Elaine Brewer-White was our guest speaker for the first indoor, in-person meeting of TriCity Potters in two years! Because PoMoArts is using all available rooms to provide not-crowded classes, Fridays are the only week-day when a meeting room is available, at least for the time being. We’ll try to reserve a room for Wednesdays again, starting in the Fall.
But, at last, Dr. Bonnie gave permission for actual meetings this week, so we could go ahead with our plans. Thank you, Owen Lee, for organising Zoom capability for those members who might feel uncomfortable attending in person yet. But Elaine was welcomed by over a dozen TriCity Potters, in the Appleyard Room in PoMoArts on Friday evening.
https://elainebrewerwhiteceramics.ca
Elaine brought along a selection of her work to illustrate the various types of work she makes. She is known for creating incredibly realistic, but humorous clay sculptures. These are often commissions but she also makes her interpretations of famous people, especially Canadians. She explained that she can make one, without encountering copyright problems but cannot make more, unless that person has been dead for over fifty years. Hence she makes Emily Carr pieces often because she admires her.
Making work for several galleries is Elaine’s full-time job, and she makes affordable functional pieces (entry-collector pieces she calls them) as well as her signature sculptures. She showed us a bisque-fired carved relief slab which she uses to make charming hand-built plates, cups and tea-pots. Like me, she uses D’arcy’s marvellously versatile and reliable red earthenware clay and she paints the pieces with underglazes. Interiors are clear-glazed but very little glaze is used on the outsides to retain a softer effect.
Part of her production is wall-pieces. As she says, not everybody has space on ledges for more pots or sculptures but there are always spots on a wall for Art. She brought along a current series of T-shirts and more, hanging from a washing-line. Sweet!
Because this was our first meeting in such a long time we encountered difficulties connecting our projector and/or the Art Centre’s ceiling projector to Elaine’s laptop so she did a marvellous job of introducing herself and her work to us while Owen and Ysabella tackled the technology. She described her productive studio life in Fort Langley since graduating from Emily Carr.
After a while we accepted that the projector couldn’t work and Elaine gamely opened her laptop for us to watch her Power Point there. It worked perfectly well.
If you’d like to see more of Elaine’s work make sure to stop in at Circle Craft on Granville Island where I spotted a nice display of her creations this week. Check her smart new website for more galleries and stores that carry her work.
Thank you Elaine, for a well-organized, interesting and fun talk for our first get-together after so long. You cheered us all immensely.
