Masters Series, continued.

comments of all who attended were so
positive that we all wished it would
never end. With Gillian McMillan, Bob
Kingsmill, Don Hutchinson, Sally
Michener, Vic Duffhues and Gordon
Hutchens as presenters, how could it get
much better? All of our presenters out-
did themselves and really connected with
their audiences.

Keith Rice-Jones arranged a special
showing of our B.C. Bronfman Winners
in the persons of Robin Hopper, Walter
Dexter and Wayne Ngan. It was very
special to have these master potters
amongst us, if not in person, definitely
in our hearts. Their works were great to
look at and we are sure some of our
younger potters went away charged up
and ready to go after seeing these great
works of art.

It was suggested that the great lunch and
incredible dinner were the real topper for
a great day. Thanks again to our won-
derful crew.

Our keynote speaker, Paul Mathieu, as
usual held everyone spellbound by his
knowledge of pottery and its history,
past and present. There wasn’t a move-
ment by anyone during Paul’s talk,
which was just the right ending for the
whole day.

Thank you to everyone who attended
our Masters Series #3. It was really heart
warming to have so many potters from
“up North”, “the Interior”, “the Sunshine
Coast”, and of course our “Lower
Mainland” friends. To have so many
come from far distant places meant a lot
to us and. we will remember you all for a
long time.

Les Crimp

Maureen Wright Scholarship

If you are planning on taking a
course or attending a workshop,
the Northwest Ceramic
Foundation’s Maureen Wright
Scholarship offers up to $200.
See
http://www.bcpotters.com/schol-
atships.html for application.

Karen Opas

June 2005

Our Written Tradition

At a slide show presentation awhile back
the artists talked about their oral tradi-
tion. They were the Maori people,
indigenous, and still connected to the
land. Their work was fresh. It honored.
aspects of their lives. The friend I had
driven in with asked me, “If theirs is an
oral tradition, then what is ours?” As
soon as the words left her mouth the
answer came to her. “Ours must be a
written tradition.” I had no argument for
that one. It felt right.

Years ago when I was homeschooling my
children I belonged to a support group.
We were a small group of ladies and, at
times, a few men. We met bimonthly
and. had a very casual meeting. These
meetings fed us. We arranged field trips,
supported. and cared for each other. At
one meeting we brought important tools
we used for our homeschooling. The co-
ordinator and founder of the group
would have won the award for the most
significant tool. She produced. from her
pocket a small blue and white plastic
card. Her library card. As homeschoolers
the library was invaluable to us. Our
children would go and pick out what
they wanted and we adults would get
books that interested us. Books about
homeschooling, spirituality, self-help,
inspirational books, books with beautiful
pictures and now with videos, CDs,
DVDs and books on tape also available,
we could take those out as well. We
learned. when we were homeschooling
that we could take 50 items out on one
card.....between the three of us on a very
good day once we exceeded our 50 item
limit and had to use another card.

Everyone has their favourite books. As
potters we all have books with technical
information to help us with our work.
But there are so many other books that
also affect us and what we do. There are
inspirational books, beautiful picture
books, historical books, and books that
just leave us feeling like we have had a

good meal. They feed us.

This week I was given a book called
Treasures of the Creative Spirit by Robert
Piepenburg. Cathi Jefferson was talking
to him at NCECA. She had attended his
talk and thought he was brilliant. She

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

must have talked to him about the time
he had sent me a book when I wrote him
a note. I told him I would have a candle
going for him in Canada. I had heard he
had leukemia. At our last meeting of the
Fraser Valley Potter’s Guild Cathi handed
me this second copy of this same book,
my favourite book, inscribed. by the
author. I stood there like an idiot parrot-
ing that I had already received this book,
by him, from him. It has been an inter-
esting week. Yesterday, down with a cold,
I stayed in bed and read again the pre-
cious book I had been given again. Every
page was fresh and alive with spirit,
insight and love. I have bought the Spirit
of Clay as well and enjoyed that book,
but Treasures of the Creative Spirit is the
one I like the best. At our meeting,
Cathi had also bought his DVD, A Visit
with the Artist. It is a small piece of
work, like the book I love. But it is
inspiring in a deeply personal way and
well worth a viewing. And I understand
Mr. Piepenburg is coming to the
Symposium next spring. | am excited I
will finally meet the man whose words
have been so important to me.

Tam amazed at how often I go into my
public library and find that the books
that I need to read (for whatever reason)
seem beckon me to pull them down and
take them out. Books on tape, DVDs,
books that resonate for me. Some answer
important questions I have, some inspire,
some teach and others just have an amaz-
ing entertainment value.

I wonder how the books, books on tape,
DVDs and other related items hold us
up as we do our work, become who we
are meant to be and generally just add a
vibrancy of colour and richness of tex-
ture to our lives. At some point we fill
ourselves up with all of the words allow-
ing us to create our own truths and
words to live by, words to tell our stories
and words to encourage and support
others with. We are so very fortunate
that ours is a written tradition.

Harmeny Daniel Vissers

©copyright 2005