by The Potters Place Gallery | Dec 14, 2019 | Monthly Feature, Monthly Features, News and Events
holiday craft at the courtyard
Holiday Craft at the Courtyard.
our first ever Christmas Craft Fair.
We know how hard it is to plan getting to a craft fair that’s only on one day of the year…
So we decided to hold our Christmas craft fair for a month and a half. It will run until Dec. 31.
We are known as the largest all clay gallery on Vancouver Island with over 25 Amazing potters local to the Comox Valley, but this year we decided to invite a number of our favourite local artists who work in other mediums to join in our amazing art and craft community and display their art for a special Christmas art fair.
Among the works you find at the gallery specifically for this explosion of craft include fused and blown glass, wooden inlaid treasure and wood turned bowls and the most magical of turned ornaments, woven scarves and blankets and tea towels and other gorgeous fiber art, silver jewellery, recycled jewellery from bicycle parts (talk about unique), art cards, paintings, all of which are exquisite and great as a gift all by themselves or as an accompaniment to another gift and of course a huge assortment of handmade pottery, both functional and decorative for every budget in the Comox Valley. There are so many truly wonderful gift options for friends, family and don’t forget yourself this year at our Holiday at the Courtyard Craft Fair! It’s an art show and craft sale that will take you right through to next year.
When you walk into the gallery, you’ll smile at all the amazing possibilities you’ll find for unique gift giving under one roof; ALL LOCAL and ALL HANDMADE.
It’s a great way to support local artists, buy local, and give something this year that is truly individual and special that won’t be duplicated or mass produced in a foreign country.
We are always finding ways to be involved in giving back at The Potters Place Gallery, and this year we also have the sweetest angels and gnomes made by local artists and 100% of those purchases go directly to a community fundraising project. You can’t go wrong this season, when it comes to finding something perfect and special and unique here, during our first ever Holiday at the Courtyard event at The Potters Place Gallery in downtown Courtenay.
This year think SUSTAINABLE ART.
We’re at the corner of 5th and Cliffe with easy parking at the rear of the building off 6th street in downtown Courtenay.
by The Potters Place Gallery | Sep 17, 2018 | Monthly Feature, Monthly Features, News and Events
by The Potters Place Gallery | Jun 27, 2018 | BLOG, Featured Artist, Monthly Feature
We are so excited to have 2 wonderful artists showcased during the month of July at The Potters Place Gallery.
Alan Burgess – Featured Artist
Alan was born in Manchester, England and began working with clay at the age of 13 at the Manchester High School of Art.
Inspired by the teaching faculty at Camberwell School of Art, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Colin Pearson, he set out on a long journey of exploration with clay.
The work he has produced over the last 59 years has been, in the main, an exploration of stoneware and porcelain clays, making functional, non functional and sculptural work.
He enjoys the surfaces and colours produced in wood-fired kilns, especially when using Shino glazes with their rich colour and carbon trapping qualities. Alan also produces work exploring qualities of soda firing with it’s textured surfaces. This work is often richly decorated with his sgraffito drawings based on ancient design.
His work has been exhibited across Canada, the USA and Europe. He is a long time member of ”Fired Up Contemporary Works in Clay “, a group of Ceramic Artists who have been exhibiting together for the past 34 years.
For 30 years Alan taught at North Island College, and was the department chair for 11 years, establishing the new Diploma program in Fine Art and Design at the new Courtenay Campus.
Judy Weeden – Guest Artist
More than 38 years ago, Judy left an academic career in biology to immerse her hands and head in the making of pots, first in Fairbanks, Alaska and now on Saltspring Island, B.C. She learned the basics, and much beyond, from Al Johnsen at the University of California Santa Cruz, and from Dean Schwarz of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Both were steeped in the Bauhaus tradition brought to this hemisphere by Ms. Marguerite Wildenhain. Serendipitously, one of the many workshops important in Judy’s development was given by Ms. Wildenhain.
She states: “Most of my understanding of clay as an artist’s medium has come from the mistakes, failures, hopes and successes the wilful clay throws our way.
