A Taste Of Clay (Cont.) local architect's scudio, where it flames and dances as the westering sun screams across the lake and through the pines. One, two, and even three-headed wall sconces were quickly carried away to look down with mirth and benevolence on their new owners. Forced to avoid che wheel, due to a shoulder injury, Anita DeLong concentrates on Slab-building. She has adepely translated her style to this new way of working. She presented formal tulip bricks and [kehana trays, in addition co superb lamp bases and garden fountains. The lamer were in owe parts, a “pond” and a cascade “wall”, with bas-relief fish and frogs, using a toasty unglazed stoneware. These were enhanced with smooth pebbles gleaned from the creek which runs behind her garden. BJ. Jassmann’s translucent porcelain invites us to take time in our lives for quiet luxuries: a goblet to hold the very best wine, a carved jar that might open to reveal hand made chocolares, a cureen in which to present a mouth-watering bouillabaisse, ora vase that focuses and stills the mind’s eye. From Peter and Daphne Flanagan came a line of dinnerware and large handthrowe serving and decorative pieces. The porcelaneous stoneware they use gives an appropriate base for richly coloured and patterned surfaces. They sponge and trail glazes and slips, interweaving grape leaves and geometric forms to give depth and texture. Special pieces were presenced on wrought iron stands, whose black matte surface perfectly complemented che black slip on the forms. Gillian Paynter showed her whimsical design of apple trees and fruit picker's ladders on functional ware. Her handbuilt forms were embellished with cherubic wornen with that enigmatic smile we associate with the Mona Lisa. Unlike the chaste Mona Lisa, these ladies are clothed solely in their tresses. Two long-time Okanagan posters who are retiring from active participation in our group put togecher a smal! display for the occasion.Des and Peg Loan delighted us all with small bowls and plates. These were lustrated with viemertes thar miohr have come from a child's storybook. There were also robust horses cunningly assembled from thrown and slab pares. I will refrain from expounding on che merits of my own work. Suffice to say that [ work in earthenware with majolica glaze and stains. We all have a marvelous cine at our show each year, finding chat the compliments as well as che sales make the effort worthwhile. Elaine Hughes-Games Dear Guild: T was a college lecturer in Kerala State in India. There are groups of potvers living there who are very, very poor, but are extremely devoted to their pottery. Since they move around looking for clay sources to dig from, none of their children are able to go to school. | have helped chem to form a charitable society, Tam now living in the USA and am worried about the continuation of the developmental work of these people, I actually helped a young man co write a book in che native language chat describes the preliminary methods of pottery, He is still looking for someone to publish it! Since chese are poor people twho are making the pests, itis very much looked down upon in my native country of India. Are you able to help these people and their future generations of potters? Simon Zachariah 501 Red Bud Hill, Apt. Bloomington, Indiana, USA 47408 or email; Page 5 Janet Leach, 1918 - 1997 “I'm nota mother, net agurdener, | don't knit, and [ym lousy around the house, So] guess [ have the time, and | just make pots." Janet Leach. Janet Leach passed away on September [2 at the age of 79, She moved to New York while still 3 teenager in order to study sculpture, later working as a sculpeor’s assistant on the Federal Art Project, During che war she was a welder on naval warships . Afterwards, she studied ceramics at the Inglewood Pottery and Alfred Universicy. In 1947 she moved to Threefold farm, a community built on the philosophical principles of head, heart and hand. where she founded a pottery studio. A\c this peint in her life, she was not especially happy with her work, feeling she was not making good pots. In 1952 she met Bernard Leach, Soetsu Yanagi and Shoji Hamada on their now legendary tour of America. In 1954 she went to Japan, the first foreign woman to study pottery there. She became Hamada’s apprentice, later moving to the mountain village of Tamba where she worked for the family poctery of Tanso Ichine. Janet felt that Hamada and not Leach was her mentor: “[c was as a potter in Japan char | really started making decent pots. I think my pots matured in Japan. [ have done a loc of experiments in clay bodies. [ like clay bodies rather than glazes." In 1956 she moved to St. Ives to marry Berard Leach, and not, as she insisted, oo study with him. She was by now a potter in her own right. Her work drew freely on Japanese forms. She used combined wheel- throwing and hand-building to produce simple yet irregular shapes. with runny glazes that produced dramatic decorative effects. Janet took over management of the Leach Pottery while continuing with her own work, something she did until almost the very end of her life. She could not imagine an existence without making pots. Near the end of her life she hoped for young potters to have a simple and primary approach co poring. Compiled from the Leach Legacy (Marion Whybrow) and the Times. Editor.