CCPS celebrates the successes of three of our members at the 2013 Sydney Royal Easter Show Arts and Crafts Awards. This year is particularly special being the 45th anniversary of CCPS, as well as ceramics as the feature display at the Arts and Crafts Pavilion.

Congratulations to: Kylie Rose McLean who was the recipient of two 1st prize awards - 1st in Non-Functional with her entry 'Fat Quarters' and 1st prize in Atmospheric with 'Termite Mounds' (also an exhibit in last year's Gosford Art Prize); Ingrid Tristram who took the 2nd prize award in Atmospheric with three of her beautiful naked raku perfume bottles; and Sharon Ridsdale who received a Highly Commended for her 'Littlest Dragon' piece in the Non-Functional section. In 2012 she was the 3rd prize winner in Non-Functional.

Kylie Rose McLean and Sharon Ridsdale will also have work included in Sculpture on the Greens, opening Friday 5th April.

Previous winners and CCPS members include Annette Reid and Lesley Webber.

We are very proud of our members' fabulous achievements, which highlights the enormous diversity and talent within our organisation.

Visit the Royal Easter Show, say hello to some of our members on Tuesday 26th March between 9:00am & 5:00pm, and watch the demonstrations of wheel throwing and hand building throughout the day.

You can view and purchase some of our members' work at our May exhibition - East West Tea Drinking Traditions - opening Friday 3rd to Tuesday 14th May at Studio 1 Gallery, Gosford Regional Gallery, East Gosford. Unique, handcrafted gifts for Mothers' Day. Coinciding with this exhibition will be a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony, taking place on Monday 13th May in the beautiful Edogawa Japanese Garden.

Our Workshop is located at 1/10 Russell Drysdale Street, East Gosford, a short walk from the Gosford Regional Gallery - the Friendship Walk connects us. Check out our website for workshops and other events, as well as membership details - www.ccpotters.org or call 4324 4353.

Time is flying and it's already several weeks since Keiko Matsui gave a wonderful demonstration at our Workshop (Saturday 16th February). Here is a review from our March Newsletter. Drawings & text by Ingrid Tristram.

Keiko Matsui’s demonstration of wheel thrown and hand altered pots was as delightful as it was informative. Our first demonstration for the year, it was booked out well in advance. Keiko, a new member to CCPS, introduced us to her deceptively simple techniques of throwing, altering and joining two pots, turning a bowl and decorating with oxide. In explanation to her method of cutting a ‘V’ shape into the clay and pressing the new edges together with exposed slurry, Keiko commented, she likes “the idea of an organic detail juxtaposed with a formal shape”.

Keiko works with Southern Ice Porcelain and Keane’s Porcelaineous Stoneware, which she used in our demonstration. Her favourite tools are the Mudtools’ blue, kidney-shaped sponge for pulling up clay, a long metal kidney for final shaping and sharp Tungsten Japanese turning tools. Keiko has found the Mudtools sponge holds enough water to work porcelain, and is fine enough to give a smooth surface. She prefers a measured pace when throwing, allowing better control of the clay.

The first of the two pots thrown was a squat vase shape. After putting this aside to dry, the second pot was thrown upside-down from a kilo of clay. This was a cylinder. From her training with Ivan Gluch, Keiko noted a kilo of clay, with a diameter of 11cm, should throw to 16 or 17 cm in height.

After reaching the final height, Keiko cut two ‘ V’ shapes about 4cm long from the rim of the cylinder and rejoined the edges with slurry, matching the diameter of the first vase-shaped pot. The altered cylinder was cut off two centimetres above the wheelhead because it did not need a base. When the two pots were dry enough, the first pot was returned to the cleaned wheelhead, scored and slurry added to the rim. The second pot was then inverted, scored and slurried on the ‘V tuck’ rim. The two pots were joined on the wheel using pieces of clay rather than a coil for reinforcement. Keiko continued to throw and refine the top of the cylinder until the pot was finished.

For our purposes Keiko used a blowtorch for fast drying. At home she allows her pots to dry a little, then uses a needle to mark the bottom of the pot before removing it with a wire from the wheelhead. Rather than using pieces of clay to fix her pieces for turning, Keiko uses circles of foam sponge (approx. 15mm thick) under her pots, an especially good technique for pots with irregular rims. Layers of two or three sponge batts can accommodate very irregular rims.

Keiko works with two glazes, a clear gloss and a matt white. She decorates using a brush with long bristles that hold a good amount of oxide. She demonstrated decorating with iron oxide, starting from the inside before continuing the lines over the rim to the outside. “Just let your hand go free”, she suggested, and “do not think too much”. Keiko prefers using cobalt oxide and always decorates on top of her glaze. We left with lots of ideas to try out which after all is the test of a good demonstration.

Thank you Keiko.

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.