Last Friday members of TriCity Potters gathered for our monthly meeting in the Appleyard Room at PoMoArts (Port Moody Arts Centre). It was chaired this month by executive member Owen Lee.
We briefly discussed future activities and speakers, and invited members to think about a title or theme for our scheduled members’ show in PoMoArts Gallery next February.
Our presenter for this evening was executive member, Maria Bachand. Maria grew up in a pottery household and she told us all about her mother Gerda Krause’s life-time career in ceramics.
Elderly Gerda has been attending our meetings for some time but she was unable to join us this night. We know that Maria will tell her mother how much we enjoyed seeing the variety of work she has made since she started potting in Dusseldorf, and after living in Edmonton and finally in Maple Ridge.
Maria showed us slides of more work, including these charming birds, and a prize-winning mushroom vase. Sorry the images are a bit blue.
Maria had also displayed some of her own hand-built pieces, some whimsical garden mushrooms and ceramic pendants. Thank you for a well-prepared display of work and interesting slides of your mother’s story.
After the presentation we really enjoyed taking another look at Gerda and Maria’s pieces and then the now-glazed sgraffito efforts from last month’s meeting. Eliza’s aren’t glazed because she plans to fire them in a soda firing next month. I’m inspired to use sgraffito on a pot or two myself, for that firing.
Our next meeting will be held on Friday May 27th so that we avoid the May 24th holiday weekend. Burnaby potter Sharon Reay has agreed to talk about her work that evening.
It turns out that will be a busy day for some of us, including Sharon, as we will have been helping to insert soda into the Shadbolt Centre’s Vault kiln that day. I hope you can manage both, Sharon. I think you have a power point on hand re your MOA residency, right? I know TCP members will really enjoy seeing your unique fairytale sculptures.
After the meeting several of us wandered through to the Art gallery to admire the current show of work by the Vancouver Korean Artists’ Society, especially the colourful pieces by PoMoArts ceramic technician Ysabella Choung. Then Owen and I went downstairs to meet some of the ‘clay drop-in’ students working in the clay department. They were interested to learn about TriCity Potters and we hope that they, and any other local clay enthusiasts, will join us for our monthly meetings. All are welcome. Check www.tricitypotters.ca for upcoming talks, events and shows.
