The last two days have been just perfect! They were my kind of fun. Tuesday saw me joining the team at Shadbolt for unloading the soda kiln. But I will start by telling you about yesterday.
Renée and Monique were keen to spend another day here painting plates and we invited Karen to bring Eric out here for a change of scene and an afternoon of drawing. I invited Paul Mathieu to join us too, either hitching a ride with R and M, or with Karen later. He opted for the latter.
Curator Gregory Elgstrand asked me about hosting a small show of work by the Raiders in his Port Moody store window gallery, Bohart. I suggested he join us that morning to discuss it with two Raiders. They agreed with the idea so now Gregory is in touch with Kate Bellringer who curated the first Raiders show on Bowen Island in 2019.
I think Greg enjoyed watching us working as we chatted. It gave him an idea of the congenial but productive atmosphere on a ‘Raid’. He hopes to contact several Raiders and show their plates very soon.
Alan joined us for our familiar lunch of delicious quiche baked that morning by Monique, and a tasty salad assembled by Renée. Cheeses and crackers made for a good meal.
Karen arrived with Eric and Paul at 2 o’clock. Eric was helped with walking into the basement and then looked totally comfortable taking his usual spot at the big table, and immediately started to draw on his plate. Paul planned just to chat but was encouraged to ignore that idea and soon chose a wee dish, applied colours with his fingers, painted over all those with black and then painstakingly scratched spots away, revealing the colours below. Sweet!
That’s my kind of afternoon: conversation and creativity. Now I’m determined to make this happen as often as before Covid. Maybe I can get some help preparing plates for Raids.
Time to put the kettle on. We chose to have tea downstairs this time. Karen had brought cookies and chocolates!
After clearing up the table and leaving their plates to dry, my guests all left for Vancouver. Thank you, my Raiding friends for your potluck contributions and for driving out to Port Moody to work and talk. What a productive day!
Now I need to bisque fire the plates but I’ll wait until after next Wednesday’s TriCity Potters’ meeting. We’ll have more work to bisque fire then
Here are the pieces painted yesterday. I’ll post photos of them again once they’ve been bisqued and glazed. Renée and Monique each painted three plates, Paul finished one, I used slips to paint my one, Eric painted one and Karen had brought back two that he’d painted at home.
Special thanks to TriCity Potters Nadja, Jade and Avery (along with baby Jet) who came by on Tuesday evening to help with the chore of loosening lids and topping up all the little jars of underglaze, in return for a brief lesson on how I make my slab plates (thanks to Walter Ostrem for that technique).
Next thing on my agenda is that it’s my turn to host the upcoming TriCity Potters’ meeting at PoMoArts. We’ve plotted a beyond-your-safe-zone collaborative session, using underglazes on bone dry or bisqued pots. For a fun evening with fellow potters do join us for our version of ‘Exquisite Corpse’. Weds Feb 21st, 7pm Port Moody Arts Centre.