My primary goal is to create work that synthesizes beauty and harmony both in a functional and a decorative context. My earlier work centred on wheel-thrown functional forms decorated with the geometric and organic/abstract patterns that I love. Now my pots span a broader range of shapes using a variety of forming methods and serving more decorative and ritual ends. Surface decoration is still a primary creative outlet and it is achieved both by slip-carving and impressing the malleable clay. Occasionally pieces are finished by glazing or by smoking in a saggar. No two pots are ever alike”.
by The Potters Place Gallery | May 31, 2018 | BLOG, Featured Artist, Monthly Feature
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by The Potters Place Gallery | Dec 30, 2017 | BLOG, Monthly Feature, News and Events
Mark your calendars. January 15-31 That amazing annual RED DOT sale is here again.
You’ve been waiting for this sale since last year!
As always, partial proceeds from this sale will go to various valley charities.
This sale is our way of saying thank you for your support all year.
We love our community and our customers who choose handmade over big box stores, local over shipped in, and handmade over factory produced when it comes time for yourself and your gifts.
Our way of saying Thank You Comox Valley, for another great year. Don’t Miss This Once A Year Event!
A little background for you about… Potters and the Creative Process
The Potters Place is a not for profit society and part of our mandate is educating and supporting our community about the ceramic arts.
There is a movement a foot around the world – “Less Plastic More Clay” and over this next year, we at The Potters Place are hoping to spread the word through education and example, we hope to help the ComoxValley move away from plastic in their kitchens replacing everyday items with pottery instead. Even… your colanders.
The Potters of The Potters Place Gallery are clearing out their studios. The frenzy of the holiday season has passed and the potters now have time to reflect on their goals and where they would like to take their art in the coming year. Every artist and designer goes through a creative process. Potters are no different. There are as many different approaches to creativity as there are artists. Some prefer to create spontaneously; some choose a more methodical approach. Are spontaneity and method mutually exclusive? We think not. We believe they work together and that every artist, no matter how spontaneous, or conscious goes through four basic steps: 1) idea generation 2) work, experimentation and testing 3) self, peer, or mentor evaluation and 4) presentation. It is work, experimentation and testing that is important here.
There are a multitude of facets of pottery, so many, so that a potter could work a life time and still be learning. Sometimes potters choose to focus on one type of firing, or forming technique for many years. Then and opportunity arises to try something new, a spark is ignited and a new tangent is explored. During this exploration and experimentation every piece created may not be exactly what the potter is trying to achieve. It doesn’t mean this creation is not beautiful and will not completely fill someone’s aesthetic; it may however, not be exactly what the potter was aiming for.
At the Red Dot Sale you will find the actualization of these stages of growth.
– You will find pots that are formed from pushing limitations and being vulnerable enough to try something new can be beautiful and lead the potter on a new journey.
– You will find pots that are ends of lines
– You will find pots that are styles that a potter is no longer creating
– You will find pots similar to what you found last month, only reduced to make room for more pots.
You get to benefit from this by finding perfectly good pots at reduced prices at The Potters Place Gallery at 5 th and Cliffe, in Courtenay during our Red Dot Sale. It is our way of saying thank you to our loyal customers and welcome to our new customers.
What a great way to find a home for pots that are practically perfect in every way.
We invite you to cross the road at Cliffe and head over to the courtyard.
There is also parking at rear
by The Potters Place Gallery | Sep 5, 2017 | Featured Artist, Monthly Feature
We are delighted to have Sue Emerson as our featured artist throughout September.
Her pottery is every changing and though known for wall sculptures and installations using steel and clay, she also creates beautiful handmade pottery and functional work with hand-building methods and an array of textures.
Her current body of work has taken on a new direction. Well new it is actually a method that Sue has re-purposed for clay from a previous time in her life. She says it best:
As potter may things influence our work and the influences can be from various times in our lives. Having said that my new work is having a strong influence from my days as a silk screen artist. The difference is that now I am screening slip on clay and years ago it was ink on paper or fabric. Regardless of how the images are finding their way on the clay the themes are almost always inspired by the same things – natures textures, flora and fauna of every description, select iconic images and earthy colours and feels. This is just the beginning of a collection of ideas I have had in mind for some time and your guess is as good as mine where it will go. I hope it speaks to you!”
