Island potters gather at resort
Potter Jane Murray-Smith cleans some of her naked raku pieces in preparation for a Mid-Island Potters’ Show & Sale at Tigh-Na-Mara Saturday.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
The mid-Island has more potters to boast of than most regions.
Thankfully, an upcoming show and sale features the work of a dozen or so of the area’s finest potters, conveniently located under one roof.
Among them is Jane Murray-Smith of Lantzville.
Smith said the Mid-Island Potters’ annual show and sale on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Parksville’s Tigh-Na-Mara resort is a must-see event for anyone with an interest in ceramic making; an occupation that is among the oldest human technologies and art-forms on Earth.
“This involves potters from as far away as Quadra and Denman islands and they’re all professionals making their living this way,” said Murray-Smith.
She said she sells much of her work at Pyromania Pottery in Coombs, a partnership of four established artists from the mid-Island, but does her work from a home studio.
“I have lots of kilns and tons of equipment. You need a lot of room to be a potter,” she noted. “I like working small and lately have been working a lot on animal figurines. I do elephants, hippos, polar bears ...”
Murray-Smith said those pieces will be available at the sale in addition to her work in raku — both traditional and naked.
“Naked raku is when you put a slip and glaze layer on. At the end of firing it comes off; if you’re lucky it falls off just like an egg shell.
“Smoke penetrates through cracks in the layers to create patterns on the finished work.”
Other artists in the annual sale, that runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., include: Scott and Garnet Beardsley, Algis Bubnys, Martha and Gordon James, Cheri Lamb, Ruth Porter, Sue Taylor, Anne-Marie Veale, Barbara Wager, Kevin Wright, Darrel Hancock and Gordon Hutchens.
reporter@pqbnews.com
v2
