ESTHER SHIMAZU WORKSHOP: A REVIEW
POT MAKING AS SURGERY AND ORTHODONTICS

Advertised as aceramic sculptor making life-sized figures, 1 was
momentarily disappointed when I saw an unfinished raw clay
sculpture of about 18° in height, Esther announced, “This is pot-
making, This is not deep,” Her approach, very much a give-and-
lake experience with clay, was a revelation to some of the
attendees. Rather than making maquettes of the female body, her
work is a personal experience, realizing ber own outer and inner
form. Her works are all “Esther Shimazu” figures, sometimes
with another “Esther” figure or a dog.

The body is made from slabs of a
grogged cone 10 clay, fired to
cone 6 and sometimes again to
cone 04, The clay is coaxed into
a flesh-like skin by a series of
wooden dowels pressed over it.
A wooden dowel with balls on
both ends, a special tool used in
doll making, stretched the clay
from inside the form. With deft
hands she made incisions to
leather-hard clay, added a coil
and joined and altered the body
parts, until it was to her satisfaction, Not anatomically ‘correct,”
the figure was nevertheless totally believable, setting up its own
reality and containing a powerful energy. Though less than life-
size, it commanded the space around it

The volume of the body is set off by the mudra like quality of the
hands. Effortlessly, Esther formed the fingers of the hands with
every fingernail and wrinkle. Her ability to work very small and
concentrate, produced hands resembling her own, With little bits
of clay and many minute adjustments, she made the figure hold a
tiny lidded jar. She gingerly placed the potin the right hand of the
figure and the lid in the other having no fear of them falling out

GUILD

MADE OF CLAY BOOK SALES

Book sales in the month of June were extremely good, due in large
part to several wholesale orders from our members, Thanks for
your support! ‘The retail target was 25; the actual figures were 21
retail copies, 41 wholesale and 14 Douglas & McIntyre. In July,
we changed the large book display inthe Gallery which decreased
its presence . It had a negative effect. Although we had optimis-
tically targeted to sell 50 retail copies and 25 wholesale copies in
July, we actually only sold 1$ retail, We have not received
Douglas & McIntyre’s figures yet. By the end of July, we have
sold almost exactly 50% of our target for the year.

Plans are developing for a very informative book display in the
Gallery. We hope to have this ready for September te help push
early Christmas sales.

FROM THE OVEN AND KILN DINNER
Tickets for the fantastic fundraising dinner are now for sale in the
Gallery of BC Ceramics.

8 Potters Guild of British Columbia

of the hands she had just made. The minature jar itself was in a
contrasting clay to the figure and filled with volume, creating a
tense juxtaposition.

Twenty years of keen observation and practice enables her to
quickly make a face from an oval slab. The eyes are just slits in
the clay, reminiscent of Hantwa figures or Noh masks. The lips
are made from a simple cut with the slab turned outwards. She
made a row of top teeth, each one shaped and set in the gums,
realistic and formed one by one, cut off and shaped by one long
nail on each of her hands, The
eyes, nose and mouth serve to
vent the sculpture during firing,
as Well as make you aware of the
space within,

She made a foot, just to show us
how. Bach toenail, bunion and
wrinkle was there, She passed
the pieces around as she made
them and each person gotachance
to caress a foot,

The next day, Esther attached a head that she had made while
alone the night before. Slight differences in degree of the angle
of the head when attached to the neck, changed the overall
movement of the piece. I felt | was watching asurgeon and winced
a3 she cut in the chest to expand it to make the figure appear more
upright; next she serrated the head to add clay making i bigger.
The hairless head had a grin or grimace, In ber self-effacing
manner, she joked that their smiles say, “Buy me!" She is well
supported in the United States and is a powerful practitioner of
ceramic figurative sculpture.

Dona Nabata

NEWS

In the previous newsletter, we put out a call to members to
demonstrate, display or scll in the Delta Pacific Resort Hotel's
lobby in the weeks prior to the dinner. No one responded.
Consequently, the Board is organizing itas a Guild/Gallery event.
We would be very grateful for volunteers. Please call Debra Sloan
604-736-3059 or Jane Matthews at the Guild 604-669-5645.

SUMMER EVENTS

On Monday, August 2, BC Day, a fantastic group of volunteers
including board members and their member friends, held both a
You Too Can Raku and a Too Good for the Shard Pile Sale.
Their combined efforts raised just over $2,000 to go towards
renovating the Gallery, Thank you, thank you, thank you to all
those who gave up their holiday and a big THANK YOU to those
who donated bisqueware for the raku. We couldn't have done it
without you!

Jane Matthews

General Manager

September 1999