Category Archives: Artist Profile

Sandy Harquail

​​Throughout my life I have been fascinated by the design process. My experiences as a child making tree forts, dress-up costumes and mud pies, in many ways influences how I pursue ceramics today. I use clay like a seamstress uses fabric, cutting patterns with curves and darts to change the shape and form. I envision my pots as pieces of architecture, always striving to create stable structures out of the pliable material all the while finding a balance in function and form. Each time as the clay is transformed from lifeless slabs to volumetric forms there is an excitement, a breath, an inhalation that I find nowhere else. 

​I began my exploration of ceramics in high school in small town St. Clair, Michigan in an independent study program. Through this program I discovered a love of clay that led me to pursue the arts at Eastern Michigan University. Looking back at my youth I see the influences of creative people all around me. My father, a finish carpenter, is a precision craftsman. My grandmother created slip cast porcelain wares and dolls. My Mother was always pursuing one craft project after the other. It was inevitable that I would become a maker of some kind.

http://www.sandyharquail.com/

Vin Arora

Vin Arora

Vin Arora
Vin Arora

A closer look at Vin’s artwork will reveal that it contains the spirit of an urban environ yet is fused with a profound respect for nature and the logic and mystery in materials. Any single work could reflect various energies like that of a folk festival, a hip-hop show, drag pageant, cartoon realities, dreamscapes, a political rally, or a silent retreat. His work derives colour, shape and texture from walks in the downtown east side as much as it does from contemplative hikes into the forest with his dog.

Vin Arora is a Vancouver based artist working and teaching in ceramics, exploring material as means of social cohesion and community building as well as a means of inward reflection. Vin attended the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (Now ECU) starting in ’96 and has worked in clay in Vancouver ever since. Vin has worked with many great teachers, artists and potters in Vancouver and also takes influence from travels in India and Britain.

Techtonic Plate Series-Stoneware-2″x 11″x9″-2017

www.techtonicplates.net

Vin Arora  vinarora6@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Peter Flanagan

Peter Flanagan 

With his recent return to Victoria, Peter’s ceramic journey has come full circle. Before moving to the Okanagan Valley in 1985, he completed a degree in art history at University of Victoria. While at university he maintained a studio and wood fired kiln in the back woods of Oak Bay!

By the mid eighties after art school and university it was time to devote full attention to pottery making. Along with his father-in-law Des Loan at Okanagan Pottery in Peachland, a focused studio practise began. A steady stream of artists, potters and studio visitors kept the creative climate elevated and relevant. In addition to family, clay makers Les Manning, Luke Lindoe and Francis Hatfield provided essential mentorship. Working side by side with wife Daphne maintained a ceramic dialogue essential for mutual growth and success.

 


In the following years Peter’s work achieved national and international attention and recognition. His work has been in exhibitions, received awards and is included in public and
private collections in Japan, New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Canada and the USA. Sharing his knowledge working in clay with eager learners has been and continues to be an extremely rewarding experience. Pushing his own boundaries in the physical scale, technical and material challenges of porcelain, Peter appreciates a whole new awareness and conversation with the material. Decades of practice culminate to achieve an expression in large-scale works with innovative surface treatment that continue to excite his creative yearning.

Gordon Hutchens

Denman Island, BC

Gordon Hutchens

Gordon’s work shows a long developing exploration of form texture and colour. He mixes together natural minerals and chemical elements and thru the art of complex firings, where subtle nuances in the character of the flame can make a dramatic difference, he brings these glazes to life.

Organic Iridesence
Organic Iridesence

Here is an expression of balance, not just physical, but the balance between control and spontaneity, traditional and contemporary, technique and creative thought.

Vase
Vase

Lustre
Lustre

Tea Bowl Anagama
Tea Bowl Anagama

IMG_0228
Fired Up 2014

Gordon Hutchens
4031 Wren Road
Denman Island, BC V0R 1T0
Phone: 250-335-2409
Email: hutchens@telus.net
Website: http://www.gordonhutchens.com/

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