Modern Eye: Craft and Design in Canada, 1940-1980

Modernism dominated craft and design in
Canada from the 1940s to the 1970s. This
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria exhibition
explores the modernist viewpoints held by
Canada’s most prominent designers and craft
artists working in this period.

Guest curated by Allan Collier, Modern Eye
borrows from local and national collections
and is accompanied by an_ illustrated
exhibition catalogue. The show presents more
than 100 ceramics, as well as the furniture,
radios, record players and textiles that filled
common spaces and that best illustrate
modernist preoccupation with form, colour,
texture, experimentation, functionality, and
honest use of materials.

Collier explains that Canadians took inspir-
ation from American and European trends,
but also had some signatures of their own.
Items chosen for the exhibition reflect an
interest in new materials and techniques and
an awareness of contemporary trends in ab-
stract art and Modern architecture. The show
runs until Nov, 27.

Ceramics Installation, Canadian Fine Crafts
exhibition, Expo 67. © Government of
Canada. Reproduced with the permission
of the Minister of Public Works and
Government Services Canada (2011)
Source: Library and Archives Canada/
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World
Exhibition fonds/PA-212926.

Branch bottle, Avery Huyghe, Vancouver, B.C.,
c.1967. (Can you spot it in the Expo 67 photo
at left?) Collection of the Confederation
Centre Art Gallery. Purchased, 1967.

Plate, Leonard Osborne, Victoria, B.C.,
c.1967. Collection of the Confederation
Centre Art Gallery. Purchased, 1967.

POTTERS AT WORK

POTTERS AT WORK: This newsletter feature
looks at the various places where potters
work. Working as a potter can be lonely or
social, awkward or easy. Many words may
be used to describe that feeling, but why

not just send one well-composed photo?
We welcome your high-resolution, sharply-
focused photos of potters at work, and will
include one per month in these pages.

THE IDYLLIC LIFE OF APOTTER: Adolph
and Louise Schwenk at home on their patio,
Penticton, B.C., 1961. Photo by Selwyn
Pullan, photographer and copyright holder.

This photo was sent in by the Art Gallery of
Greater Victoria as part of its current Modern
Eye exhibition (see story above), and I
couldn't resist including it here as our Potters

at Work feature. A potter's life for me...

RITISH
COLUMBIA Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - August 2011 11