KSA: OUT THERE and onto the Western Canadian Stage

It’s out of the kiln and onto the Western Canadian stage for twelve of the Kootenay School of Art’s best clay artists at the prestigious Gallery of BC Ceramics on Granville Island.

By Simone Keiran

Published ARTiculate, Fall/Winter 2008

Tanis Saxby, Shadow Line Four

The Kootenay School of Art has produced excellent clay sculptors, ceramic artists and potters since the program’s inception in 1990. They’ve travelled across the globe to exhibit, teach, and demonstrate their artistry. They’ve won awards at international juried exhibitions. They’ve expanded the possibilities for how clay can serve families and communities. They’ve bridged the cerebral domain of museums and conceptual clay art with the simple, practical level of everyday service and use. This is why three accomplished clay instructors at KSA, Pamela Nagley Stevenson, David Lawson and Garry Graham, held no reservations about sharing their group show at BC’s most respected clay art gallery, the Gallery of BC Ceramics, on Granville Island, this September, with nine select successful graduates.

Samantha Dickie, Discs: Yukon Installation

“The most heartbreaking thing was limiting the numbers to only nine,” Pamela explained while we toured her studio near Perry’s Siding in the Slocan Valley. “There were so many more we wanted to include, but we had to stick to specific criteria: a broad diversity of styles—each artist’s work is completely unique—different graduating years, and success as professional clay artists. The only common threads are fearlessness—their willingness to take risks and be vulnerable—and how they’ve made their studio practice beloved with every fibre of their being.”

Robin Dupont, Teapot and Cup

The show represents work from the past decade of KSA’s graduates, as well as the three instructors who are as original and diverse as their students.

Pamela Nagley Stevenson, Sacrament Service for Divine Feminine Fire

“We are a balanced and well-matched trio,” Pamela laughs. “Almost able to read each other’s minds, after all this time. David is the glaze-master, and produces austere, elegant, minimalist forms. Students leave with a solid training in this chemistry, with their own distinct glaze palettes. Garry is our pragmatist, who fires cone 4 (low-temperature), honest, archetypal earthenware. He grounds students in the practical side of the business, like producing beautiful, viable, low-end pots quickly in order to survive, writing grant applications, or getting their work to the right market. I instruct students in the historical roots of clay, in reverence for tradition, demonstrating how they can access art throughout different cultures and centuries for energy and the inspiration which sustains their passion.”

Maggie Finlayson, Bowls

Pamela’s work is deeply spiritual, often based on sacred pieces like Tibetan reliquaries (funerary urns) and Byzantine thuribles (incensors), but reinterpreted in her unique style, representing the cardinal virtues of each great faith at a specific time.

Lisa Kuhr, Untitled

The nine graduate clay sculptors, all accomplished professional artists in their own right, are Samantha Dickie (now based in Victoria), Robin DuPont (Winlaw), Maggie Finlayson (Colorado), Julia Gillmore (Nelson), Kathi Hofmann (Nelson), Lise Kuhr (Vancouver), Sarah Lawless (Kaslo), Donna Partridge (Vancouver) and Tanis Saxby (Vancouver).

Kathi Hoffmann, Pitcher

“Per capita, artists in the Kootenays far exceed the number of artists situated in the Gulf Islands, but because of our distance from the lower mainland, it is difficult for us to get out there and nurture the regular contact that results in exhibitions. We produce outstanding work, and it is completely individual; no one else is making stuff like it. But all the collectors are on the Coast, so it is imperative that our work is showcased there.”

Julia Gillmore, Untitled

After four juried student shows where KSA’s strong presence in western Canadian studios made itself felt, Brenda Beaudouin, manager of the BC Gallery of Ceramics, agreed. It took another year to organize, but finally, after an absence of over a decade, a show was arranged. The pieces include selections of work from their bread-&-butter production wares, mid range pieces to some of the finest art they’ve made in order to illustrate their versatility.

Garry Graham, Hakame Mug

“At KSA, we are like a family,” Pamela insists. “For the past 15 years, Garry, David and I have kept track of almost all our students. We want to know how they’re doing. Our school has this tremendous camaraderie and spirit. Our instructors take pride in our students’ accomplishments.”

Donna Partridge, Large Bowl, inside

“KSA: Out There” runs at the Gallery of BC Ceramics from September 6^th–29^th, 2008.
1359 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC; (604) 669- 3606, Daily from 10am to 5pm.

David Lawson, Untitled Nesting Form

For further information about the Potters Guild, visit their website at: http://bcpotters.com/

Bridget Fairbank

Bridget Fairbank, another 2008 graduate of KSA’s Ceramic Art program and former host on the Kootenay Coop Radio (CJLY) is starting up a new Spoken Word Documentary Program called “It Ain’t Easy” on the challenges, pitfalls and rewards of emerging artisans in Canada.

Bridget Fairbank, Heartthrob

“Public education and interest are vital to all craftspeople, but how can we bridge that gap?” Fairbanks asks. “We enhance our experiences by using handcrafted items, get a chunk of the artist’s good intentions, create a local community and bond in an overly mass-produced world. I can’t think of many venues where craft-folk, dispassionate and passionate alike, can communicate about craft openly and publicly. I am in love with crafts and want to shout about it from the rooftops, but the public controls the volume dial.”

Bridget’s program airs every Saturday on 93.5Fm and 96.5FM, time-slot TBA, but will be posted on their website at: http://kootenaycoopradio.com/schedule.html

Other Tributes to KSA Graduates

2008 BC Creative Achievement Awards for Applied Art and Design was recently awarded to two well-established and internationally recognized local artists who are still in early stages of their careers:

Sarah Lawless, Eggshell Cups with Puddle Plates

Ceramic artist, Sarah Lawless won for the irresistibly touchable porcelain, Eggshell Cup with Puddle Plates. Lawless draws inspiration from well-eroded natural forms to create smooth, asymmetrical and functional pieces, which could fit into organic spaces so seamlessly, it would seem as though they’ve always existed.

Costume Designer and Fabric Artist, Angelika Werth, received the award for her brilliant red hand-felted, Jacket for Ethel Wilson, an exquisitely crafted piece of wearable sculpture which seems to make cheeky references to the florid curls of classical cartouches.

The BC Creative Achievement Awards recognizes the work of these two artists, in Premier Gordon Campbell’s words as “defining elements of our communities and culture.” Each participant receives a $5000 prize and use of the award seal to brand their marketing.

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