On Thursday evening I attended the preview reception for the Western Front Gala Auction. Son Mike joined me and we took a careful look at all the donated art. There were photographs, prints and paintings waiting for the Gala evening ( which is happening as I write) as well as our six specially painted plates. The Luxe Hall (originally built to house the Knights of Pythias at the turn of the twentieth Century) is a splendid venue both for the art display and for tonight’s upscale fundraising dinner and auction. I included the auction catalogue link in my previous blog about the plates. You can go there to see all the entries and read about the artists.

I just took a couple of photos of the plates in situ and Mike took a silly one of me. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll hear who decided to give the six a home.

After that reception I hurried on down to Granville Island to join my fellow clay enthusiasts for the latest addition to the NorthWest Ceramic Foundation’s series of lectures. It was held in the Emily Carr campus and the guest was one of my ECU Ceramics instructors, long-time local potter and sculptor and many-year president of the BC Potters Guild, Tam Irving. He gave a carefully chosen selection of slides, explaining his long career in pottery and his influences. His audience were happy to be reminded of his journey and see familiar and also surprising pieces of his work. Thank you Tam for your cheerful presentation and impressive energy, and thanks too, to your wife Rosalind for her gentle guidance behind the projector.

Afterwards TriCity potter Linda Lebrun and I joined fellow potters Suzy Birstein and Dona Nabata for a happy drink at the Granville Island hotel before we went our separate ways. We agreed that it was good to have taken the time to get to know each other better.

And for those who may have been following the saga of the tile-painting in my studio over the last little while, I received a photo this morning from Lesley Norris. The Metcalfe tiles have now been installed around the fireplace in her 100-year-old house in Courtney and they look splendid! After the grouting and perhaps when summer is here we hope to be able to see them in their new home. I’m delighted that Lesley and, I think, Jane were able to apply them to the designated wall without having to cut any of them. I gather there has been some adjustment to the mantelpiece and perhaps the side-retaining wooden strips. The truth can be admitted now, shrinkage was less than I’d calculated for this clay!