Last year Pulp Fiction Bookshop owner and ceramics collector Chris Brayshaw made a pilgrimage to Wales to meet highly-respected clay artist Charles Bound. Now he has assembled a large number of Bound pieces to form a first show of his work in Canada. It can be seen at CSA Space, upstairs from the bookstore. You need to ask for the key at the store’s front desk.
I had a plan to meet Raider Renée Van Halm in Mount Pleasant to deliver her latest plates. Her studio is nearby and she chose to see the show with me. First, Chris had reminded us to admire the huge Charles Bound pot on the store’s sales desk. My, it’s splendid! All the work is fired in a wood kiln.
Biography
Charles Bound was born in New York City in 1939. After graduating from Union University in 1962 with a degree in English Literature, Charles spent the next three years teaching at secondary level. From 1965 to 1971 he worked for a publishing company, dividing his time between the USA and Africa. By 1972 he was juggling a variety of commitments; teaching, traveling, writing and theatre work, mostly in Kenya.
Charles did not come to study ceramics until 1983, setting up a studio while working as a college technician and teaching. In 1994 he was gifted the use of space on a farm where he could build his own wood fired kiln, which he has been working with since.
Charles and his wife Joy currently live and work in Wales. Charles has a son, Kelton, and granddaughter, Allwynne, who live in the United States.
Clearly Charles is passionate about the possibilities of clay’s behaviour when subjected to the fierce vagaries of wood firing, and has written extensively on the subject. He reclaims shards from previous firings and fires them with and onto new, irregular, and plainly non-functional creations.
Renée and I agreed that seeing and holding these pieces gives one a greater appreciation of their surfaces and forms than if we’d simply seen them in a publication or online. There are references to familiar shapes and traditions but the pieces are clay sculptures, things to feel and experience.
This is the first page of information available to gallery visitors. The work has been brought here by Chris or assembled from several collections. Some are for sale.
After seeing this show ‘Charles Bound: RETROSPECTACLE’, Alan stopped in at Uno Langmann’s South Granville gallery to see a fine collection of NW Coast Art while I made a long-delayed delivery of fresh pots to Circle Craft Co-op store on Granville Island. I had a super chat with Keith Lehman at the Kingsmill Pottery studio. On our way back to Port Moody we left Monique Fouquet’s newest Raid plates at her home. I must get in to Vancouver more often!
My next blog will show photos from Thursday’s Opening Reception at PoMoArts.
Visit often and longer!! But thanks for sharing this with your photos. Such interesting work.
We’ll see what happens next weekend!! Busy time.
J