uil Well, the Board finally managed eo have ins retreat early in November after planning for it since the summer! A day at Gillian McMillan’s home, with a wonderful poduck lunch for sustenance, culminated in che board’s unanimous decision co further pursue moving the Gallery and Guild operations to a larger space on Granville Island, specifically the vacant building diagonally across the street. As a result of the retreat, the following letter has gone to Granville Island Management to inform them of our intentions: In [985 the Potters’ Guild was given the opportunity to establish a Gaild Office and Gallery on Granville Island. We have benefitted from our location, and we feel we have contributed to the ambiance of the Island. Sine then, as the success of Grarwille [sland Aas grown, 20 has out Gallery, We are serving the Ceramics community throughout B.C. and we are fincling thar the present shace has served our needs well, However, the time has come to enlarge our operation to fit our expanded vision. Currently we have a large Guild membership province wide, we showcase juried clay artists, we have a Guild office, peblish a monthly newsletter, house a members’ library, a meeting voom and Studio 5. We are offering all these services to our members bur we are running out of space. As we mentioned in or letter of Dec. 16/96, our need for more space could be met at the factity recently vacated by Columbia Birulithic, at 1393 Cartwright Street. Thar location and square footage (the two lower floors) would be ideal for our needs. We enctsage a Ceramics Centre at the aboue location which would incorporate the followings activinles: 1) a large retail space with a clear distinction between exhibition and retaél activities. The lerger Shop would allow us to showcase the work of more potters than we can at present, and increase the range of work offered. The Gallery would be operated as a conventional Fine Arts gallery with rotating exhibitions and a plan to mitiace the sale of ‘previously-owned' 20th Century ceramics. 2) relocate Studio 5 into a workshop space which could also accommodate educational prograrmnumes. 3) a more accessible library and resource cerure, 4) office space for Guild gexiviries, ducheding newsletter production, publicaticom and conference organizing. 5) wastly expanded storage spice. We should also like to include ancillary services such as ceramic supplies and the possibility of a retail shop for arstigue ceramics. These are our goals, based on the potencial we perceive m that location, New enlarged space would enable as co better senor our members and fulfill ovr mandate to promote the Ceramic Arg in B.C., thus adding to the cdltural environment of Grenville Island. We look forward to working with yoe on the allocation and dewelopment of this facilizy. Board of Directors, Potters Guild of BC Ac further result of the retreat is to re- establish che Potters’ Guild of BC as a more social entity, and the first course of action has been co enlist Ronda Green's help in organizing an informarive social evening ar ECLAD on Jan. 28th. A big part of the plans for a new space would certainly be to include a larger meeting/social room where the Guild can frequencely host get- togethers/slide shows/mini-workshops. Please let us know what you chink of this initiative - we won't be able to do it withour your support and help! On a related topic, the Guild library (books and slides) is in desperate need of cataloguing, especially in anticiparion of providing relevant information to furure readers about the artists in Made Of Clay - the Ceramics of BC. The Guild would like co hire someone to help with this project under the Government's Job Opportunity Fund or Job Creation Project. In order to create a job description, it helps to have an applicant in mind: if anyone knows of a person who is either a) mildly disabled and who has not been on unemployment insurance in the last 3 years (or other benefits in che last 5 years), or 6) is currently on unemployment insurance now of has been in the last 3 years (or other benetits in the last 5 years), and c) has some librarian/administrative background, please call Jane at the Guild office (604-669-5645). [t would be wonderful to have this process underway before the end of the year. page 7 Gallery of BC Ceramics 1359 Cartwright St. Granville Island Openings: | Thursday, December + (6 - Spm) Stems, Steins & Servers December ¢ - January 4 All participating artists are especially encouraged to attend the opening! Gallery News As December nears, with it the mad rush of late holiday shoppers, so does the Gallery's need for volunteers: one four-hour shift is needed each day Dec 13 - Dec 24. Please call Jane if you are able to come in for a day, see what happens in the Gallery, and have some fun tea!! The Gallery has been very pleased to present Kinichi Shigeno’s exhibition, Levitation, during the month ef November. The opening reception was a wonderfully busy evening with lots of people in rhe Gallery, Pattern, shape and colour are three signacure elements in Kinichi's work, and the overall visual impact of the exhibic echoes these aspects of the individual pieces. October did cur out to be a strong month for the Gallery: sales were juse slightly betrer than lage year’s monthly total, and were higher than our monthly target by alsyose 3%. Annual sales to date remain at an increase of 3% over last year, The Gallery anticipates the Christmas season to be a busy one, and we look forward to receiving your stems and steins for che holiday show, and the Gallery artists’ conuinuing excellent work for our regular stock! Work for Stems, Steins & Servers will be accepted chroughouc December. Congratulations oo all Potters' Guild of BC members whose work was selected for exhibition during APEC; Kathryn O'Regan was the feature artist-of-the-month in July, and subsequently was one of the artises selected from the Gallery! Happy Holidays, Jane Matthews Gallery of BC Ceramics - Call for Submissions February 15/98 - please RSVP for our Spring Show, February 28 - March 26, 1998, This is open to all members. Theme will be flowers, vases etc. More info next newsletter.