On Wednesday May 20th Robert Shiozaki and Anyuta Gusakova were co-presenters at the monthly meeting of TriCity Potters. We met Robert when he and Kathryn O’Regan collaborated for a show in Port Moody Arts Centre not long ago. It was a preview show for a larger one held at Amelia Douglas Gallery, Douglas College, New Westminster. Since then Robert has joined us at our meetings and is offering pottery classes in the Art Centre. When I invited him to be our guest he suggested he bring along his new collaborator Anyuta Gusakova. Robert, Kathryn and Anya all have studios in the Mergatroid Building in Vancouver. What an interesting place it must be to work!
Robert and Anya have been working with ‘Totally Ceramics’ in Surrey and are planning various workshops and demonstrations there. Robert is very interested in closing the gap between traditional studio pottery practices and the somewhat separate business of ‘ceramics’ i.e. a place where hobbyists expect to paint on poured slip moulded pieces with commercial glazes. Actually I think that the gap between these two ways of working with clay has been radically closing in recent years, with potters using more commercial underglazes and glazes. Robert himself has turned to throwing his impressive platters and vase forms with white earthenware and finishing them with the bright commercial glazes that are available for that temperature.
Anya trained in Russia and while still a teenager was allowed to make her work in a ceramics factory. She acquired knowledge of manufacturing processes like mould-making and slip-pouring before attending Art College in Moscow. She says she loves being in Canada (for the last six years) because there is so much more freedom to make whatever she likes, and she enjoys the fact that visitors to the Annual November East Side Culture Crawl are happy to purchase her playful creations.
The two artists used projected images from their websites as the basis for conversation with us and seemed as interested in hearing from us as in telling us about their work! Do check the two websites below.
Both also brought along pieces of their current and earlier work, and they described some of their ideas for planned workshops. Anya is an expert on relief tile-making and sculpture while Robert is an expert wheel-thrower and glazer. They had spent much of the day at the Arts Centre in conversation with programme organizer Sandra Niven, and also making a nice display of their work for us. But once again we had to rush our speaker(s) to finish the presentation and limit questions. If we could I know members would have kept them in conversation for another half an hour. (I brought this up at PMAC’s AGM and I’m hoping we can find a way to keep the door staff person around for a little longer on our monthly meeting nights, maybe eight times a year.)
When asked what their plans are for the future Robert says that they have a two-person show scheduled for January 2016 at Port Moody Arts Centre. I am sure it will be a collection of fine work by each artist, with some that will have been worked on collaboratively.
Back at our house after the meeting for a cup of tea the guests were happy to see Alan’s collection of SouthWestern pots and North West Coast masks. Anya was excited to see his African and New Guinean sculptures and masks. I did ask Robert to tell the story of how he came to be carving NorthWest Coast designs on his porcelain plates and jars. It turns out that he and Bradley Hunt from the Heiltsuk First Nation collaborated on the original pieces to offer for sale at Expo 86, here in Vancouver. The sale of this work was a huge contribution to Robert’s success as a production potter. He and Bradley no longer work together but Robert still uses designs derived from that collaboration on his work. Food for thought.
The first five photos show members chatting with our guests after the talk, and some of the work displayed. All other photos were taken by TCP member Myrta Hayes. Thank you for allowing me to use them, Myrta.
