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DVD Revi GW By Patty Osborne

‘The focus of the DVD Clary Ilian: A Year in the Life is the changes
that IHian went through when she fell and broke her wrist. While her
bones mended, Illian took a hiatus from pottery production (for the
first time in the more than 40 years since she apprenticed with Bernard
Leach) and spent time reflecting on where she’s been and where she’s
going. In interview excerpts, Illian reveals that her large gas kilns kept
her on a rigorous two-month production cycle. Sometimes she felt
like she was pushing an enormous pile of pots up a hill to the top.
Ilian could see a day coming when she would no longer be able to
keep up this schedule so after her wrist healed she switched to electric
firing and what looks like earthenware clay (the video mentions “lower
temperature” but does not specify how much lower.)

Illian’s work has always been unrestrained but with the bright glaze
colours available at the lower temperature, she has let whimsy take
hold. She now decorates her work with loosely painted flowers, cats,
birds, faces or just squiggly lines.

Also included on the DVD is the video A Life In Clay in which Illian
talks about her time at summer camp (“they made us all good girls”,)
her art school beginnings and her new, more-calculated way of looking
at production. There’s also a slide show of both her gas- and electric-
fired work, and a couple of short interviews with other potters who
admire her work. The DVD seems to be directed at a general audience
and the potter in me wanted more details about IIlian’s process (and
a faster slide show) but this small glimpse of IIlian’s life and work was
both interesting and inspiring.

Clary Illian: A Year in the Life
Atom Burke Productions

DVD $30
www.atomburke.com/a-year.html

Specialty Workshops

at the Surrey Art Gallery

Hands-on Throwing Workshop

Learn all about electr
operations from the k

Improve your basic techniques on the
potter's wheel through disciplined
throwing exercises. Focusing on the
dynamics of the basic cylinder, you
will learn to have more control of this
form, which will allow you to create a
broader range of work.

Nov7 & 14, 10am—4pm
2 sessions $85 | Course 4217971

include trigger adjust
loading, re-wiring, firi

Nov 21, 10:30am—1pm

Instructor Fredi Rahn received her BFA
from Nova Scotia College of Art &
Design. Fredi creates one-of-a-kind
functional and decorative pieces in her
Vancouver-based studio, and exhibits
her work across the continent.

surrey
art gallery |

surrey

Fine Arts diploma and a
Adult Education.

centre

13750 - 88 Avenue
www.arts.surrey.ca

RaSiirEV

Kiln Operations Workshop

Surrey Art Gallery. Topics

cones, troubleshooting, and safety.

1 session $26.50 | Course 4217972

Instructor and full-time potter Murray
Sanders has taught at the Surrey Art
Gallery for eighteen years, and is the
ceramics studio technician. He holds a

Winter programs
‘c kiln are coming up quickly...
iin manager at... and registration begins November 29
for more of Surrey Art Gallery's terrific

ments, kiln courses and workshops!

ng schedules, Pottery — Level 2

Jan 25
8 sessions $135
Instructor: Eliza Au

Surface Decorating Workshop
Feb 20
2 sessions $98

. : Instructor: Fredi Rahn
diploma in

REGISTER TODAY!
Please register no later than 7 days in advance.

BRITISH COLUMBIA & Conseil des Arts
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du Canada

Canada Council

ARTS COUNCIL for the Arts

Anagency of the Province of British Columbia

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter : October 2010