider
themselves functional potters, the difference in their
techniques and their finished pots is enormous,
Penny uses moulds and jigger and jolly machines to
eliminate the drudgery from studio production of
dinnerware, tea and coffee sets. Walter combines
throwing and hand-building to laboriously construct
one-of-a-kind flower bricks, vases and terrines.
Penny gets much of her inspiration frorn the world of
industrial plastics, metal and ceramics, whereas
Walter studies the historical pottery of Asia and the

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