RITISH
COLUMBIA
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Chops and Signatures: A Mark Registry 2) debra stoan

The idea of starting a Registry of Marks
came to me after attending an auction where
a number of my pieces were up for resale after
the death of a collector. I wanted to see how
the process worked. I remembered Tam Irving
commenting years ago that the realistic value
of an artwork is established when it is resold.

In the auction mentioned above, the
paintings and the First Nations art that could
be identified by the auctioneer, or was of a
known value, sold for handsome prices. Once
the ceramics came on the block, the auctioneer
did not know how to evaluate or identify the
pieces, and was selling well-known potters’
work starting at five dollars. There were a few
collectors and potters in the audience and
we had a good time scooping up bargains. I
realized that in this situation contemporary
ceramics were literally an anonymous art
form.

For those who watch The Antiques Road Show,
we now know that, along with the aesthetics
of a piece, its value is increased when it has a
context or a provenance. In North America,
particularly in the west, there is no indigenous
ceramic culture. A few pieces of locally-made
contemporary ceramics can be found in
the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), for
instance, but they are unsupported by historic
local work. Other ceramics represented have
been imported through immigration. Our
community does not have a memory of old
pots being used in our parents’ homes, we used
industrially made ceramics, and there was no
traditional pottery producer down the road.
As ceramicists, we know that the best way
to become knowledgeable is through touch,
experience, and observation. The Potters

Guild of BC has been doing its best, over the

Sandra Dolph

Rachelle Chinnery
Two examples of guild members' marks.

years, to illuminate the ceramic practice to the
citizens of B.C.

The Potters Guild of BC is the oldest
provincial potters guild in Canada and has
been pro-active in trying to acquaint our
communities with ceramics. For more than
50 years we have held sales, exhibitions,
workshops and lectures. Our newsletter has
been sent out to potters B.C.-wide since the
early 1960s, and we have marked all our
important exhibitions with catalogues. The
guild published our most successful book,
Made of Clay, in 1998; a unique publication
in Canada. We also published the Source book
in 2005 for our 50th Anniversary. Our gallery
on Granville Island has been showcasing
members’ ceramics for almost 25 years. There
has been an increase in interest in all the
galleries and museums in B.C. The MOA,
the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Belkin, and
the community galleries of Surrey, Burnaby,
North and West Vancouver, Port Moody,
Vernon, and Penticton, have all featured
or included ceramics in recent exhibitions.
Some, like the MOA, have started permanent
ceramic collections. The UBC Rare Books
and Collections now has original copies of
all of the publications by the Potters Guild of
BC, and about B.C. ceramics, and will have

Maria Palotas

Christmay Craft Fairy 2010

maripottery.com

Nowember 12, dodohO . 6:00
Nowember 12, LOAD - 5:00
November 13, 10:00 - 5:00
November 14 10:00 . 4:00
Burnaby Arts Councli
Heritage Christmas Cratt Fair
Shadbott Contra
6450 Deer Lake Ave, Bornaby

November 27, 10:00 - 4:00
Nowember 28, 10000 - 4:00
Leth Anus! Happording
Arts and Crafts Pair
Thomas Haney Centre
22000 106th Ave, Maple Ridge

Movember 19, 10:00. $900

Aovember 20, 20:00 - 6:00

November 22, LO000- 400
Chilliwack Arts Coumell
Christmas Cratt Market
Chilliwack Heritage Pack

44140 Luchahuck Wary
Chilliwack

December §, 1000-400
Delivook Chrlaimas Cran Fadr
Bellbrook Comunity Contre
G00 West Queens Rand
Merth Wareccvat

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter : October 2010

copies of all of our newsletters.

Every week the Gallery of BC Ceramics gets
calls from customers and collectors trying to
identify work. Several galleries and collectors
have declared an interest in assisting with this
project. Over the last few years, people have
submitted both drawn and digital images of
their marks. We now have several hundred.
Volunteer Rezwan Vaghani has scanned and
organized the marks sent in, or collected at
the Canadian Clay Symposium, and. Isabel
Sloan Yip has photographed all the signatures
from the gallery. Later this fall we will be
visiting a couple of collectors to photograph
more. Finally, and most significantly, Linda
Lewis has just started to put these up on a
Mark Registry page on our website.

Collecting the marks has been a slow
process as it is all done on volunteer time. At
first we collected drawings of marks, but this
year decided to use a digital camera instead.
For now we will combine the hand-drawn
marks with the digital photographs. By next
September we will ask all renewing members
to submit a digital photograph of their
mark(s) and to answer a few biographical
questions. This will be the most efficient
way to create a foundation for this registry.
Our ambition is to have a reasonable profile
on every known potter, past and present, in
B.C., as well as a record of their marks, a short
bio, exhibitions, and any newspaper articles.
It will be a great resource for any researcher,
and will demonstrate that we take our ceramic
practice seriously.

The Mark Registry can be viewed as an
opportunity for B.C. ceramicists to be more
pro-active with their practice. By identifying
ourselves, and our work, we provide context
and provenance to the ceramic practice in
B.C. Perhaps next time someone attends
an auction the auctioneer will identify the
potter and give a short history, and someone
will decide that this is an art-practice worth
learning about.

Contact me anytime at debraesloan@
gmail.com. I have a short list of biographical
questions, and would love to receive a digital
copy of your mark(s). We have more than 21
regional potters guilds and associations in
our province. The number of potters in B.C.
is a phenomenon and a great source of new
marks. ..so please contact me and get onto the
registry. And always, any volunteer assistance
if most welcome!

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