Claudel Hebert at my studio

This Sunday, July6,

I will be hosting an exhibition of bowls by a local potter, Claudel Hebert. She has a collection of 40 bowls to show and each one is for sale for $25. They are all beautifully decorated. As well, Gita Schneider will have her organic body care products, and teas, each one better than the next. And my studio is overflowing with pots. We will all be there from noon on.

Basket type pot

After taking a weekend course with master"weaver of natural materials"Nathalie Levasseur, I have attempted integrating different materials into my work, mostly in the way of handles. It is more challenging than it looks, at least for my brain. This is a pinched pot with a found piece of wood, bound with some thin wood I found in the recesses of a studio cupboard. The glaze is ash and it is high fired. Photos by Laurence Amelie Montpetit.

Whenever I am looking for direction, the first thing that comes to mind is to go outside and draw. My garden, the forest are always sources of calm and clarity. Because I grow a lot of squashes in my garden, their shapes keep finding their way into my work. This is a pinched piece, barrel fired. The photo was taken by Laurence Amelie Montpetit during my show at Espace Genereux Montpetit.

yoga positions

With all the repetitive movements involved in making pots, I had developed some nagging issues in my back, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Osteopath visits were a regular in my schedule and were costly. One of the local yoga teachers offered a trial course of Iyengar yoga [all about alignment] for free on a platform beside a river. How could I resist? After a couple of postures, my back was breathing a sigh of relief and I have been hooked ever since. I was getting a barrel firing together a couple of weeks ago and decided at the last minute to try a few sculptures of people in yoga postures.

Tea pots

Tea pots are always fun to make. There is a clear function with specific demands like pouring smoothly, no drips, balance as well as lots of room  for interpretation. Here are some of the recent offerings.

Table cloths

A couple of years ago, I painted some canvas for gifts to family and friends. It was terrific fun, but I figured that was that. Awhile later, I started getting requests, and then some orders and now, I keep them in stock. Here  are a couple of the new ones.

Shrine to my parents

When my parents died and we had dispersed the ashes I still had a feeling for the need of a marker of some sort. After considerable ruminating, I remembered a book I had given to my parents on an artist whose work moved me, Andy Goldsworthy. His work is sculptural and very close to nature. This shrine is behind my kiln shed in a quiet part of our yard.