Denise Jeffrey
at the District
Foyer Gallery

By Amy Gogarty

Many of us have experienced the disruption
of a move, whether across the country, to
another country or even to another city,
and the havoc it can wreak in our lives.
Disorientation and unfamiliarity scramble
routine habits, everyday environs and familiar
faces. For artists, this disruption, while mildly
uncomfortable, can offer opportunities to
reassess one’s basic values and work, and the
experience often leads to greater creativity and
self-awareness. Denise Jeffrey left her home in
Nova Scotia after a first career in environmental
planning and a second in functional studio
pottery, moving to the Vancouver region in
2009. A lovely exhibition at the District Foyer
Gallery in North Vancouver provides insight
into Jeffrey's process of taking stock of her new

environment and re-thinking her approach to

ceramics.

The installation at the Foyer Gallery in the North Vancouver District Hall.

The Foyer Gallery is located in the North
Vancouver District Hall, a striking modern
building that houses services for city residents.
The work is installed in three well-designed
cases located in a glass-faced entrance hall that
opens out to the sort of trees and mountain
views that inspire the artist. The audience
for this exhibition is more diverse than what
attends a typical gallery, and Jeffrey addresses
those who pass by with a thoughtful text
detailing her background in environmental
planning, cartography and ceramics.

Each case holds a particular “family” of
objects, which are similar rather than identical
in design. Although she is committed to

making functional work, she is less interested
in production pottery. Her forms consist of
mugs, bowls, goblets, lidded jars, vases and
plates, which she deliberately simplifies to

A t l support the decorative surface. She works
r rave here with two distinct motifs, one based on

topographical contour lines and the other a
2012 -1 3 CERAMIGS EXCU RSIO NS tall, slender tree. Works are glazed in one of
two faux-celadon glazes, one greenish and
one a more traditional azure. She employs

Crete Morocco Burma
Oct. 8-23, 2012 Nov. 5-26, 2012 January 2013

o Continued on Page 6, Technique
www. denysjames. cOM TEL: 1-250-537-4906

RITISH
COLUMBIA Potters Guild of BC Newsletter « April 2012 5