Tuesday, October 19, 2010

October in Red Deer

A couple weeks ago I was in Red Deer, Alberta, to present at the 1000 Miles Apart Ceramics Conference, an annual get together of students and faculty from the four prairie art schools that have ceramics programs - ACAD, University of Regina, University of Manitoba, and Red Deer College. I did a two-day studio demonstration where I built one of my self-firing pieces. It's been four years since I made one of those things and I had forgotten how nerve wracking it can be (I won't go into detail right now about the time I caught a gallery's carpet on fire). I also did a lecture while I was there - it was a really good time. Here are some pictures of the conference:

The main ceramics studio:

Julia Galloway (who also demonstrated) and Leon Popic:

Some of Julia's pots:

Robert Harrison (also a demonstrator) and Teri Frame (who did a performance):

Me standing next to the new arch that Robert built:

The pizza oven (staffed by Paul Leathers and Trudy Golley):

And the pizza party:

October in Corner Brook

My Grey Islands travel plans this year have been a complete bust. I couldn't go as planned in August because of a family emergency. Then my Labour Day weekend plans were rained out by Hurricane Earl. And now I've got a job, which, as we all know, is the total end of freedom for me for the time being. My next chance will be Xmas if the weather is decent, which it probably won't be, although Paul has mentioned that he has gone out in December before. I don't think that's too realistic for me though - my mother might lose her mind if I went to the Grey Islands for Xmas.

I should mention that work is going quite well. I've been enjoying myself and putting a lot of work into the clay and ceramic areas at the school. We have a new kiln arriving next week and when that gets here I'll be totally rearranging the clay room.

On my off time I've been working hard on the Settlers of Grey Islands which is finally nearing completion. I'm planning on showing it as part of a faculty/staff exhibition at the college here in November. I've got some volunteers lined up who are actually going to play the game in the gallery during the opening reception on November 13th. I think I will also have a game myself once a week in the gallery while the show is up, and I'll have an open invitation out there for anyone who wants to join me. Some pictures of my progress will be forthcoming shortly - just got to install the new kiln so I can actually fire the hex tiles.