Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3R7 (6(4) 683-9623 Potters Guild of British Columbia 1339 Cartwright St., Granville Island NEWSLETTER JUNE 1990 ISSN 6319 812x 1991 EXHIBITION: “Choosing Clay” In 1989 the Board of Directors of the Potters Guild of B.C, commissioned Glenn Allison and Jim Thom- sbury to search for material which would provide a curatorial point of view for a major exhibition of ceramics. They travelled widely through British Co- lumbia and Washington, and issued an extensive report on their findings (copies may be obtained from the Guild office on Granville Island). After careful deliberation they came to the conclusion that the field was simply too diverse to allow any clear curatorial perspective. “We could not discern general move- ments, directions, or trends of great interest. There seem to be no overriding sylistic unities, no astound- ing congruencies, or even happenstance overlap- pings; no particularly strong, tradition bound or eth- nographie continuities, no shared philosophic over- tones or collective visual thrusts. We found no specific supportable premise except that of isolated, idiosyn- cratic, individualistic, independentand personal production,” Accordingly, we were advised to consider other ways tovalidate ceramics, Some excellent suggestions were made and these will be discussed in future issues of the Newsletter. However, the Board decided that there still should be an exhibition and that we simply accept the diversity, making this an important part of the content of the show. As a result, the following format has been devised for organizing an exhibition in collaboration with the Cartwright Gallery. Seven ceramists who have sustained an expressively significant body of work have chosen either an emerg- ing talent or an artist in a period of transition. Each of these ‘senior’ figures will contribute a written state- ment about the reasons for their choice, The exhibi- tion will comprise one piece by each of the sponsors to act aS a prologue to five pleces by each of the chosen candidates. By giving voice to the special interests of these individuals we hope to disclose some of the unique ways of seeing and being, which are contin- gent upon attitudes, philosophies and materials. The exhibition, which ts tithed “Choosing Clay", will open at the Cartwright Gallery on January 10, 1991. Both the Koerner Foundation and Canada Council have been approached with requests for funds ta publish a catalogue and to travel the exhibition. Sponsors and their choices are listed below: Sponsor Choice Gordon Hutchens Lea Mann Charmian Johnson Jane Williams Sam Kwan Lari Rebson David Lawson Gary Graham Jeannie Mah Friederika Rahn James Thomsbury Gary Merkel Kathryn Youngs Conme Glover Tam Irving, President — JUNE 21 — GUILD MEETING 1359 Cartwright with Lluis Riera A meeting of the Potters Guild will be held at 1359 Cartwright St, on Thursday, June 21st at 7:30 pm. Lhuls Riera will be the guest speaker, and he will share with us his experiences as a potter in B.C. for the past six years, as well as describing the ceramic project which he will become involved with upon his return to Portugal this summer. For those of you who know Lluis’ work, you will need no encouragement to at- tend; for those of you who don't, | do! I'll miss seeing his earthenware jars and vessels with their lively decoration im the local shops. The library will be open prior to 7:30, and vou're invited you to stay later for coffee and tea. Cookies or snacks of some sort would be appreciated.