On the 11th of August the CCPS Workshop was abuzz with activity at the Cameron Williams workshop. 15 participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The day began with a demonstration of simple steps for centring on the wheel, then
Cameron began throwing his trademark large forms in various shapes and shared his very simple method of making very large platters.
One interesting technique was the use of latex as a texturing tool. Using a tree trunk as the mould, Cameron painted latex onto a section of rough bark, then
pressed a piece of chux onto the latex,
finishing with another coat of latex. This was left to dry then removed and
during the day.pressed on to the various forms thrown. The latex/chux can be used many times to simply achieve an interesting surface texture.
Cameron is very giving with his knowledge
and patiently answered the many questions. He left us all inspired to get on the
wheel and start throwing.
(Thanks to Anniss Seymour for the details of this post.)

It's time to get your ceramic pieces ready for the Gosford Art Prize.
Register online this year at http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=28412
Drop off dates - September 13, 14, 15 & 17 between 10:30am and 3:30pm.
LATE ENTRIES NOT ACCEPTED.
More info on our events & social activities page.

Our Christmas exhibition is already in the making (22 November - 06 December) but here's a little from our May exhibition this year.

No reputations were literally soiled during this exhibition but we certainly turned the soil enough to create the most successful exhibition and sale to date.

20 members presented pots in May this year at the Gosford Regional Gallery's Studio Gallery. A diverse range of pots and ceramic items exhibiting many styles were inspired by a garden theme.

We were lucky enough to have Councillor Vicki Scott open the exhibition. Her comment, "Without the arts community there is no soul" rings true. We have a wealth of talented and very creative people on the coast, many of them members of CCPS. A talented young guitarist, Micah Blik entertained us at the opening.

Something from a past event this year.

Saturday 28th June was a special day at CCPS. Judy Barrett, our oldest member still potting, generously shared her time and some of her fascinating life story and gave a demonstration of her pottery wheel skills.

Judy has been potting for 45 years. She trained under some of Sydney's first potters and knew most of the key people involved in pottery in Sydney from the early 1960's. During our interview with her she mentioned, Velma Boos & Gary Booth who trained with David Leech in the UK. She was around in the early days of the Ceramics Study Group and was part of the experimenting and learning taking place in the Australian pottery scene at that time. Over almost five decades Judy has witnessed the many, many changes that have occurred in Australian pottery.

Before pottery, Judy studied at the University of Sydney between 1944 and 1949. In this time she obtained a Bachelor of Science, studied an Honors year and completed a Masters in Biochemistry. Later she travelled to the UK and carried out her Phd studies at Redding University. She is an accomplished and quite remarkable woman.

Judy has made pottery her life. She brought up her family from sales of her work and still pots today.

Here are a few images from the day.