Table of Contents

Aging Sensibly ......... 1
50th Anniversary Events .2
Virtual Tours .......... 2
Gallery of BC Ceramics . .3
Special Thanks ......... 3
Cuban Canadian Ceramic
Arts Collective....... 4

50th Anniversary Big Show5
Sea Escape ............ 6
Digital Photography ..... 8

Prairie Wheat to Kootenay

BRLISE RW DBER

50th Anniversary

Everybody should be on board
with the following:

The "Big Exhibition" at Burnaby
Art Gallery (see details in this
issue).

BC (Best Collection) in a Box
(there were full details in the
September BC Potters). $20 cov-
ers the costs of the shipping dis-
play boxes and shipping to gal-
leries around the province and
possibly beyond in 2006. For
more information about the BC
in a Box show call Karen Opas at

604-874-7116

50 / 10 “Master Series" in
Parksville at Easter. A day with
BC masters and a great lunch. A
50th Celebration dinner in the
evening. Full details and registra-
tion in next month's issue of BC
Potters. Keith Rice-Jones

. Editorial
Virtual Tours

I guess it’s obvious from the names;
BC Potters, Potters Guild of British
Columbia - we are a BC wide
organization and we try to be inclu-
sive. But the Guild's headquarters
and Gallery is in Vancouver. There

is therefore, regrettably I think, a

skew in our focus. We tend to pres-

ent mostly the activities of Lower

Mainland potters. 1 hope that BC
Potters can come to more fully pres-
ent the works and activities of pot-
ters from all regions of the
province.

For almost a year now I've been
doing the design and production
work for BC Potters. While I have

many skills - printmaker, graphic

artist, photographer, computerist -

Tam not a potter. But I have had a

long association with potters, with

my own collection of well loved

pottery. My first experience with
pottery was almost 30 years ago

when I lived in the Shuswap and
was documenting the work of many

of the potters who were there. I
spent many hours in potters’ stu-

dios, amazed at their skill. I tried

my hand; but even wedging clay,
though it looked so easy in the
hands of my friends, was beyond
me. Yet I participated in many fir-
ings and once even assisted in a 3
day firing of an anagama kiln. I still

vividly recall the wonder of opening
a kiln after a firing. For me, pottery

is a very deep art form, made all the
deeper because it is often so hum-

ble.

It’s natural for potters in each
region of the province to associate
with each other since they share
common interests and experience
and can get to know each other in
person. In some respects, a BC wide
association of potters is quite
abstract in comparison. But there
are advantages in such a broad
range too - each potter is quite indi-
vidual and it’s often hard to find
local people who are on the same
wavelength. By having a wide asso-

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

ciation then everyone can find peers
from whom they can learn and with
whom they can interact in a pro-
ductive way. Our hope, at BC
Potters, is that we can facilitate that
interaction.

Starting in October, I will be send-
ing out email requests to potters
around BC to give me a "virtual
tour" of their studio. I'll start with
an email questionaire to start a dia-
logue with potters who are too far
away for me to visit personally. Out
of the resulting dialogues, I hope to
gain a useful impression of potters
and their practice; potters who I
can never hope to visit in person.
From these impressions I hope to
write an ongoing series of articles
about potters from all over BC. The
internet is an excellent medium for
this sort of dialogue. The net allows
an easy exchange of words and pic-
tures. But there is no reason to limit
this dialogue to those who are com-
fortable on the internet. Regular
mail can serve just as well. My early
exposure to potters was to people
who didn't even have access to elec-
tricity or telephones - but they all
had mailboxes. Since BC Potters is
delivered to mailboxes I hope that
potters who are not connected to
the Web will also participate in my
virtual tour project via that old
fashioned medium; the post office.

I can be reached in many ways. On
the Net, I have a couple of addresses:

simulat@shaw.ca
or
production@bcpotters.com

By the post office:

Martin Hunt

clo The Potters Guild of BC
1359 Cartwright, Vancouver, BC

or phone the Guild at 604-669-
5645 and leave a message.
Martin Hunt
Acting Editor

October 2004