MEETING A TRADITIONAL JAPANESE POTTER

Japanese potter Kazuo Akiyama from Mashiko was staying with me
for the last ten days of his visit to Canada. He wanted to meet
local potters and see their work before he left. He had intended
to stay in Canada until the end of September but took ill in June
and had to leave and wanted to see as many potters as possible
inten days. Not only did he want to meet potters but also to
visit Fort Langley, Simon Fraser, U.B.C., Totem Park, Victoria
and so on . He loved GASTOWN..

Everywhere we went Mr. Akiyama went running around taking
photographs, just like a typical Japanese tourist.

I didn't know many potters so lIasked Meg Buckley and Dorothy
Doherty to introduce us to the professional potters they knew.
They were a great help and we met Robert Weghsteen, Tam Irving

and Wayne Ngan.

Mr. Akiyama was impressed and happy to meet these potters and
their work. I decided to invite people interested in meeting Mr.
Akiyama to my little attic room. With Meg's help we called the
executive of the Guild and others. The party was supposed to
start at 8 but Mr. Akiyama and I didn't get there until two minutes
after. Meg was already there talking to my landlady. Altogether
over twenty people came. I was running around the kitchen, out
to the door and up and down tothe attic. Poor Mr. Akiyama was
very nervous without me there. The party started like that |

We had wine, some bea, soft drinks and cheese with fruit. After
a talk from Mr. Akiyama we had a question and answer period,
followed by a slide show of Mr. Akiyama's collection of old
Japanese pottery and examples of his own work. One old piece
Mr. Akiyama would not sell for "a million dollars". We all
laughed and the party went not too badly.

Next day was also a big day. We went to see Tam Irving at
his studio in West Vancouver. Magnificent. Wayne Ngan was
there also. It was an exciting visit for Mr. Akiyama. Tam
and Wayne were interested in seeing Mr. Akiyama'‘s slides,

so we invited them and Wayne's summer school students

to my attic that evening to join

16.