During conversations with Joan and Reg Beck I asked about their careers and travels. It turns out that long before they became teachers in Williams Lake they had taken a long journey around much of the world. At one point Joan (who had already taken some pottery classes with Vancouver's Ross Huyghe, no less) and a friend found themselves in Mashiko, Japan and asked where…
When I was at NCECA Seattle two years ago I couldn't resist buying a fine soda-fired beaker made by Ryan Mckerley. He is one of the artists who set up a display of work from Artstream, a travelling ceramics gallery/shop. The beaker is sculpted using a wax-resist technique and has fine orange-peel turquoise texture. So recently when Alan and I found ourselves in Austin TX,…
A couple of weeks ago we spent a few days in nearby Bellingham, in Washington State. Alan attended the North-West Anthropological Conference and I took the opportunity to be a tourist in this charming city. My first destination was Baker Street Ceramics studio where the resident artists are Deb McCunn and Jason Walker. Jason was our presenter at the February TriCity Potters' meeting and I…
I can't resist putting these few non-pottery photos in to complement my blog post below. The sun popped out once in a while today, highlighting the impressive snow pack on the mountains all around, there were signs of Spring in the Venema garden, Trumpeter swans were relaxing in the middle of the adjacent corn field and the setting sun pinked Golden Ears as I got…
I do enjoy the drive out to Matsqui Prairie for these occasional salt firings at Herman Venema's country studio. The mountains you see to the North as you drive over the Pitt River bridge, reflected in the river, are spectacular. And further on, near Ruskin, there's Mount Baker, seemingly just across the Fraser River. When I arrived Herman and Dave were ready to start work,…