Come see her work and more throughout September on display in our Featured Window at The Potters Place Gallery located at the corner of 5th and Cliffe in downtown Courtenay, BC – Comox Valley
10am-5pm Monday-Saturday
by The Potters Place Gallery | Jul 3, 2017 | Featured Artist, Monthly Feature
EARTH AND WOOD
The Potters Place Gallery, in downtown Courtenay, is delighted to present Anne Marie Veale as our Feature Artist for the month of July together with her husband, Jason Marlow, an internationally recognized woodturner. This husband and wife team share a studio gallery at their home in Qualicum Bay.
Anne Marie’s work features her designs developed over a 30 year career as a studio potter. Platters, plates, teapots and jugs alike are comfortably weighted, solidly built for daily use and can go from oven to table with ease. What sets them apart from other functional pottery, is her colourful and whimsical decoration. Whether it be cats curled on a windowsill, pansies in a garden or a lovely country landscape, there is no doubt that Anne Marie Veale is an artist whose work will touch you.
Jason is one of Canada’s most distinguished studio woodturners, recognized internationally for his innovative and original pieces. He uses sustainable indigenous woods of British Columbia. He produces wall pieces to architectural scale as well as a wide range of smaller objects inspired by Vancouver Islands forests, rivers, mountains and wildlife.
by The Potters Place Gallery | May 24, 2017 | Monthly Feature, News and Events
We can’t be more excited. Come and celebrate with us as we ring in 25 years as the most amazing Pottery Collective on Vancouver Island. We celebrate 25 years and June is a perfect time to have a party.
Past and Current members of The Potters Place Gallery will be creating individual place settings for this event. We are going to be joined by Sushi Jo and Sweet Surprise Gluten Free Baking adding to the event with their delicious sushi and sweet treats. – wow.
JUNE 2 – 4 – 7 pm
Corner of 5th and Cliffe in Downtown Courtenay, BC.
parking at rear of building.
thly feat
by The Potters Place Gallery | Jan 7, 2017 | Monthly Feature, News and Events
RED DOT SALE
January 13-21, 2017 at The Potters Place Gallery
Potters and the Creative Process
The Potters of The Potters Place Gallery are clearing out their studios. The frenzy of the holiday season has passed and the potters now have time to reflect on what worked, what didn’t quite meet
their goals and where they would like to take their art in the coming year.
Every artist and designer goes through a creative process. Potters are no different. There are as many different approaches to creativity as there are artists. Some prefer to create spontaneously; some choose a more methodical approach. Are spontaneity and method mutually exclusive? I think not. I believe they work together and that every artist, no matter how spontaneous, or conscious goes through four basic steps: 1) idea generation 2) work, experimentation and testing 3) self, peer, or mentor evaluation and 4) presentation. It is work, experimentation and testing that is important here.
There are a multitude of facets of pottery, so many, so that a potter could work a life time and still be learning. Sometimes potters choose to focus on one type of firing, or forming technique for many years. Then and opportunity arises to try something new, a spark is ignited and a new tangent is explored. During this exploration and experimentation every piece created may not be exactly what the potter is trying to achieve. It doesn’t mean this creation is not beautiful and will not completely fill someone’s aesthetic; it is just not what the potter was aiming for.
At the Red Dot Sale you will find the actualization of these stages of growth. The pots that are formed from pushing limitations and being vulnerable enough to try something new can be beautiful and lead the potter on a new journey. Sometimes a potter needs to clear out items that simply don’t fit into their new style, or did not work out quite as expected. You get to benefit from this by finding perfectly good pots at reduced prices at The Potters Place Gallery at 5th and Cliffe, in Courtenay during our Red Dot Sale. It is our way of saying thank you to our loyal customers and welcome to our new customers.
What a great way to find a home for pots that are practically perfect in every way.
by The Potters Place Gallery | Sep 23, 2016 | Monthly Feature, News and Events
ART FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING is about the conscious act
of choosing local, sustainable, ethical, earth based, beautiful pottery,
for our homes, our daily lives & our souls.
Come celebrate the beauty in the everyday with handmade pottery drinking vessels created by very talented British Columbian Potters through October 2016 at The Potters Place in Downtown Courtenay, Comox Valley
Come and see a host of ceramic mugs, tumblers, beer steins, yunomis, wine cups, whiskey sniffers, chas and tea bowls.
40 Knots Winery, will be at our opening reception offering wine tasting which we know you’ll just love!
