KINGSMILL’S MUSINGS

Though Bob and MaryAnne Kingsmill
howe moved their honue, holtand Kaboodle,
toon old farmibouse mear Veron in the
Okanagan, Bob hasn't stopped writing
or working in the studio on Granville
Island. I don't know ff it's the trauma of
commuting on Greyhound that has
sharpened his pen: regardless, he con-
tinwes to give us some good shuots.

Have you ever had one of those discon-
ceriing dreams that leave you wide awake
but confused about realistic fear and
the more usual everyday paranoia?

Idreamt that an unlikely chaln of events
had caused an overnight epidemic of
Alzheimer's at the Orton Pyrometric cone
company. This left all the staff with their
daily routines pretty well in tact bul mo
one really remembered why they were
doing what they were doing.

This led to a reckless abandonment of
recipes for the comes. The plant was
filled with quite happy souls, now stran-
fers to one another, going about tasks
that seemed both uncommonly familiar
and refreshingly new. Orclers kept going
out to customers across North America
and abroad. In a misguided attempt to
bolster sales, cones were shipped off to
companies that had never seen a cone
and had absolutely no need for them. A
tragic beist bad a truckload shipped to
a cut-rate pharmacy chain where their
use a5 an inexpensive haemorroidal de-
viet caused a rash of extravagant law-
sults in several eastern Canadian towns.

And so the dream went, on and on. |
awoke, remembering how dependent we
are on others. We just expect the things
we rely upon to work. We usually de so
In a state of ingratitude, and whine like
stink when things don't fall into place.

A case in potnt might be the Potters’
Guild shop on Granville Island, Coralie
and Lea sell $200,000 worth of pots ina
year. The cheques are sent out on time
and stuffis displayed intelligently. They
work with a public that is sometimes
sophisticated and sometimes unedu-
cated about ceramics, and they deal

Page 4

with the 60 or 70 potters whose person-
allies range from genius and generous
to the flakey and fatuous.

Next time you use an Orton cone, do eo
without fear and be grateful for their
professionalism. And next time you're
in the Gallery, don't whine about your
stull being displayed in the washroom:
observe what's golng on, and thank the
shop-heeper.

Bob Kingsmill
WANT ADS
— Potters wheel for beginner, Call
657-0722 Aldergrove

— Shimpe wheel, Call 247-8242,
Gabriola Island.

— Studie space. [ need space lo make
stoneware. | have my own wheel and
tools. lalso have an electric kiln anced
small bil-fire kiln that [ could share.
Please call Elwin Lowe al 522-2606.

— Sarah Coote, Potter, looking for stu-
dio space in Vancouver beginning in
January ‘92, Phone 736-7760,

— The City of Port Coquitlam requires
a Pottery Instructor — Individual
capable of Instructing children;
adults in Wheel/Hand Techniques,
Mixing Glazes, and Firing. Phone
942-0285,

EXHIBITIONS

THE TURNING POINT: THE
DEICHMANN POTTERY, 1935-1963,
80 pieces from the permanent collection
Tepresenting the New Brunswick pot-
tery of Kjeld and Erica Delchmann, to
February 1992, Can. Museum of Civill-
zation, Hull Quebec

o a Oo

ART THAT WORKS, Canadian Craft
Museum to November 17 see page 2

a Oo Oo

THE ART OF THE YIEING POTTER:
THE E.8. LO COLLECTION. September
17-January 5, Geo. Gardiner Museum
af Ceramic Art, 111 Queens Park, To-
ronte. 80 samples of reddish-brown
teapets from the 16th century to the
present that are permanently housed In
the HongHong Museum of Art. Colour
catalog.

q q oO

GLASS AS ART, Third annual juried
exhibition of art glass by members of be
B.C. Glass Arts Association, September
Ste 27, 1991, in the Atrium, HongKong
Bank of Canada, 885 West Georgia.

VIDEO NEWS

The Guild's purchase of “A TeaParty* last year (and atill available for loan), along
with a number of good workshops this summer, has had the effect of getting Board
members excited about the prospects of making our own. So, at this point in time,
there are three additional videos shortly to be available to membership for elther sale
or loan. These include a one-hour slide and workshops demonstration by Friederlke
Rahn given at the May Guild meeting, a two hour slide presentation and workshop
demonstration by Bruce Cochrane as a result of the Fraser Valley Potters’ Guild's
sponsoring of his visit In June at Kwantlen College, and a demonstration/
discussion with Yuriko Matsuda which was held at UBC tn July, Prices and lending
rates will be announced once they have been established.

Plans are afoot to record future workshops demonstrations. and to purchase other
videos as well for membership use. Keep tuned.

September, 199]