The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Logo
I have added a page on the premier Canadian public gallery devoted to ceramics, enamel and glass.
Galleries, permanent and study collections, the Winifred Schantz and RBC awards coordination, archives, a library, and community programs are available to researchers and the public.
Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is a must see stop for ceramic and glass enthusiasts and researchers.
Over the past several months Debra Sloan has been non-stop. Honouree for Craft and Design for this year’s Mayor’s Art Award, she also had work at SOFA in Chicago in the MEK Gallery.
She was accepted into the Ceramics, Residencies, Exhibitions, Teaching and the Arts (C.R.E.T.A) – Rome residency, supported by the Hilda Gerson Award.
She will be guest artist with the All Fired Up group in Victoria this spring, including a wood firing at Gordon Hutchen’s place on Denman Island. Currently she is also in the Best B4 Collective Exhibition, – Telling Stories.
Whew, I’m getting tired just writing this. Congratulations, Debra!
Tom Smith. Small stoneware pot with a bronze lid, nd. 10.2. h x12.7 w cm. Collection Judy Blake.
Tom Smith Strathbutler Award 1992
Teacher, early social activist, and ceramist, Tom Smith moved through many careers and activities to become one of the most respected ceramic artists of New Brunswick. Enjoy the journey through his life and art.
By the way, if you have pictures and stories about Tom you would like to share, contact me via the comment section below.
Raunch 2014. Alwyn O’Brien. 2015 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics Winner
The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, ON, will celebrate Alwyn O’Brien and her work, and present to her the 2015 Winifred Shantz Award on Saturday, November 14.
“O’Brien, from Saltspring Island, BC. creates ceramic sculptures to push the medium as a vehicle to explore the metaphorical and literal question “What is the Vessel?” With an extensive knowledge of the history of decorative arts and a passion for the baroque, O’Brien’s objects challenge the definition of the vessel through the use of lacey hand-rolled coils in a deliberate yet chaotic way to construct volume and shape. Pinching, rolling and fingerprints are evidence of the hand and connect the material to the body.”
O’Brien received her MFA in 2010 from the University of Washington in Seattle and her BFA from Emily Carr Institute. Her work is featured in the collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Surrey Art Gallery, and the Mackenzie Art Gallery. She divides her time between Saltspring Island, B.C. and Vancouver, where she is currently an instructor at both Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Langara College.
Alwyn will receive $10,000. This prestigious national awards allow early career practising ceramic and glass artists to undertake a period of independent research, or other activities that will advance their artistic and professional practice at a key moment in their careers.
Margo Meyer in her studio
I have added a page on Margo Meyer. She has been called “the matriarch of functional ceramics” in Newfoundland and Labrador. Her knowledge, skills and tenacity shaped the existence of studio pottery in the province today. Although she sold her works across Canada her desire for privacy kept her below the radar of many collectors and galleries.
Enjoy reading about her life and viewing a brief slide show on her work.
Of course, if you know of or have pictures of her work please let me know. Her page can be easily updated
canadiana – importantcanadiandesign homepage
I have added a new page to the collectors and collections section. canadiana – important canadian design
This is a site that adds a much needed presence promoting Canadian design. There is, of course, a section on ceramics including sections on artists such as Gaetan Beaudin, Maurice Savoie, Jean Cartier and Pierre Legault among others. The quality of images is excellent too.
Enjoy this new page on the Studio Ceramics Canada site
John Chalke: Surface Tension Exhibition
If you are in Calgary from October 15 to December 19, 2015, you cannot afford to miss this exhibition at the Nickle Art Gallery, University of Calgary.
Curated by Michele Hardy and with a catalogue essay by Amy Gogarty, the show promises to be a much needed exploration into the ceramic art of that icon of Alberta ceramics, John Chalke.
“John Chalke’s ‘clay paintings’ are conceptual ceramic works that dance between sculpture and painting. Inspired by the landscape of southwestern Alberta no less than its local clay, minerals, textures, and fissures, Chalke’s works are richly textured. Surface Tension draws on public and private collections from across Canada to explore the horses and cows, bottles and broken crockery, aerial views and archaeology of Chalke’s personal iconography”
Visit, learn, enjoy. And let me know how you liked the exhibition.
http://www.nickle.ucalgary.ca/exhibitions/item/john-chalke-surface-tension
MUD, Hands Fire Exhibition, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
I couldn’t believe it! Here, so close to home. An exhibition that included some of the greatest names in Canadian studio ceramics. Hopper, Archambeau, McKinley, Irving, Dexter, Chalke and Sures are just some of the thirty five ceramists represented. But no surprise really: the University of Manitoba School of Art has a long and distinguished history in the medium. Works are on loan from artists, and from private and museum collections such as the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Curator, Mary Ann Steggles, has produced a gem. She writes of the exhibition’s objective:
“This exhibition is a journey through the evolution of ceramics in Canada over the past fifty years … it will serve as a historical backdrop … that I hope will lead to a larger appreciation of the studio pottery movement in Canada.”
MUD, Hands, fire. Opening Night
She has arranged the works with simplicity and elegance. There is a western Canada emphasis, with the bulk of the works produced by potters living in BC and the prairies, with a nod to Ontario in the McKinley display.
There is also a functional ceramics emphasis. This has a special relevance today as many schools of ceramics are fending off the time-worn discussion of art vs craft, or are closing down, or, sadly, are already closed. Exhibitions such as this can hopefully help counter such thinking.
The exhibition also includes an extensive catalogue (131 pages) with historical articles by Pat Bovey, Diane Carr, Susan Close, Coll Minogue and Steggles herself; and of course, biographies of the artists.
This is one exhibition not to be missed. Enjoy it. Learn from it. At the School of Art Gallery it continues until December 18, 2015.
You can see more details on the exhibition at the University of Manitoba School of Art site.
An invitation for you to Alexandra McCurdy’s exhibition at the David Kaye Gallery
For those of you who are fans of Alexandra McCurdy’s art be sure to catch her exhibition, Crossing Material Boundaries, at the David Kaye Gallery, from October 1 to 25, 2015. As a special treat Alexandra herself will be there on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 2 to 4 pm.
Jean Clarke Design, African Cave Drawing, c.1953-56. Coll.Laura Blodgett.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Asking has its benefits. Another hard to find work has been added to the page on Stan and Jean Clarke courtesy of Laura Blodgett, collector. Thank you and keep ’em coming.
Studio Ceramics Canada 