TORONTO POTTERS’ 15th BIENNIAL EXHIBITION

Catalogue Introduction

Toronto Potters’ 15th Biennial Juried Exhibition September 16 - 26, 2010 at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art commemorates the organization’s 30th Anniversary. Founded in 1979, Toronto Potters stands today a non-profit volunteer-run association of approximately 100 members. Fourteen exhibitions mounted in highly visible public exhibition spaces, John B. Aird Gallery, the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, have enhanced the group's reputation for successful exhibitions of artistic merit.

Patterns established by early executives set the foundation for later exhibitions. First president Marian Maynard was in the original graduating class in clay at Sheridan College. Roughly a quarter of the 15th Biennial exhibiting artists are graduates of the Sheridan College ceramics programme, whereas in previous shows many members received their education outside Canada. Traditionally, submissions are encouraged and received, evenly divided between sculptural and functional categories. Juror Ann Roberts’ comments suggest a future direction, to realize abstract concepts through new forms, regardless of making style. The publication of Toronto Potters’ Exhibition catalogues, initiated in the 90’s, provides a visual record of the past decade. Informal sharing of expertise, a function of the “guild” model, provides organizational direction, while members share their other talents to benefit the group. Commitment to creating is evident. Many exhibitors volunteer to run ceramics organizations, teach pottery or form alliances for joint exhibitions beyond Toronto Potters: (Women Who Wood, The Cup Show, Signs of Our Times). That the association has continued for 25 years without permanent residence or studio space contributes to the sense of individual diversity denoting Toronto Potters’ exhibitions.

The current exhibition, designed to engage all levels of experience, attracted new and emerging artists to the competition. Three possible avenues offered participation opportunities: a juried Exhibition, Retrospective and Survey Show featuring the collective talent of members.

The juried Exhibition held in the Gardiner Museum Shop showcases the finest ceramics produced by members. Support from the Ontario Arts Council enabled two jurors Ann Roberts and Bruce Cochrane to select 41 pieces from a field of 102 works. Based on their combined 60 years of teaching experience, works were judged on creative expression, originality and technical merit in categories of ‘For Use’ or ‘Of Expression’. Jurors’ comments published in the exhibition catalogue are important statements that move art forward by providing insight or direction. This 15th exhibition catalogue continues the fine tradition of documenting Toronto Potters’ exhibitions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ECHOES AND RIPPLES EXHIBITION 

Excerpt from the catalogue for ECHOES AND RIPPLES EXHIBITION at

Burlington Art Centre November 2007 to February 2008

Tour and talk with curators, Susan Card and Jonathan Smith. January 20, 2008 2 pm

Toronto Potters, founded in 1979 as a not for profit volunteer-run association, is an eclectic group of approximately 100 members who pursue working with clay as a passion. Some members are professional artists whose livelihood is dependent on creating pottery or sculpture, or teaching pottery classes, while others experiment with clay as a hobby.

The association mounts biennial juried exhibitions, holds monthly meetings with guest speakers, publishes a newsletter, holds biannual sales of members’ work, and sponsors activities that contribute to the artistic growth and development of members.

ECHOES AND RIPPLES, is one of a series of Burlington Art Centre exhibitions that shows historical context for contemporary pottery. It features selected works from members of Toronto Potters whose work is defined by vessel orientation and who exhibit regularly in juried shows - provincially, nationally, and internationally.

Marian Maynard, one of the founding members of Toronto Potters, was part of the original graduating class in clay at Sheridan College, and part of the group with Donn Zver that began the Potters' Guild of Hamilton and Region in 1971. Indeed, she was the first president of the Hamilton-based guild, but upon relocation to Toronto was instrumental in initiating Toronto Potters, and it’s first president. Knowing this legacy, one becomes aware of the cross-fertilization of ideas within this group of exhibiting potters that transverses regional groups. Many of the Toronto Potters are members of several pottery guilds, including those of Burlington and Hamilton.

Life experiences drawn from various parts of the world contribute to the overall impression of diversity within Toronto Potters, which is a distinctive characteristic of the group. Several exhibitors received their education outside of Canada, in the UK, France, Poland, or Eastern Europe, some in the US, one in Brazil, and some were educated in Canada. The work represents a multiplicity of attitudes and styles.

