Jeannie Mah

Jeannie Mah received her
Bachelor of Visual Arts
from the University of
Regina. Prior to this, she
had studied at the Sorbonne
in Paris; the Universite de
Perpignan, in Perpignan,
France; the Banff Centre, in
Banff, Alberta; and Emily
Carr College of Art in
Vancouver, BC. She also has
a Bachelor of Education
from the University of
Regina.

As a practising ceramic artist, she has had numerous solo exhibitions, includ-
ing familiar... but foreign, Cups: Kamares Sévres, and The Sévres Suite, at
Prime Gallery in Toronto (2002,. 1997, 1990); The Works, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania (1999); “ouvrez les guillemets...” and Chiaroscuro at the Dunlop
Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan (1997 and 1991); Black Cup, at the Art
Gallery, Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and April/ Paris
at the grunt gallery, in Vancouver, British Columbia (1990). Her work has
been included in numerous group exhibitions, most recently, The Art of Clay,
at Harbinger Gallery in Waterloo, In the Margins, at the Mary E Black
Gallery in Halifax, NS; Historica Florissima, at the Estevan Museum and
Gallery in Estevan, SK (2005); Canadian Clay, at the Lacoste Gallery in
Concord, MS , Fragile: Think With Care, at the University Gallery,
University of Essex, England ; Manifesta, at the Gallery Stratford, in
Stratford, Ontario and Cambridge Galleries in Cambridge, Ontario (2004),
and That's My Wonderful Town, at the MacKenzie Gallery, in Regina
Saskatchewan (2003-4). Recent two person exhibitions include Cinemmics,
with Greg Payce, at the Art Gallery of Calgary; Peripheral Vision, with Les
Manning at the Galérie Viewx-Bourg in Lonay, Switzerland (2001); and
Tables of Inertia, with David Skingle, and Past/Future, with Barbara
Sternberg, both at the antechamber in Regina, Saskatchewan (1999). In
addition to exhibiting ceramics, she has consistently collaborated with other
artists in performance, drama, photography, and video and film productions.
She has delivered papers and presentations at numerous conferences and
seminars, and is a well-known participant in ceramics circles in Canada.

Jeannie Mah’s greatest loves are cinema, museums and travelling. She has
spent a great deal of time travelling, studying and residing in Europe, and
her experiences often form pretexts for her exhibitions. Her complex installa-
tions combine fragile porcelain cups based on prototypes from ancient
Minoan culture and eighteenth century Sévres porcelain productions, with
elements drawn from her travels, French studies, cinema and material cul-
ture.

In a recent statement for “Hommage a la céramique: From St. Ives to Minoan
Crete via France”, she writes:

Two geographic sites, two beach holidays. the same stance, one more revealing
than the other.... the Leach tradition, founded in St.Ives, Cornwall, drew me
into a deeper study of ceramics, s that I found my way to Minoan Crete.
Bernard Leach’s admiration of the Chinese Song, the Korean Koryu, and
Japanese Mingei ware is a glance backward, while the Minoan’s exuberant
decoration of pots and palaces foresiadows European decorative arts. In my
ceramic studies, I embody and then am effaced by the history of ceramics.

Jeannie Mah

July/August 2006 Potters Guild of Britis’ Columbia Newsletter 5