VALLEY POTTERS INC

TO PROVIDE A POINT OF CONTACT TO FELLOW POTTERS IN VICTORIA AUSTRALIA.
​

Our aim is to encourage and stimulate members to a higher standard of craftsmanship. To disseminate theoretical, practical and historical knowledge of potters and their endeavours. 

The group formed in 1978 by Margaret Holloway as the Dandenong Ceramic Group. The name was changed in 1985 as new members were being attracted from a much wider area.

 We are a non-profit organization of approximately 50+ members, situated in the eastern/south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and membership is drawn from the wider Victorian community.

We aim to hold two exhibitions per year, which all members are welcome to participate in, as well as workshops and social events. Members also receive a bi-monthly newsletter. The Acquisition collection of works is on display at Clayworks in Dandenong and is added to each year with a work selected by an independent judge from the group's annual exhibition.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT December 2020

 Welcome to our 2020 AGM. It is with great excitement that we can once again gather as a group, face to face. 2020 has been a very difficult year for us personally, yet the hard working Valley Potters’ committee has kept in touch via Zoom conferencing and emails. We had a lot of plans for this year ; including Raku days, Pit firings, a workshop with Mary Lou Pittard, possibilities for weekends away and Studio visits. Covid de railed our plans, however we are lucky to be able to transpose 2020 into 2021. The workshops are back on; as are the exhibitions (our longest running exhibition at Marysville will end on 4th of February.) Our Annual Exhibition was unable to be held but Karen has organised one at Ladders Gallery, details coming soon. Thank you to everyone who kept in contact, re scheduled events and generally handled things. With luck we can now gather together to share experiences and information, get back to being inspired and creative, value our friendships and have a much better New Year! 

Thank you all,
Juliet Widdows, President

​A.G.M & End of year celebration

On December the 13th we met for our A.G.M. and end of year celebrations at Bernadette Skinners apple orchard in Officer with over 40 people attending. The events were combined due to the lockdown of course. It had been a headache for the committee to plan any gatherings and this was the 3rd alternative plan - an open air gathering and meeting together. Thank you to Bernadette for making this possible. It was so exciting for everyone to actually catch up and meeting in person. It was so difficult not to give everyone a big hug as they arrived. Of course there was serious business to attend to first and we got this done as quickly as possible. (See updated committee details on page 2). In keeping with tradition Max of Clayworks ran the quiz with Fifi keeping score. It seemed especially difficult this year, maybe I need to study the current affairs before next year. Because we were unable to offer our members anything throughout the year in terms of workshops and outings it was decided that our gathering would be catered for and this was done by BLU OLIVE. Bernadette provided the refreshments from Belleview Orchard and even gave us a tour of the juicing factory. Time flies when you’re having fun and all too soon it was time to say our farewells. Let’s hope that this time we won’t be waiting so long to catch up again.

Claire Johnson

https://bluolive.com.au/
Hi everyone,

I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these strange times.

At our recent committee meeting, due to the current ongoing COVID emergency it was decided to defer our AGM and planned upcoming exhibition at the Ladder Gallery.

Our AGM would have fallen during the 6 week Stage 4 restrictions and the exhibition although scheduled for October would most likely still be under some form of restrictions. Logistically the movement of people and pots would have been extremely difficult and in order to create a level playing field for members who wish to exhibit it was better to defer.
Karen, our Exhibitions Officer is working closely with the gallery to arrange new dates and we will give you plenty of notice of the new dates.
Members who have work at the Marysville exhibition please note that the gallery still remains closed and we will advise you once we know what it proposed there. At the moment it is proposed to hold our AGM in conjunction with our Christmas break up on Dec 13th. We will provide you with more details closer to the date.
We would have loved to provide our members with all our scheduled 2020 activities, however that was not possible, but be assured we have great things planned for next year, 2021.

Stay safe, stay well

Regards
Laura Windmill, Secretary Valley Potters
vpinc_membership_form_2020-2021.pdf
File Size: 229 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File