(60) 683-9623 Potters Guild of British Columbia 1349 Cartwright St,, Ciranville [sland Vancouver, B.C. VaH 3JRT OCTOBER 1993 ISSN 6319 812xX NORTHWEST CLAY SYMPOSIUM On the September 18th weekend, I had the good fortune to attend most of two days of the NW Clay Symposium in Seattle (see notes on exhibitions), Beside observing Mark Burns, sculptor, and Sandy Simon, potter, in separate workshop venues, my weekend travel partner, Jackie White, and | sal in on bee afternoon sessions of panel discussions at the University of Washington. The sessions, whether workshop, slide presentation, or discussion, were a fascinating window on the work and world af US clay enthusiasts, Whether they be potters, ceramic artists, or entrepreneurs who make their livelihood by using clay, it became clear that we should rejoice in working in whatever way we enjoy best. There's room for all of us! Matthew Kangas, a Seattle-based ceramic critic and writer, encouraged everyone WOKING a5 potters of ceramic artists io take onthe challenge of today’s markets for their work. Whether functional ornen-funetional, or any combination in between, ceramic work has potential to become an important element in the world of art. The British article reprinted below, courtesy of Gillian McMillan, expresses something of this encouragement: in fact, the final paragraph could well have been Kangas' parting shot to the Seattle symposium PRTC ipanis- pe Why modern pottery fires the imagination in the Fifties and Sinies, Sritivh pottery wes, broddly speaking, moable for ity quantity rater than tre quality, bur if wes cheap, eqriestly funcional anal poycterr. Craftsheps abounded, ane modestly priced brown catfee sets and mugs seemed fo be everywhere. Nowadays, the work af leading British potters fetches thousands of pounds and is highly prized by American and Continental ac well as domestic collectors Ait tty broad poputariry iy genie, anal it iv ra be found maaly it speciatisr galleries and the classter surviving craft outlets. The sew exhibition af the Barbican Art Gallery in London, The Raw and the Cooked, marks a further narrowing of the gap between the potter's status and thar of scnipters and pauters. Nor only ts ir being held ina verve normally devoted ta fine rather than applied arts, duct it specifically involves sculptors working inclayas wells leading ceramicist: (as Hey are sometimes called) Winn te perspectives af port-Second World Wer Arinein, tis evolution looks like something new, fnfactitecheses the Twenties and Thirties. It was in [920 that Bernard Leach, who became fre leader of the renaissance of stidio pettery in Europe, returned fronihiis senntnal J! years in Japan. beach wer aot jie! ad greet poner wise work fused Oriental and Eaplish medieval traditions, butaltoa gifted proselytiser whe lectured widely, Inthe Thirties, an era ir whiek many leading painters and sculpt also designed plates, glass and textiles, he and fis rival William Statte-Murray echibited in contemporary ant galleries in Lonion doneside ating like fen Nicholson. Leach ‘sdorninaice was diated by mhearrivel rom Aastra and Germany (nthe late Thinties af Licte Rie arul the tare Hans Coper, as well as By on aninl-Griental group at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Ifirwar Leach whe saved studio ponery from edr- enincion, Rieand Coperdid much te rescue itfromihe post-wardebasement of the Leach tradition, At Camberwell and the Rayal College of Art they taughu the likes af fan Godfrey, Ewen Henderson and Elizabeth Fritsch, whe are sow tv fhe vanguard and when en dughrathers, like Sara Radiane, wha are acw cloce behind them. The auction houses led first by Sotheby's in the earty Seventies, then by Christie's anal now by Banham 's- have played a substantial part oin dhe vperading of contemparary cerdelcs. Hans Coper's prices have soared Jrom afew hundred pownds at the time of his death ara] in (98), te 88,000 pounds fora pair afeandle-halders in 1989. a record for 2 contemporary ceranile. Lucy Rie's top price (s jurt under [5,000 pouneds. Another important contribution har come from the Crafts Council, which since 197! hat fostered talent with [fs apparans of start-up grant foreguipment, itsexhibitions, and its slide index af the bese available work, The Victoria and Albert Museurn has played its part with exhibitions and purchases of contemporary work - foreign as weil as British. So have the feve brave specialist galleries inthe commercial sector, As the Berbican show reaffinns, the joy af pots is thet they combine the tactile qualities and formal porsbilitnes of reulpture, while their tier and outer surfaces con acquire the decorative qualities of painting. If the fine arts stray too far inte the reales of the bizarre and the conceptual, as sculpture ii now doing, they could find pottery moving In to plug fre gap. Lede from The independent, July 19, 1993