Editor's Notes

*** The weather finally curned lage night.
A few of the leaves on the ee outside my
window are that orange tinged green chat
heralds their imminent demise. My own
life took a big change of direction recently
with a return to school (Computing Science
at SFL), and the decision to sublet most of
my studio, | took a much needed break
from my studies yesterday and went off to
eateh a movie. The only one playing in the
time slot [ had available was Hong Kong
ection star Jacky Chan's larest film. | write
chis as if | might have gone to another,
more cerebral film had it been playing.
That's actually not true, Jacky is one of my
all time favourites!

And he proved himself worthy of my
devotion when, in defense of some pors, he
took a beating while continuously saving
the pots from being shactered by the
culturally barbarous villains. I'm willing to
wager thac we'll never see Meryl Streep or
Robert Redford spring back and forth as
they rescue a teetering seven foor high
vessel while managing to execute a couple
of head high circle kicks! The only
unfortunate part to all chis is thar the pots
in question were pretry hideous. The world
would have been a better place without
them... [ also ran into a couple of potters in
the line up to see this film. We all looked
surprised and promised never to reveal our

guilty secrec to anether soul,

*** | know chis a semi-monthly plea, but
[do need your letters to the editor, your
reviews of local shows and informarion
about upcoming events in your neck of
the woods, If you are wondering why the
newsletner seems a little sparse this
month, it would be because noching was
submitted. And Bob Kingsmill, who is
very generous about writing articles, is
sailing to Hawaii. If any body else has an
excuse that good, Id like to hear it.

***Speaking of sailing, you may
remember the letter from two New
Zealand potters in last month's
newsletter. One of the potters arrived in
Vancouver on a sailboat, a little ever ten
years ago. He sailed over from Japan,
where he had spenc several years
apprenticing tn a traditional Japanese
studio. I still vividly remember his
description of his first day in the studio.
He was put on a wheel alongside a row of
other apprentices and cold to ¢hrow until
the tea-break, only 3 hours away. Doesn't
sound so bad, you might think, until you
keyow that you must sic crass-legged at the
wheels chat were in use. Chris had to be
lifted off his wheel by che fellows on
either side of him, and he spent his entire
tea-break actempting to restore
circulation to his lower legs. And then he
had to get back on for several hours!
Whenever I'm feeling a bit grumpy about

my ancient war horse of an Estrin, | bring
this sterling example of potting devotion
co mind.

For those of you who have helped to fire

the Tozan, his tales of chree-day firing [ %

shifts on the climbing hill kilns with three
hours on and three hours off, may sound
somewhat familiar. Ir always sounded a
bit like che equivalent of a potter's
triathlon

He also shared his shock che first tome the
master scrolled through the apprentices’
area at the end of a day of making tea-
bowls. He looked at che hundreds of pots
very seriously, chen selected a few and pat
his own stamp on them, The next
highest potter in the studio hierarchy did
the sare and soon down the line until
the apprencices were allowed to put their
stamps on the remaining tea bowls. Ina
combination af broken English and
Japanese, it was explained to him thar, as
the master was the fount of experience
and knowledge, any poss good enough to
have been made by the master were
obviously the work of the master and not
the inexperienced student. A very
different concept from the current
Western idea about artists, although the
guild system thar prevailed until the
renaissance had very similar features.

[t would certainly instil humilicy in the
young potter!

Karen Opas

: Potter’s Guild of B.C. Newsletter Website: www.margaretdesign.com/pguild/

The Newsletter is published 10 times yearly as an information link for members. Submissions of articles, lerters and
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« Editer; Karen Opas General Manager: Jane Matthews Editorial Board: Rosemary Amon, Heather Cairns, Gillian MeMillan, Frank Turco

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