I just had to record the little surprise I got yesterday when perusing the knick-knack shelves in our local Crossroads Hospice Thrift Shop in Coquitlam. I spotted a familiar cup amongst the pottery – mine! Of course I paid the $2 and brought it home.

Twenty -two years ago we were spending a memorable three weeks at Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now ECUAD) with Jeff Oestreich as our instructor. He gave us challenging assignments to take our wheel-throwing to new levels. We were asked to take two traditional forms ( I chose a jug and a bowl) and make all the intermediate forms one could imagine between the two, or to have a member of the Granville Island public tell us their favourite vegetable and make a vessel to cook or serve it in, with a partner. So Jay MacLennan and I made dishes for serving cheese-covered broccoli – some with a body he’d thrown and feet I made and vice versa. Somehow Jeff knew that collaborating with another potter would force each of us to push the boundaries of what we’d ordinarily allow ourselves to make. I know that working with Jay encouraged me to loosen up my throwing and be more relaxed about forms.

So another assignment had been to design drinking vessels and later to design the larger container to fill them. I made a teapot and some ten cups and saucers using circles as the design element and trying very hard not to use traditional factory-type handles. The set wound up looking very Art Deco. We fired all the work in that course in a cone 10 reduction kiln so I chose a green slip for the saucers and lower parts of the cups and teapot, glazed them all over with the school celadon and trailed temmoku circles for decoration.

Some time later I sold the set to a gallery in Alberta – I forget where. So it was a delightful surprise to see just one of the cups again yesterday. I posted a photo on Facebook and was amused to see how many people are also interested to see what happened. I’ve taken the liberty of posting their comments because there are some interesting points arising.

Gillian McMillan
$2 find at Hospice Thrift Shop today. I made this cup in 1992 as part of a tea set assignment in Jeff Oestreich’s course at ECIAD. Sold it to a gallery in Alberta. Fun!

Jacquelyn Ross, Annie Ross, Teresa Gagne and 28 others like this.
1 share

Carole Henshall And it came home to roost!
15 hours ago · Unlike · 3

Sara Lynch You bought your own cup back!
15 hours ago · Unlike · 1

Joyce Gillespie How cool is that!! A couple years ago I found a sculpture I made of a fisherman in an antique store along Front Street in New West. Such an odd feeling to see it sitting there. I left it.
13 hours ago · Like

David Spence ……life is a circle……. indeed
13 hours ago · Like · 1

Bev Bakka Like a note in a bottle come home.
8 hours ago · Like

Fitnat Fahrner That is utterly cool to have rediscovered it that way!
8 hours ago · Like

Rose Kapp I painted martini glasses years ago and they pop up once in a while : )
7 hours ago · Like

June MacDonald Wouldn’t it be fun if you could trace its wanderings! Wonder what happened to the rest of the set?
7 hours ago · Like

Lynda Jones I remember it
7 hours ago · Unlike · 1

Jillian Hull I agree with June — it could be like Paddle to the Sea for Gillian’s mug. What I love, also, is that most people have cycled out their cups and china in the course of 24 years, but this one was clearly cherished for a long time. And it held up rather well, too, non? Really love the shape with that handle.
7 hours ago · Like

Jane M. Ames How amazing.
6 hours ago · Like

Teresa Gagne Oh, the tales a thrift store can tell.
5 hours ago · Like

Brenda Sullivan You never know what great treasures you can find in a thrift store! Sweet!
5 hours ago · Like

Jacquelyn Ross Very west german!
3 hours ago · Like

I have managed to find a couple of photos taken of the teapot and four cups and saucers and scanned them. Sorry about the poor quality. But just to illustrate what fun Facebook can be it’s fun to note that three commenters above are fellow Medalta ‘residents’, one took the Oestreich course with me and most are potters or other artists.

If you’ve had an experience like this, coming across your work or that of people you know do comment below. I’d love to hear.