OTIERS

October 2007 Volume 43 No. 8

INSIDE

Sandra Dolph

Presidents Message
Artist Talk

NeoCraft: Sandra Alfoldy
Kanichi Shigeno
International Festival
Techno Tip: Passing Gas 10
Clay Lines 11

Down Under
with Robert Barron

(Continued from the article: “Down under with Owen Rye” in the September/O7 newsletter)

ecoaah WN

After leaving Owen Rye’s studio, our journey down under continued. At
the studio, I took a drink from one of Owen’s personal mug collection. It
happened to be made by Robert Barron, whose studio was our next stop.
Sometimes we meet the potter before the pots but mostly we meet the pots
before the potter. In this case, it certainly came down to the wire for my
opportunity to “meet the pot” first.

It was only a short, scenic drive to Gooseneck pottery run by Robert
Barron. His setup was idyllic and the display of pots outside his studio was
jaw-dropping. Robert greeted us with a casual spread of cheese, crackers
and olives for lunch in his studio and we shared stories over a glass of local
mucro-brewed beer.

Meeting Robert was like meeting an old friend—he was so welcoming,
relaxed and outgoing. He made us feel right at home and we spent the
afternoon talking to him, wandering around looking at his beautiful wood
fired pottery, touring his kiln (the largest wood firing kiln in Australia) and
basically fighting over pots. Jenny Ross and I both gravitated to the same

y

pot—perhaps because we fire together, we have a similar desired
aesthetic that Robert’s pots had in bounds.

Everyone bought something(s) from Robert—I choose to
buy a couple larger pieces when Robert agreed to ship them to
me, as I was worried about hauling them around Australia for
the rest of the trip. Besides, this made for something to look
forward to once home again. (oh well—there goes my spending
money for Australia—and tt’s only the first week!)

; > enw Because of the large scale of his kiln, much of his work 1s

continued on page 7...

POTTERS

GUILD

of BRITISH
COLUMBIA

Larse vessel fired using Robert’ technique of

pulling the pot over during the firing