1359 Cartwright St., Granville Island
Vancouver, B.C. W6H 3R7
(604) 683-9623

Potters Guild of British Columbia

Ketan —

MARCH 1993

ISSN 6319 812X

With thanks to John Chalke, the author, and Ceramics Monthly, the publisher of John’s
article "Surface Thoughts" (CH December 92), we reproduce part of the first page,
45 an introduction to John and the kind of discussions that will be held at the ECCAD

workshop with him on Saturday, April ird.

The strange need to list and weigh ceramic materials has been
present throughout my career, but I still don't know where
it comes from, I'd like to, I newer had an accountant for
a father or mother, unlike a friend of mine who suggested
that was the reason for the frenzied and precise cataloging
of his CD collection. Surely some of it must be genetic, but
the desire seemed to begin back in art school when I made up
a purple dye for a textile project. That's when I discovered
the triple-beam balance. To encapsulate knowledge looked
like a path toward individualism, a device that might lead
to glory and recegnition-I would be the only with such color.
I think I needed all that then, and certainly there is a
private part that still does. It better be only 4 small
apart. What I have feared for years is that I would become
that type of shrew who would fuse and piddle around over
details. And yet details may be respected, especially when
they become underpinnings for structure instead of mere add-
ong.

Details have always been luxuries, frequently described aa
"minor", attracting only a small, local audience. My early
education seemed to consist of nobler people gliding around
me, Creating impressive situations that superseded previous
orders. I repeatedly felt like someone in the harvest fields
picking up after the main muscle had swept through. [I was
4 gleaner then, and still am, certainly not an advance party.
The difference is that now I am somewhat less ashamed; on a
fine day, I even glimpse some virtue in the “wee timorous
beastie".

John will share some of his gleaninas and his fascination with glazes and surface
treatwents, a5 well as with forms, that he has focused on over the years. See page
9 for registration details.