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Gallery of B.C. Ceramics

1489 Cartwright 54. Granville Isiamd
Vancouver BO Canada

(604) 664-5645 VGH 2K?

We're looking forward to a busy month of December,
and thank all of you involved potters for keeping us
supplied, The latest entrants to the Gallery rostrum
are Jack McKitterick and Colin Fraser, and we wel-
come them.

The Gallery will be closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day
and New Years’ Day.

January is our in-Gallery sale month, with 10 ta 20 %
off everything in the place, Notify the Manager (669-
5645) if you do not want your work to be discounted,
or remove your work. We take only 30 % commission
and you take 50 % commission during that sale

period.

The next furying of work Lo sell in our shop will take
place after the entry deadline of February 15th, 1989.

Afurther reminder about the Mug Show: bring in 2 to
3 pieces, labelled, priced and numbered, by January
29th at 5 pm. It's an open show, so let's spread the
word!

GALLERY REVIEW

“Content and Context” was one of the Gallery's
more visually complex shows, and the public reacted
with enjoyment to it. Jerry McBride offered tasty
drawings on clay slabs or three-dimensional wall
pieces. Subtlely shaded faces of men, women or
anthropomorphized [!) foxes gazed out from back-
grounds that were accented with glaze pencil shading
or drawing, touches of glaze or texturing, to create
assymetric patterns of quite striking effect. Two
stunning figurative pieces were life-size. one of a
woman's face articulated on a clay slab, suspending
a modelled wire dress with bits of the same slab glued
on the dress to give the attire a decorative motif. Her
second work, “Bathing Sult Armour”, was an abra-
sive red glaxe with touches of colour and clay slabs
topped by a snappy glazed clay bathing cap.

Bill Rennie presented pieces that give a tantalizing
look at his versatility. A Byzantine-inspired red
“Earthenware Church” flabbergasted the viewer by
its detailing, nevermind the five detachable roofs
which enabled one to peek inside its inner structure.
This work had accents of gold paint. In contrast was
his “Skyscraper”, with its hard vertical lines, with
stepped layers. which because of the detailing
around the entranee, gave a sense of monumentality,
Counteracling its implied ‘coldness’, he wittily put

touches of pink. gold, and silver om its off-white
surface. A third piece was a humorous rendition of
the famous “Corn Palace”, with attendant templettes
of slip-cast baby corns.

Ron Sawatsky offered humorous, sometimes satiric,
work. Some pieces were free-standing sculpture,
while others were flatter wall pieces. -all painted with
a great amount of detail by his wife, Maggie Maloney.
His six and a half foot “B.C, Totem Pole” consisted of
a wooden base with a metal plate, with long pins to
hold the angry lumberjack , which had a foreman on
his shoulders, and finally a politician, or bustness-
man on his shoulders. Nearby was “Grace [Mac-
Carthy] Holds the Key” and an “American Pit Bull”,
both with rakish, maniacal grins revealing fluores-
cent pink gums. Visitors also chuckled and admired
his outdoor bas-relief scenes on his wall pieces. One,
his “Lion's Gate Bridge” piece, with a painted clay
seagull hovering over the traffic, elicited a lot of
comment,

Cherie Markiewicz

GUILD PLANNING

At the November Board of Directors’ meeting, a dis-
cussion was commenced on future plans for the
Guild. Now that the Gallery of B.C. Ceramics seems
well-established, and an income for the Guild rela-
tively secure, with orderly book-keeping and an office
routine in place, to what good use do we put our
surplus income?

Money could be spent on a better place for monthly
meetings. On-going projects: the Newsletter, Library,
exhibitions, and awards, could have their budgets
increased. We might establish a video library, organ-
ize a travelling exhibition, make contributions to
projects such as the Cartwright Canadian Crafts
Museum, or towards enabling groups outside Van-
couver to use our visiting workshop people also.

Or what about a paid co-ordinator for a resurrected
annual sale, or members’ discounts for Gallery pur-
chases, or a larger stipend for the curator, or a fee for
the organizer of a major exhibition?

A kiln for Studio 5 has already been decided upon:
perhaps we should add a computer and printer?
And how about an annual ball?

But..... What do Guild members think? Activities and
projects require money, and they also require people.
Do we have members out there who will share in the
labours? At least, lets have your comments, sugges-
tions and criticisms. Write or contact the Board of
Directors, or the Editor of the Newsletter.

Anne Tolmie, Secretary