POTTERS
GUILD

of BRITISH

COLUMBIA
_——
NEWSLETTER

Photos by Carole and Keit:

@ bc potters

April 2004 Volume 40, No.4

Fantastic Service: A Rocketship Adventure -
Keith Lehman puts the fun in functional

Article by Carole Henshall and Michael Cihone

Join Captain Green Tea and his sidekick Tea Turtle as they visit the inhabitants of the tea-loving
planets Squig, Urch and Fump in their rocketship teapot. Planets will dangle from the ceiling
and strange new lifeforms will sprout from the floor of the Galaxy of Alien Ceramics!

Besides a brief encounter on a creek bank as a child in Northern Alberta, a liberal arts education
at Goshen College, Indiana was Keith’s first experience with clay. He studied. ceramics, sculpture
and jewelry with inspiring instructors Marvin Bartel, John Mishler and Judy
Wenig-Horswell. After moving to Vancouver in 1995 in his VW bug “Betty”,
he continued his clay studies at Capilano College with Sam Kwan and Jack
Ploesser.

After living in their VW van “Victor” in order to afford studio space in East
Vancouver, and then graduating to living in their 500-something sq. foot stu-
dio next to the rendering plants and train shunting yard, Keith and his partner
Carole Henshall have now been running The Poplar Studio full-time for four
years from the studio/garage of their house on the Sunshine Coast. “New”
VW van “Myrtle” resides in the driveway. The majority of the work is thrown
from cone 5 B-mix electric fired to cone 7. They make all their own glazes,
colouring some with commercial stains. During the last two years they've
done a large amount of production work so Keith has found it a nice change -
and a challenge(!) - to work in a more one-off improvisational format.

Major inspirations for this show were: the much lamented, now defunct, store
Cosmopolis; Carole’s love of chunky, brightly coloured, vintage dinner ware
and her persistant prodding and waving of the application form in Keith’s face;
Cody Chancellor's astonishing artwork; and Michael Cihone the real life Cap-
tain Green Tea. The Squigglies have been a part of the work for years - it was
time they had their own planet! Initially Keith made just one “rocket fuel”
coffee pot but it become obvious that there was more exploring to be done...
The show will be enhanced by large comic-story panels, created by Cody Chan-
cellor, narrating the journey.

Launch time is April Ist from 6 to 8 pm. The show runs until the fourth of
May. Lots of great green tea will be steeped and served at the reception by
Captain Green Tea himself!