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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.        
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Sunday the 15th of April proved another fabulous day for Raku. 17 potters from CCPS came together to stoke the fires on their self-made Ikea Pedal Bin Raku Kilns for the first time. With great anticipation and excitement 16 kilns were set up, reduction bins lined, kindling attended to and plenty of pots glazed. We were blessed with perfect weather and lots of space to experiment. The first kiln fires were lit by 10:30am. As the day moved on it was apparent there is much more to this kiln than just building it. This wonderfully portable, cost effective and fuel efficient kiln requires careful attention when building up to temperature. Some of us suffered from fire feeding frenzy and others from fire neglect. This highlighted the need to be sensitive to maintaining the kiln's temperature. Running the kiln alone, especially with so many other distractions, takes great concentration. Having a dedicated stoker is an advantage. However, many pieces turned out beautifully and we saw some great results with glazes and reduction. Some of these pieces will be displayed and on sale at our Soiled Reputations exhibition opening Friday 4th May @ The Studio Gallery, Gosford Regional Gallery. It was a wonderful day to share experiences with other potters at a group firing. We look forward to building on our techniques on Saturday 2nd June when our next CCPS Raku firing is planned. A huge thank you to Anniss and Marienne for their organisation of yet another successful even. Here are some images from the day. Today was FANTASTIC! A group of 19 CCPS members and non members took part in another successful raku day, held at the great CCPS facilities in East Gosford. Pauline Ryan from Castle Hill potters presented an excellent demonstration of the Ikea pedal bin raku kiln. Afterwards we had the opportunity to fire some pots in the kilns. The Ikea kiln, developed by Stefan Jakob, is attractive for its simplicity of construction and ease of use. Requiring only kindling as fuel, within half an hour 1000ºC is reached and half an hour later the pots are ready. We were running 2 kilns and fired each kiln approximately 5 times between 11:00am and 2:30pm. Most people reduced their pots in metal bins containing various combinations of newspaper, shredded paper and saw dust. Some also plunged their pots in water afterwards for cleaning and to retain colour. We were most impressed with the ease at which the kiln operated and the speed at which it can function. Several people commented, "I had to see it to believe it". It was an inspirational day. Of particular interest to many participants was the naked raku process of covering burnished pieces with white slip and glaze, then scratching back a design through the layers. Exposed areas turn black as well as crack lines in the glaze. After firing and reduction the glaze and slip are scraped off to reveal the final design. The following links provide further information http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgFFilCiug and http://www.pitfire.com/naked_raku.htm To see what we were up to check out the images below. Keep an eye on the website for more activities. Next year brings more interesting and inspiring events to fuel your imagination and add to your creative repertoire. More information on the Ikea kiln and Stefan Jakob's 2008 Australian visit can be viewed at http://www.strathnairn.asn.au/air/stefanJakob.php and http://www.canberrapotters.com.au/c_members_events2.html Many thanks to Pauline Ryan and Marienne Stollery for an extremely successful, informative and enjoyable day. |
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10a Russell Drysdale Street East Gosford, NSW, 2250 |