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“Brave Old World” Manipulating Greece oy Dona Nabata

I spent the month of September in Europe with artist Suzy Birstein,
and I am still reeling from the experience! The main purpose was to
take her workshop at Skopart, on the Greek island of Skopelos, but
the prelude was on the island of Santorini. The fantastic environment
was a great starting place to shed all the weary constraints of North
American life and embrace the poetry and whimsy of the place, where
people were making art from nothing—volcanic stones, rolled up
paper, shells, string.

We then continued to Athens where we stayed in an amazing hotel
tight across from the Acropolis. The New Acropolis Museum is state-
of-the-art, informative, magnificently laid-out, and gorgeous, and the
Markets of Monastiraki Square were right there, so full and rich and
visually layered, from the graffiti on the walls, to the motorcycles,
and the ancient buildings. Suzy had already scouted out an incredible
pot-shop in the markets, Capsoulaki, which had the most amazing
pottery heads, contemporary work, and where we bought the softest,
most powerfully painted red earthenware mugs, vitrified, no grog
or additives to give it a longer firing range like our commercial clay
mixes; a bit of heaven that we could transport home and use every day.

On Skopelos, the group turned out to be an incredible bunch of
people, ages 20 to 87 years...and I think the most notable thing was
they had never met an artist like Suzy before. Suddenly they were given
permission to be free...there were no hierarchies due to experience,
no struggles between “craft” and “art”, no limitations on what was
deemed important, and no fear of digging down deep and expressing

Discovery
Art_Travel

2013-15 CERAMICS EXCURSIONS

e e
Sicily
Sept. 28-Oct. 16/13 Oct. 28-Nov. 18/13

Morocco Burma

Jan. 21-Feb. 6/15

One of Dona's pieces from the Skopelos workshop.

what was important to them. One member, Sarita, who is 81, began
walking around with a lightness while producing a substantial body of
work, and is still trying to come to terms with the experience. In her
words, “I hope I am not the only one to be shaken of staid ideas and
beliefs, just a few days, and] am still trying to work out my worldview
and the place of ‘playfulness’ in it”.

I loved working with the red clay, and though seduced out of my
comfort zone, I am really happy with the pieces I produced. I was
the only one to use the engobes on the wet clay, and was thrilled at
the possibilities of layering, after covering
the piece with a clear glaze to the final fire,
and with the addition of yet another layer of
acrylic paint, on the “finished” pieces. I told
Suzy that I’m sure Picasso would have used
acrylic paint if it had been invented! It adheres
to the fired clay beautifully, and satisfaction is
immediate with the colour.

I put quite a bit of work in the set-up of our
final exhibition. We used olive branches, dried
flowers, dirt, rocks, petals, bones, pieces of
marble, kiln bricks (kiln wash and carbon on
them of course) with our work and it looked
amazing. We invited the whole town, and the
directors of Skopart made all the food for the

opening at their home above the Studio.

Thank you Suzy for giving me the
opportunity to travel creatively, explore clay,
and find an inner “muse” that I had never
met before. I appreciate your creativity,
generosity of spirit, acceptance and strength
that has given me an unbelievably creative
experience in photography, video, drawing,
writing as well as clay. Suzy and Skopart was
an unforgettably pleasurable experience and a

great jumping off point for future endeavours.

Dona Nabata, ECCAD 1980. Wheel throwing,

earthenware, slip ware.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter -

November 2013 8