Debra Sloan was the speaker for TriCity Potters’ January meeting. Because she is a sculptor we had several artists attending who work only in clay sculpture. Susan Gorris had suggested we invite Debra, specifically to tell us all about the two 3-month residencies she has attended in Hungary.
Susan and her friend made it a really Hungarian evening by making special treats to eat with our coffee or tea. We had a big turnout for the talk, with Shadbolters Sharon Reay and Linda Doherty, Santo Mignosa from North Vancouver, Hungarian/Canadian potter Maria Palotas from Chilliwack, and Susie Birstein came with Debra from Vancouver.
Debra was very well prepared with an informative and most interesting power point presentation.
Her first 3-month stint at the International Ceramic Studio in Kecskemét was in the Spring of 2010. She and her friend Mary Daniels travelled to Budapest and then on to Kecskemét by train when snow was still on the ground. It must have been an exhausting but incredibly stimulating time for them, using local porcelain, learning about materials to make slips and terra sigillata and working with the local kiln expert as well as trying to communicate when almost no-one else spoke English!
Her second residency was for three months in the summer of 2013, Mary joined her for three weeks and afterwards Debra was joined by her husband for travels to Romania and to Belgium. So we saw photos of those places and of ceramics there.
Next Debra is preparing for a month residency in the Leach Pottery in St. Ives this April. I must say that the day after Debra’s talk I spent a while on the internet looking up ‘salt glaze residencies’!
I can thank Debra for the suggestion of applying for a grant from Circle Craft Co-op for a member’s professional development grant in 2010. We shared a display that summer after our respective residencies in the windows of Circle Craft.
Thank you Debra, for a really interesting and well-illustrated talk last Wednesday, and thanks to Susan Gorris for arranging it and the refreshments. And thanks for photos from Christine and Gloria.
