The pottery group, attached to the Elliot Lake Arts Club, is hosting an open display of work created by veteran and novice ceramic artists.
Pottery pieces created in the pottery studio will be on display in the main lobby of the civic centre. The work is to recognize International Pottery Day on May 28. This year it is being officially celebrated in Brazil.
What the potters hope to do is create interest in pottery among other people in Elliot Lake and area and possibly get new members to join the group. Currently the pottery group has 20 members and operates out of a studio in the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre. Pottery is part of a wide range of artistic workshops at the civic centre that also includes studios for weaving and painting.
The pottery studio offers a place for veterans and novices of ceramic art to create and work with others interested in the same art form. They can discuss and learn about different pottery forms from those more experienced. Successes and failures may also be part of those discussions.
“To honor our day an exhibition in the Lester B. Pearson Centre lobby has been approved. This is an exhibition, not a sale and it will be unmanned,” pottery committee chair Monique Watford said. ”The intent is to showcase a few pieces rather than cram the lobby garage-sale style. “
“This is an opportunity to bring awareness to the community, and also to promote our artists,” she added.
Artists create unique pieces either by hand, or using the potter’s wheel in the studio.
Potter Beverley Shiels works at the studio most mornings, creating pieces on the wheel.
“We do it for love,” she said of the work done in the studio by members.
“We should have honored this day a long time ago,” painter turned potter Jill Stewart added.
“A bowl a day keeps the doctor away,” said veteran potter John Price.
Jola Klim who does both hand-building and the wheel says, “Being a potter is not a hobby for me; it's a way I live every day while dreaming about all the pots I haven’t made yet.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the upcoming display or about pottery work at the civic centre can contact Watford at 705-849-8489.