of the needs of the ceramic artists of Canada. If

they have no needs that a Guild can serve, the Guild
concept should be dropped. There is absolutely no
justification for a machine that does not serve. But
if there are needs, then there is a need for the Guild,
and it 1s up to us to find a way to make it work. We
should he aware that the way that we find will surely
become obsolete itself in twenty years or so.

(Like Sterne, I sense my readers straining to communicate
with me as I write. I hear them crying out "But we now
have the C.C.C." This is not the place te answer that,
but please think and keep your options open. }

No group of a dozen or twenty people located in one
place, no matter how dedicated they may be, can take
care of the needs of working groups 1000, 2000 and

even 3000 miles away in other provinces or regions, or
even in other cultural settings. Significance and
reality get lost along the way. And it takes a very
devoted person to go more than 200 miles to meetings

of even the greatest importance, There may be as many
as eight or ten natural regions in Canada, requiring

a hundred or more willing people suitably distributed,
Financing almost demands some sort of regional autonomy;
I won't go into the details here, but it is much easier
to get local financing for local undertakings than it
is for a central group to get financing to distribute.

Most of the needs of working artists are immediate and
local; only from time to time ts there a need for a
national body to deal with problems and requests of a
broader nature. If all of the potters in Canada belonged
to strong regional groups the need for a national
organization would be greatly reduced. I have proposed
a Canadian Guild of Potters Executive made up af
representatives of active working groups; its sole
purpose would be to take care of those broader ranging
needs and services requested by the regional memberships.
The need for individual C.G. of P. Memberships is in
doubt except in the case of isolated individuals.

I think we already have examples to indicate how 1t
would work; the Alberta Potters’ Association is a strong
and entirely independent group, yet it feels 1t would

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