CONVERSATIONS Bob Kingsmill calls himself a lucky man and by all indications he is. Relaxed, good natured and at peace with himself and his work, his life as a potter seems ideal. Bob works in a smallish studio on Granville Island. He puts in forty to fifty hours a week producing everything from teacups to large handbuilt murals which he fires in his electric kiln. The six hundred square feet of studio is used economically with extra Space provided by high shelving on the walls, but for mural production he would like two or three times more space. A mural is about to be created at the back of the studio where Bob has just finished rolling out a slab of clay on the floor, fifty two inched square and three-quarters of an inch thick. He works slowly and easily, undaunted by the continual flow of conversation between us. His current success seems far removed from his first studio experience in the Okangan where he started as a professional in 1967. Bob remembers when he began that Walter Dexter showed him how to make handles for his work. But he was able to make a living as the economy was kinder, society more affluent and a new awareness of the craft of pottery was growing. He still maintains that his complete lack of formal training has served him well by allowing him to learn from his own mistakes and develop his own style. Art schools, he believes, can give potters the opportunity to learn basic techniques more quickly but hamper students by teaching a specific style which will have to be “unlearned” before individual creativity can be expressed. Now Bob's technique is strong and his style unquestionably unique which makes a good case in favour of self-teaching. And, as he puts it "I'm still doing it after fifteen years where many art school graduates have long since disappeared”. Where does he get his inspiration? "From everywhere". One of the stamps he uses was adopted from a bird motif he saw on a classical Greek vase. His favourite muralist is Jordi Bonet a French Canadian artist whose style is subtely echoed in Bob's work. He prefers a soft fluid line which lends itself well to the style of his murals. Even in his smaller functional pieces one sees a devotion to smooth rounded shapes and sensuous forms. Yet all of his work expresses a powerful solidity. 7