This exhibition also traces a largely unacknowledged aspect of the guild structure, the informal sharing of expertise, which expands perspective. Within guilds, alliances occur to form exhibition groups. Cory Pinassi, Wendy Vervoort, and Zsuzsa Monostory have exhibited as Fireballs, while Judith Graham, Laima Bruveris, Danuta Weizenbluth, Louise Macnab, and Susan Card (with Jutta Spengemann) exhibited together as the Cup Group. Joyce Wheatley and Liz Willoughby have fired and exhibited together over many years. Robert Tetu and Susan Card have exhibited together and continue to make collaborative pieces. Kathy Matsushita and Joyce Wheatley are exhibiting Sumi-e artists at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, which is also the venue of choice for the Toronto Potters’ biannual sales. Joyce Wheatley, Kim Harcourt, Celia Brandao, Zsuzsa Monostory, and Liz Willoughby, along with others, currently wood fire together and form part of the core of Women Who Wood. Eden Bender and Judith Graham are both members of the Ontario Society of Artists. The newly opened Scratch Gallery in Toronto, owned by Eden Bender and her partner Hans Wontorra, regularly exhibits the sculptural works of Judith Graham, Danuta Weizenbluth and Irit Lepkin.

Over half of the potters teach clay classes at various facilities and have, without doubt, have influenced each other as well as a new generation of potters. Joni Moriyama and Mark Jaroszewicz, who teach at the Ontario College of Art and Design, bring a formal sense of design to works they exhibit and introduce their students to the guild concept. Chiho Tokita, Kathy Matsushita, and Kasumi Lampitoc have all studied with Susan Card at Sheridan College or at City of Toronto facilities, or with Joyce Wheatley through the Woodlawn pottery studio. Wendy Vervoort teaches pottery at the Mississauga Potters’ Guild, Kathy Matsushita presently teaches at Pickering Pottery Studio, Zsuzsa Monostory teaches at Riverdale Farm, and Celia Brandao teaches at the Jewish Community Centre in Toronto. Louise Macnab and Danuta Weizenbluth have offered classes for many years through a private co-operative in Toronto, the Potters Studio. More common is non-institutional learning promoted by guilds through workshop leaders hired to share their expertise. For example, Robert Têtu has taught and influenced Robert Walter, Kathy Matsushita, Zsuzsa Monostory, Celia Brandao, Kasumi Lampitoc and Susan Card about detailed aspects of pottery making through workshops he conducts across the province and in his studio in southwestern Ontario. The exhibiting artists are part of the litany of speakers and workshop leaders that comprise the informal training of Ontario potters through the guilds.

Partnerships developed through volunteer work on the Toronto Potters’ Executive, or with groups like FUSION: The Ontario Clay and Glass Association in developing joint workshops with other guilds, follows a pattern established by early executive members. Almost everyone in the exhibiting group has been committed to pottery creating while taking on responsibility for the running of ceramics organizations. Author Gail Crawford speaks of the Toronto Potters having a heritage of a “business-like and professional approach.” Liz Willoughby, Judith Graham, Louise Macnab, Cory Pinassi, Eden Bender and Joyce Wheatley have fine-tuned the organization of fourteen Toronto Potters’ Biennials and have passed their legacy of learning to the new generation of exhibition organizers, Kim Harcourt, Lesley McInally and Chiho Tokita. For several years Judith Graham was instrumental in organizing both Burlington Potters Guild and Toronto Potters exhibitions juried by some of the pre-eminent ceramic artists of Canada such as Steve Heinemann, Bruce Cochrane, Susan Low-Beer, Ron Roy, and Ann Mortimer. Public exhibition venues such as Harbourfront, The John B. Aird Gallery and the Gardiner Museum along with an impressive list of jurors have established the Toronto Potters Biennials as shows to scrutinize for “up and coming” ceramic artists. The 2008 Biennial will take place in the new OCC Gallery on Queen Street in Toronto.

Artists encouraged in the guild setting seem to eventually cycle out of a given group once a certain level of expertise has been achieved or because of life‘s changes. A number of individuals in Toronto Potters have moved on to open new galleries or studios in the last few years. As such, this exhibition includes the work of new, past and deceased members of the group, as well as work from one of the founding members of FUSION and current Toronto Potters member Judy Morsink. Some works are drawn from the permanent collections of FUSION and Burlington Art Centre; others are new works. We wish to thank everyone who contributed current work, or pieces from their personal collections, to mount the exhibition, and on behalf of Toronto Potters, I want to thank Jonathan Smith and the art center for encouraging all Toronto Potters through the opportunity to exhibit at BAC.