I havn't talked much about the London Potters Guild on this blog, but I can not understate my love and devotion to this group. There are many times I would have tossed in the towel but for their encouragement and the opportunities they have given me. I have been involved with the guild for many years and remember when we used to meet in the art room at Banting Secondary School. At the time it was just a bunch of potters who wanted to get together once a month and get excited about clay, but as the years progressed, it became an organization that has encouraged professional development in many ways. From workshops to sales opportunities the organization has remained faithful to it's mission and grown apace. With the establishment of a teaching studio it has provided a venue for people to try out clay as a medium and has educated thousands of lay people in the London area about clay.

      Now the Guild has purchased it's own building and has created The London Clay Arts Centre on Dundas Street in downtown London. It has been almost a year in renovation and now we have moved in. It's still a bit rough mind you, the workmen are still doing their excellent work and the flow of the place has still to be established, but the vision of the committee is finally coming to fruition, and it is wonderful. 

       This is truly an incredible feat for the guild. to learn more and see pictures go here:

http://londonpottersguild.org/ and click on the link to see pics of the progress.

I'm proud to belong to this organization.

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Last Fall I had become involved with a really great galley in Sarnia called Artopia. Corrinne there and Paul in the back at Vermillion Antiques had just struck up an unholy alliance and opened up on Christina Street there to participate in the "First Friday" events. In Sarnia, all the galleries within a radius of Downtown, cultural institutions, like Gallery Lambton and the Lawrence House, bars, restaurants, etc., have an art walkabout called "First Fridays". The all change up their displays and have their openings on the first Friday of every month! People get gussied up and go from gallery to gallery looking at local art and might go for a drink, or a play, or an opening. Last month they closed down Christina St. because over 4000 people came out on a beautiful summer night!

     In April of last year I was asked to be the artist of the month at Artopia and I presented "Letters from the Garden" and I think it went off pretty well. Corrinne and Paul set it up and it looked great! The premise was based on what some parts of the garden would write to other parts of the garden if they could. For example there were alot of love letters to Bee...."come back bee we miss you, our flowers will soon be in bloom and we miss the sound of your beeting wings..." etc etc. A get well card from the vegetables to Bee 'cause they have heard that he has had a bad attack of allergies. A cease and desist letter from P. Mantis and Assts. to Lady Bug to stop her aggression toward the Aphids. A thank you letter from the Compost Collective, local communal living at it's finest. (bunch of Socialists...). At the end of every letter was an admonition not to piss off the faries, and so I had to come up with a bunch of "Thug" faries that one obviously didn't want to piss off! The show was composed mostly of my regular production work of course, but it was fun to work with a theme in mind. The pots had the regular and romantic interpretation of what "faries at the bottom of the garden" mean to us but the bad faries are just fun. I had fun with the narrative of the garden and it's something I would like to explore more.

Farie Vase

Back of one of the hanging thug faries

This one has a tattoo of "Mom" on his arm.

Ceramic action figures

Last Winter I had the pleasure of presenting a workshop at the Almont Potter's Guild just this side of Ottawa. Some of the members of the Ottawa Guild came too. I was able to put on a little slide presentation on the Friday night and we did a participatory workshop on the Saturday. What a great group! My pal Carol has moved up to Ottawa and has been welcomed with open arms by my new friends in Ottawa. Hopefully Carol can show them some of the Alternative Surfaces stuff we've been going over for the last few years!

Here's some pics of the Almont Guild:

The lovely Susan! My wonderful host!

The Almont Potters Guild

Industrious Participants!

A plate I made for Demonstration...

Happy with the results!
 

I have gotten alot of flack lately for not keeping up my blog and so I'm starting up again. A great deal has happenned for me since last Summer and over the next few days I will try to catch up on this.

     Right now I'm in the middle of moving my own studio. yes... I'm losing my mancave....My Mother is moving to a great apartment in a great building here in London and I am having to move out of my studio space in her garage. I'm gonna miss the old studio. I've been standing there trying to absorb the memory of it in the present and still reflecting on the past. The sound of the train going by, the chicadees, the Raku parties, all the crimes against aesthetics that I have committed there....I did a lot of growing up there. While I didn't spend my childhood there by any means, it is the place where I matured as an artist, healed from my divorce, raised my daughter as best I could. Surrounded by walnut trees and water. It's funny how one does get attached to a place. It will be interesting to see how the change in geography affects the work, and I won't have the constant interruptions by my dear old Mum to contend with; although, part of me will miss that too. She makes good brownies. 

     With all that in mind I'm looking toward the future and have found out that I can indeed build a small outbuilding on this property! There are some restrictions of course but they're pretty reasonable, less stringent than I thought they'd be actually!