COLUMBIA

Stronger Guild, Contd from Page 5

At the beginning of 2003 the guild and
gallery faced their most dire predicament.
The board had been without a treasurer and
adequate financial statements since 2000 and
it took accountant services to reveal that we
were at a point where both the guild and
gallery were close to insolvency. The board
at the time was down to a bare quorum and
struggling so, calling in favours, I took the
initiative and assembled a strong interim
board which included many past board
members. With the appointment of Tamara Ruge as gallery manager
and a remarkable coming together of guild members, by the next
AGM we were feeling much stronger and more secure. I stayed on
for another year and remained as chair of the guild's 50th anniversary
committee through to 2005. Jinny Whitehead then took over as chair
of the guild, accompanied by Sheila Morissette who continued on as
secretary. Jinny has done a remarkable and selfless job of building us
to where we are today. That same year, Brenda Beaudoin stepped in as
interim manager when Tamara took maternity leave, eventually staying
on. Brenda worked in close collaboration with our sales assistants on
gallery aesthetics and streamlining information for customers, artists
and guild members. Sharon Cohen, our latest manager, took the reins
at the end of 2008.

Each new gallery manager has had their own style and energy and all
have faced the same fundamental issues of balancing the educational
imperative of edgy or challenging work in exhibitions with the day-to-
day necessity of the sales required to keep the guild and gallery solvent.
Staying true to our mandate as a gallery representing the best of B.C.
ceramics rather than a mainstream shop, keeping solvent without
external funding, weathering economic downturns and soaring rent
increases—all of these represent a series of knife-edge challenges. We
can be justly proud of how we have risen to these challenges as we
celebrate our 55 years of existence as a guild, and proud of our Gallery
of BC Ceramics in its role as a major presence on Granville Island for
the past 25 years.

Chop Marks & Signatures

Send in your chops and have them available through the guild.
For the form, click on the link here: www.bepotters.com/forms/
chop_marks_form.doc

You can email it back to Debra Sloan at sloanyip@shaw.ca as
an attachment. Or print and mail your sheet[s] to Potters Guild
of BC, 1359 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, B.C.
V6H 3R7 attention: chops.

Gallery, circa 1996,
Gallery Manager
Jane Matthews.

Exibition space, circa 2000, Gallery Manager Kimcha Rajkumar.

shadbolt centres
spring 2010
ceramic arts programs

Registration for Spring 2010
programs begins March 2 at
any recreation centre. Programs
for all skill levels available.

shadholtcentre.com

Focus on Porcelain
$162.12, 8 sessions
Wednesdays, 7-10pm
Starts April 14

Instructor: Darlene Nairne
Barcode 211006

Gesture & Expression in Clay

$149.00, 2 sessions re)

Sundays, 10am-4pm

Starts April 11

Instructor: Elaine Brewer-White
Barcode 218386

Lights for Summer Nights

$166.22, 8 sessions new!)

Wednesdays, 10am-1pm
Starts April 7

Instructor: Linda Doherty
Barcode 215900

Taxes not included.
Call Shadbolt Centre at

604-291-6864 or register
online at: burnaby.ca/webreg

Sculpture by Elaine Brewer-White

Set Up Your Own Studio
$80.04, 4 sessions
Mondays/Thursdays, 6-8pm
Starts April 19

Instructors:

Linda Doherty & Jay MacLennan
Barcode 215873

Soda Firing Workshop
$105.50, 3 sessions
Thursday/Friday/Sunday, times vary
Starts May 13

Instructors:

Linda Doherty & Jay MacLennan
Barcode 215866

Tips and Techniques
in Clay Construction
$152.12, 8 sessions
Thursdays, 7-10pm
Starts April 8
Instructor: Fredi Rahn

City of

Barcode 210990
SBepumnaby
& Caliural Services

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - March 2010