GUILD
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President’s Message

On May 7, the North-West Ceramics Foundation will be unveiling
an exciting new award at its biennial fundraising dinner. There will
be a fabulous silent auction and a fun presentation by Ivan Sayers
on Fashion in the Arts. More information and tickets are available
on-line from the website: ww.nwcf.ca or from the Gallery of BC
Ceramics. Spread the word—it’s going to be a great evening!

The AGM takes place on May 31 (see pages 2 & 5 for details.)

Gallery News
By Sharon Cohen

It’s been immensely gratifying hosting the
Tam Irving Colour Fields exhibition. The
opening on April 4 was a resounding success,
despite the fact that the gallery printer chose
that day to misbehave, closely followed by the
entire computer system! There were almost
400 people through the gallery that day,
and it was a very social event, with many
people hooking up with one another after
some time. I got to meet many “movers and
shakers” in the ceramics world, people I had
not yet met. It’s always nice to finally put a
face to a name I’ve heard. (But forgive me if
weve been introduced and I fail to recognise
you. next time we meet—I’m really bad with
faces!) Tam’s former students and long-
time supporters were out in full force, and
his following is well-deserved. His work is
superb. It’s been a privilege to admire it and
appreciate it on a daily basis. Just as well, as
I would otherwise be mourning the loss of
all the wonderful FingerPlay work we had the
month before,

To console myself after the Colour Fields
show is over, I have the Vincent Massey
Families exhibition to look forward to. We're
indeed fortunate to have such high-profile
shows this year, very exciting. I hope youll
join us for the show. Sneak previews suggest
some pretty spectacular pieces on the way.

Our featured artist for April has also done
very well. Thanks to David Robinson for
providing us with some innovative and unique
work. I think a very bright future awaits this
artist.

Td like to welcome Aparna Kapur, our new
volunteer. Aparna will be helping us with
some design work. We value and appreciate
her input. She’s also agreed to help out in the
gallery when extra staffing is needed. After
only one day, she’s already a pro!

Gallery life has been good. As the weather

and views.

improves, so do the sales. We hope to post
some good numbers. Speaking of numbers,
I did an informal first-quarter tally, and our
three top-selling artists are:

* Penny Birnam

* Mary Fox

¢ Darrel Hancock

Congratulations!

We've been inundated with submissions
for the annual retail jury, which is imminent.
‘There's some very diverse and interesting
work. If only the gallery was twice the size! It’s
a real challenge to accommodate the work of
almost a hundred artists in one space, but, in
keeping with the Potters’ Guild mandate, we
welcome the opportunity to provide exposure
and retail opportunities for artists, and look
forward to including the newly-juried artists.

‘There’s something weird going on here. I'm
South African, and about one-third of the
jury submissions are, co-incidentally, from
South African artists. Go figure...!

I know many members who live outside the lower mainland cannot
attend, but please take a few minutes to submit a proxy form (see
the last two pages of this newsletter) as we need a minimum number
of votes to make it legal. We continue to seek input and suggestions
from all members. Please take this opportunity to present your ideas

—Jinny Whitehead

Tam Irving signing a copy of Carol Mayer's
book on his work for Lesley Lloyd of
Williams Lake.

Tam Irving (left) with Penny Birnam and
Ken Mayer at the opening of Tam's gallery
exhitibion. Ken took the photographs used

in Carol Mayer's book on Tam's work.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - May 2009