Kootenay Contemporary

At the Gallery of BC Ceramics
July 1 - August 2 2005

Julia Gillmor &
Katherine Hofmann

& Neil McBriar

Opening Canada Day
Friday July Ist until 9pm

Katherine Hofmann
Artist Statement

I make pots because I feel that the best
of myself comes out more than in any-
thing else I can do (except maybe being a
mother). I would like to make work that
can bring someone to a warm, calm,
happy place and so I try to be in that
state in the studio. I make functional
pots that combine strong, soft forms
with surfaces that have warm, rich earth
tones and vibrant colours and patterns.
The work is designed so that a variety of
decorative treatments can complement
and. enhance each other. Much of my
work has evolved from being attracted to
salt/soda fired work, but only having an
electric kiln to work with. Lately I have
been enjoying the process of paddling
my forms and the transition from soft to
crisp lines that develops. There is a con-
versation between my materials as I cur-
rently know them and my curiosity
about my own nature that I find very

satisfying.
Katherine Hofmann

June 2005

Neil McBriar
Artist Statement

Although I live in a remote natu-
ral setting, I am intrigued and
interested by contemporary pop
culture, music, design, architec-
ture and art. This creates a bal-
ance to my love for wild, natural
pristine places.

I have recently found myself lis-
tening to computer generated hip
hop and jazz music. Although this
art form appears to be far removed from nature, it can carry ambient rhythmic inter-
pretations of sounds found in the wilderness and urban world; some examples are
waves, wind, footsteps on sand or pavement, car horns. I feel I strive to parallel the
aesthetics of such music as well as the issues being faced in contemporary art, design
and architecture.

I use resonating but simple and quiet glazes to accentuate hard edged forms, helping to
create an ambience that can both jump out and invite use or sit quietly to be contem-

plated.

The small spikes and knotty steel handles should leave room for interpretation. For
me the spikes represent thorns that are so often found on many beautiful plants and
flowers in nature. They can also represent the rivets on historic mining machinery that
lie throughout the Kootenay mountains in which I live and work with my family.

I enjoy the boundaries set by function so my work is born from an extreme passion to
construct and create objects for daily use and contemplation.

Neil McBriar

Julia Gillmor Artist Statement

My forms take a conscious interest in profile and proportion. Paying careful attention
to clean surfaces, much of what I make speaks through the subtle and indelible marks
that come through creating by hand. I pay close attention to the use of line as an ele-
ment of design and its effects on glaze, using one to

complement the other. My pieces contain a sameness

that I foster through an understanding of the medium

and the pleasure of working in series.

Introducing an image was a way of embellishing the
surface that normally I leave in a pure, unaffected con-
dition. I treated the image as an element of design,
using it to further explore line and proportion. I
selected images that would be pleasing to the viewer

and evoke a response of familiarity. Finally, color was
added. to enhance the image and contrast the vessels
against each other. Having a husband who is a photog-
rapher, I became exposed. to images in a way that I
never had before. This body of work is in part, a col-
laboration with him.

Julia Gillmor

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter 7