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john leach workshop at metchosin, bc

updated mon 30 jun 97

 

The Shelfords on sat 31 may 97

Hi all -

By any chance, is anyone else from this list going to the Leach workshop at
Pearson College in Metchosin on Vancouver Island, June 7th and 8th? Just
wondering, as I'll be there, and it'd be fun to put some faces to names if
there were any faces to be named, just walking around...

- Veronica
____________________________________________________________________________
Veronica Shelford
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel: (250) 246-1509
____________________________________________________________________________

Debi Beck on mon 9 jun 97

>By any chance, is anyone else from this list going to the Leach workshop at
Pearson College in Metchosin on Vancouver Island, June 7th and 8th? Just
wondering, as I'll be there, and it'd be fun to put some faces to names if
there were any faces to be named, just walking around...
<
Veronica,

How was it? I wish I had known about it. . . I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. Did
you see any other CLAYARTERS?

Debi
(Just got back from the Ojai Festival, Ventura County Potters Guild)

Sherry mcDonald Stewart on tue 10 jun 97

Would you provide more details on the Leach workshop Veronica? Sherry

Robert Rank on wed 11 jun 97

Couldn't resist the mention of Ojai and the Ventura County Potters Guild. I
did that for many years, am now potting east of Fresno in the Sierras.
Fond memories,
Lynn Rank

----------
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List on behalf of Debi Beck
Sent: Monday, June 09, 1997 1:43 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Subject: Re: John Leach workshop at Metchosin, BC

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>By any chance, is anyone else from this list going to the Leach workshop at
Pearson College in Metchosin on Vancouver Island, June 7th and 8th? Just
wondering, as I'll be there, and it'd be fun to put some faces to names if
there were any faces to be named, just walking around...
<
Veronica,

How was it? I wish I had known about it. . . I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. Did
you see any other CLAYARTERS?

Debi
(Just got back from the Ojai Festival, Ventura County Potters Guild)

The Shelfords on thu 12 jun 97

>How was it? I wish I had known about it. . . I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. Did
>you see any other CLAYARTERS?
>
>Debi

Hi Debi, Sherry and anyone else who is interested -

The John Leach workshop was just great, and MISSA (Metchosin International
Summer School of the Arts) at Pearson College is really beautiful. And
yes, I did meet a couple of other clayarters - Joan Warren from Saltspring
and Betty Burroughs (a self-confessed lurker) from Victoria - a real
pleasure.

John Leach is an enthusiastic and inspiring lover of clay and nature and
pots, a skilled production potter with beautiful woodfired wares, and a very
worthy carrier of the Leach tradition. Not so much in the style of his
work, which is his own, but in the philosophy and approach which touched the
heart of why so many of us are doing this. There were lots of references to
his grandfather, Bernard, and Shoji Hamada, and John's father, David, and
Michael Cardew and others of the great studio pottery revival in the early
part of this century. He read an obviously much-prized letter from his
grandfather to himself, on the occasion of his being accepted as an
apprentice in his grandfathers pottery in St. Ives. (If you would like to
read the text of that letter, - and I really recommend it - you can view it
in the June issue of the BC Potters' Guild newsletter, on the web at
www.margaretdesign.com/PGuild/news.htm). Frankly, we all just wallowed in
tradition and nostalgia and loved every minute of it.
There wasn't a lot of technical stuff - inevitably you picked up tips about
remaining fluent and inspired while engaged in production work, but it was
more philosophical than technical. John threw a good cross-section of his
standard pieces - all firmly and freely done, showing the easy skill of one
raised in the "repeat-ware" tradition, but the pieces were never sterile or
"too perfect." He is also a great clown and show-man, an ebullient
personality - makes you feel good just to be around him.
There were videos of how pots were made in villages in India and Africa,
and a video of a BBC show which showcased the work of five British potters,
including but by no means highlighting himself. He showed slides of some
land he bought near his home, in which he has dug a large pond ("the biggest
thing I've ever done in clay") and around which he has planted thousands of
trees. This mini-park has been rapidly colonized by a wide variety of
natural life, and obviously gives him a great deal of satisfaction. He
communicated, first foremost and entirely, his own passion for pots, the
potters life, and the natural world, and we all felt included and energized
by it.
If any of the others at this workshop, or some of the others John has given
on this tour, can remember other things to add to this resume - I hope you will.

- Veronica

____________________________________________________________________________
Veronica Shelford
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel: (250) 246-1509
____________________________________________________________________________