Exhibition Visit: High Fire Culture _ 2) Gitian MeMittan

This article was originally written as a series of posts on Gillian’ blog
at http://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog and is reprinted with

permission.

May 23 to July 6; High Fire Culture; Locating Leach/Hamada in West
Coast Studio Pottery at Satellite Gallery, www.satellitegallery.ca

Curated by potter and independent researcher Nora Vaillant and
Shelly Rosenblum, curator of Academic Programmes, Morris and
Helen Belkin Art Gallery, High Fire Culture assembled work by nine
B.C. potters who have been influenced by the Leach/Hamada pottery
tradition via the first generation of Leach apprentices from BC. Those
four were featured in the Belkin Gallery's previous show Thrown: John
Reeve, Glenn Lewis, Michael Henry and Ian Steele along with their
contemporaries Charmian Johnson, Wayne Ngan and Tam Irving.

I will take the liberty of taking Nora Vaillant’s first paragraph from
the useful catalogue folder to outline the purpose of the show.

“High Fire Culture examines an artistic community linked by the
aesthetic sensibilities and philosophy developed by English potter,
Bernard Leach (1887-1979) and his Japanese colleague Shoji
Hamada (1894-1978). The West Coast potters Lari Robson, Sam
Kwan, Andrew Wong, Ron Vallis, Cris Guiffrida, Heinz Laffin,
Vincent Massey, Martin Peters and Hiro Urakami share this lineage.
Inspired and influenced by the first generation of Canadian potters
who apprenticed with Bernard Leach at his pottery in St. Ives,
Cornwall, the artists in this exhibition delineate an historical period
in which the imaginations of many young potters around the world
were captured by the studio pottery movement.”

Nora’s whole essay is a clear description of the careers of the potters
chosen to illustrate this BC studio pottery tradition.

Apart from Lari Robson, who died in 2012, and Cris Guiffrida, who
lives in Italy, all the potters attended the opening. It was a marvellous
evening to say hello to all my favourite people once again! Cris
surprised us all by coming for the closing reception in July.

Each potter had a shelf devoted to their work, and then down the
middle of the gallery were two long planks where common colour,
glazes, firing methods and forms by all of them were shown.

‘The other room had a quietly elegant display of a yunomi by each
potter. Display cases showed photos, note books, posters and samples
illustrating the shared experiences within the group. Three video
screens were running constantly. Potters could sit mesmerized by film
of Leach and Hamada at work.

To complement the theme of studio pottery and its relationship

Top, left: Yunomi by Ron
Vallis, kaki and temmoku
glaze. Top, right: Yunomi by
Vincent Massey, stoneware.
Right: Martin Peters sits at his
Leach treadle wheel.

Bottom of the page: A shelf

of Andrew Wong pots.

with Modernism there are paintings by B.C. artists who travelled to
and were influenced by Japan; BC Binning, Roy Kiyooka and Takao
Tanabe.

‘The North-West Ceramic Foundation sponsored talks to accompany
the ceramic show at Satellite gallery. Potter and researcher Nora
Vaillant walked around the exhibit, explaining the relationships
between the featured potters and their mentors. All demonstrate
clearly their passion for the Leach/Hamada philosophy. This is not to
say that they never work outside this aesthetic but, like many of us,
they are cheerfully influenced by the studio pottery movement's ideas
and lifestyle.

Nora’s colleague in this show, Shelly Rosenblum of the Belkin Gallery
spoke to us afterwards, explaining the pieces and information in the
display cases, and where studio pottery of the sixties and seventies
fitted into Modernist ideals. At the end of Shelly Rosenblum’s talk
in the second gallery, we watched as Martin Peters sat at his very-
clean Leach kick wheel. There was discussion about how realistic it
was to see it so spruced up. But Nora insisted that the wheel, made in
Minnesota exactly to Leach standards was a work of art in itself.

‘The show really was a feast of fine form!

RITISH
COLUMBIA
a

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter « July/August 2043

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