3 minute read
Feature Gallery- Potworks
October 5 - December 24, 2013
Potworks
There is considerable chatter about the state of pottery these days. Is it a dying art form?
A number of current trends might suggest so. Many potters have shifted their self-descriptions to ceramist, ceramicist, ceramic artist, or visual artist working in clay. Some potters and other craftspeople are being referred to as “designers who self-manufacture”. And in the academic world of “interdisciplinary”, it seems unfashionable to even use a media-specific term such as potter. Some institutions such as the Ontario College of Art and Design (now revised to OCAD University) have purged the work pottery. OCAD now calls the remains of its ceramics program “material arts”.
Yet other trends refute any notion that pottery is on a road to extinction. At the Alberta Craft Council, there are more members working professionally in clay than in any other medium. Clay exhibitions and ceramic work in exhibitions remain public favourites. And pots sell in more volume and for more total sales that any other work in the ACC’s retail gallery. Member potters often report increasing sales and better prices at their own studio sales. And the longerrunning members studios now have second and third generation customers coming to shop. In addition, it seems that there are more ACC members working in clay who travel, teach or exhibit internationally.
Ceramic technologies are also in some flux. Most kilns (unless wood-burning) are now very energy efficient. They are often computer controlled. Transfer decorations, once verboten in clay studios, are being created with simple computer programs and can be quite original. And, recent workshops at ACAD and at Medalta have demonstrated the potential for 3-D digital printing of ceramic molds or of actual objects in clay. This potential is either intriguing or dubious, depending on who is commenting. An inherent part of the discussion is about whether computers will improve or hamper creativity, or indeed whether new technologies will bring about the end of studio pottery, or give it new life into the future. Unquestionably, new virtual marketing has enhanced most pottery careers.
Evident in this collection is the conclusion that studio pottery is thriving in Alberta. It is particularly exciting to see some many “youngsters” embarking on studio practices with some really unique work.
- by Tom McFall
