Glassblowing Workshop
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On Saturday April 17th a band of enthusiastic Valley Potters trekked up to Healesville to attend a Glassblowing Workshop at Tim Bassett and Tali Dalton's Glassblowing Studio.
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Much fun was had by all and at the end of the day we all came home with our own individually designed glass paperweight.
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We were carefully guided through the process of choosing our colours, melting the glass in the furnace, shaping and forming the paperweight and knocking it off. Our pieces were then annealed in the kiln.
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As usual the workshop was a fabulous success with much laughter and catching up over cake and coffee all part of the day.
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Clay Spectrum exhibition
Praise was heaped upon Laura Windmill and her helpers when setting up the annual Valley Potters
exhibition.
Alexandra, the curator of the Kingston Art Gallery, commented on our fabulous exhibition.
She said our members
were a dream to work with - efficient, organised and professional.
Clay Spectrum Exhibition 2010 Slideshow |
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Barry Singleton, Master Potter, was the judge of the Valley Potters annual exhibition. Barry opened the exhibition on Thursday November 5 2009. He spoke of his admiration of potters like Leach, and told us that a pot is more than a piece of fired clay. In Barry's opinion, a successful "pot" is well designed and thrown, but it is not successful unless it engages its audience.
Having told us of his usual preference in pottery, Barry confessed that his choice for the Acquisition Prize came almost as a surprise to himself! |
$300 ACQUISITION AWARD, SPONSORED BY VALLEY POTTERS
JILL ANDERSON - GUTLESS SIREN.
The image presents a very strong political statement. caricature is brilliant (no mistaking who it is!). Media is well handled. Thrown form, hand building and modelling combined to create the overall effect. Add to this the images of smoke stacks, gums, water and uranium... well, not much is left out. This is a very creative piece; imaginative, well thought out and gutsy. |
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$200 HIGHLY COMMENDED PRIZE SPONSORED BY CLAYWORKS
LAURA WINDMILL - KIMBERLEY BOAB FOREST.
A group of five forms. These are elegant, well thrown bottles - not an easy form to control. They are saggar fired to gain a colourful and decorative result. There is a lovely contrast between the red orange sigalata background and the light/dark lacy and seaweedy textures. This gives a very striking and overall decorative design. |
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$150 ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD SPONSORED BY LISBETH DUNCAN
GLENN ENGLAND - COLLECTOR'S BOX
This is a nicely fitted lidded box slab built in porcelain. This is not an easy piece to make considering the material, shrinkage and the tendency for warping to occur.
It's a whimsical piece which conjures up the sea, the shore and the pieces we tend to pick up as we wander along.
There is a good use of subtle texture, pattern and glaze colour.
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$100 MERIT AWARD SPONSORED BY POTTERS EQUIPMENT
JILL BYGOTT - LANDSCAPE 1
This large terracotta sculptural form is thrown and handbuilt.
It shows good textural contrast with the use of different clays giving an overall lively and vibrant surface effect.
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$100 STUDENT AWARD SPONSORED BY LISBETH DUNCAN
SHARYN DINGELDEI - RAKU VESSEL
This is a competently thrown form with lively colour from the raku reduction firing. |
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Juliet Widdows, vice president of Vally Potters, introduced our guest judge, Barry Singleton. |
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