MEETING REPORT

Bob Kingsmill was the Guest Speaker at the February
meeting. His subject was Architectural Ceramics and

ne atarted off by showing slides of old and new ceramic
decoration on buildings in Victoria and Vancouver. He
oarticularly mentioned a large piece in the Guinness
Tower on Hastings, the front of the Marine Building in
Vancouver, on the Medical Dental Building at U.B.C. and
on the U.B.C. Minerology building. These are only
examples and there are many more.

We soon moved to the pottery studio, where Bob gave a
relaxed and lively demonstration of making a large mural
suitable for a door. He made this one on a 6 x 3 table,
but makes such pieces in his studio on a cement floor.
He began by stretching 8 slabs, each a + box of clay,
spreading them over the whole table, filling in any
spaces and pounding, then rolling the whole surface.
Next he placed 12 masks, slightly less than life-size, on
the slab. These masks were made the day before and were
slightly harder than the slab. He drew round each mask
and cut a round of clay out of the slab for each mask,
behind where it would be attached. Then with the co-
operation of many willing hands, each mask was attached
with water after its outline on the slab had been
roughened with a toothbrush. Then the joins were cleaned
up with a knife and sponge.

Next, using a pencil, Bob drew lines round the masks and
among them, to join them into a cohesive pattern.
Finally, he used a fettling knife to cut the mural into
tiles for firing. This was done on an uneven grid,

using slightly curved lines, ending up with tiles approx-
imately 8" x 10" square with a mask in each.