Arrowsmith
Potters Guild

Masters
Workshop

Series
2005

Arrowsmith Potters Guild Masters Workshop Series
2005, to be held in Parksville on Saturday March
28th, will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the
Arrowsmith Potters, the 50th anniversary of the BC
Potters Guild and the 10th anniversary of the Tozan
Society of Nanaimo.

Two of BC's best known old masters, Don
Hutchinson and Bob Kingsmill, will be among the
great line up of presenters. Between the two of them,
these veterans of the BC pot-

tery community have seven-

ty-five years of clay experi-

ence.

Don Hutchinson will be
talking on “Attitude and
Gratitude" and will draw
from his extensive experi-
ence to share with us tricks
he has picked up over the
years. He will discuss his phi-
losophy on making pots,
emphasizing more of the
why and what we make
rather than just the how to
do, although he will be
demonstrating throwing and
centering with one hand and
other techniques.

Don has worked in wood,
soda, gas and electric and for
20 years lived off the rocks -
making all his glazes from
natural materials, including
kitty litter and granite. He
maintains that there is no
such thing as a bad glaze,
just inappropriate ways of
using it. He believes work-
ing to the point of frustra-
tion is the key to creativity -

we all need to be challenged,

and by nurturing frustration we are forced to prob-
lem-solve and be creative.

Bob Kingsmill will be demonstrating mask-making.
He is currently working on big stoneware masks to be
made into bronzes for the Vernon Performing Arts
Centre. He has been making both masks and murals
in addition to his functional ware throughout his pot-
tery career. Working in the tradition of masks being
there to protect us, as gargoyles in old churches, his
benign forms look as if they
have appeared from a dark,
dank, wet forest, and are
rather surprised to be on this
planet. One of Bob's biggest
fears is that he will some day
find one of his masks trans-
posed on to a human form
and walking around the
streets of British Columbia.
That could make a great
movie!

Les Crimp, who is very active
with the Arrowsmith Potters
and is a past BC Guild board
member, has been virtually
crippled for quite a while
with knees that no longer
work. Finally on Nov 2nd he
will be getting his surgery and
new knees. We hope to see
him running around by the
time of the Arrowsmith
50/10 Masters Series
Symposium in March.

Keith Rice-Jones
Top: Bob Kingsmill

Bottom: Don Hutchinson

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

November!/December 2004