(4 bc potters

POTTERS
GUILD

of BRITISH

COLUMBIA
——
NEWSLETTER

January 2006 Volume 42 No. 1

Gallery of B.C Ceramics Celebrates 20 Years

Did Hiro Urakami imagine, 20 years ago, that this gallery would still be here today? That it
would be this successful? And that it would be this beautiful?

With ten days to prepare and very little money, volunteers worked hard, painting sheets of ply-
wood and concrete blocks, borrowing plinths and glass display shelves and anything else they
needed so the gallery could open its doors in March 1985.

At the beginning, the emphasis of the gallery was education. More than half of the floor space
was dedicated to exhibitions, which were changed every three weeks. With the assistance of vol-
unteers, and the influx of visitors to Vancouver for Expo ‘86, the gallery started to prosper.

In 1986 Deidre Spencer became manager, Hiro concentrated on exhibits. Deidre remembers
that time was balanced between talking to customers who wanted to buy and the potters who
wanted to talk but also wanted to sell!

Under the skillful guidance of Sandy Korman, Coralie Triance began her four-year term as man-
ager in 1988. The Gallery was beginning to establish itself as a presence on Granville Island.
The clay community was evolving and growing. The Gallery provided an opportunity for pot-
ters to experiment and exhibit. It was rewarding to see people return year after year because of
the vitality of the work.

1994 heralded an era of change when Jane Matthews took on the role as manager. Jane's role
was expanded to include the Guild and her new position as general manager continued for six
years. It was an exciting time as many upgrades were accomplished. The physical space was
renovated in stages, almost doubling in size; new shelving, display ad storage systems were
added to give the Gallery a fresh look.
A computerized point-of-sale and
inventory management system was
installed which increased staff efficien-
cy. A new logo was designed and con-
tinues to be used on all material iden-
tifying the Guild and Gallery. The
Guild published Made of Clay. It was

an exciting time.

In 2000, Kimcha Rajkumar took over
from Jane and continued to make
changes. Her experiments with colour
reflected her bubble and energy as a
manager. Kimcha established the

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