by Carole Epp | Feb 17, 2011 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday
APPLICATION DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2011
Now in its 50th year, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition [TOAE] is a juried showcase featuring contemporary fine art and craft that takes place annually on Nathan Phillips Square, every July.
As the largest outdoor art exhibition in Canada, TOAE offers a fresh-air alternative to conventional art shows and galleries. Hundreds of artists participate and an estimated 100,000 visitors attend the exhibition every year. Side by side, established artists, undiscovered talents and innovative students sell their work directly to the public and make lasting connections with art dealers and collectors.
In 2010, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition’s award program presented over $30,000 in cash awards and prizes to participating artists.
The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition is a charitable, non-profit organization supported by a group of volunteers active in the art and corporate communities. The exhibition is financed through registration fees, and by government, corporate and individual sponsors, enabling the TOAE to charge one of the lowest registration fees in North America. No percentage of the artists’ sales is taken by the organizers. Apply online at the TOAE website at or call 416.408.2754 for more information. For further information, please contact: Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
264 – 401 Richmond Street West
Toronto, ON
M5V 3A8
416.408.2754
toae [at] torontooutdoorart [dot] org
by Carole Epp | Feb 16, 2011 | Uncategorized
*** Special Note: Shannon Merritt is the Featured Artist at the Gallery of BC Ceramics from February 15th to March 15th make sure you stop by to see her work in person!
(gallery information here: http://www.bcpotters.com/Gallery/index.html )
Artist Biography
Shannon Merritt grew up in southern Ontario, tidy and shy. She received a B.A. in Native Studies from Trent University and moved to Yellowknife, NT where she spent winter nights tickling the aurora borealis, and summer days portaging her canoe through the forests of biting flies.
Shannon is a graduate of the Kootenay School of Arts in Nelson, BC where she lives, waking each day to the view of Elephant Mountain. She considers herself a writer disguised as a potter.
Artist Statement
I’m a potter and I’ve a fondness for words. I spent the better part of two days taking apart a typewriter so that I could press the keys into the flesh of the clay, recording my thoughts and observations onto pots. I’ve collected a number of things that are used as stamps. These miscellaneous cast-offs are more valuable than trimming tools and include antique letterpress blocks, pieces of retired machinery, and a caribou tooth from my adventures in the North. Together, the words and symbols become a story of my rhythm of making. Lessons, kindnesses, tattletales and laughs are highlighted using coloured slip beneath a clear glaze.
I am making modern day folk pots to create an intimacy in the way we consume the foods of our time. These hand built or wheel thrown and altered pots speak of precious functionality: bowls that are meant to be sipped from, and mugs with inverted handles, so that the user can cradle the cup, warming the hands. The proof of alteration has been left to remind the user of the individual attention the pot received.
These techniques come from a millennium of making, and applying them to contemporary functional porcelain pots is an exciting way of story-telling. It’s incredibly personal this shared journaling. And what I’m finding is that the pots I write stir something in the people who use them. It’s almost as if we’ve witnessed something together, like we share a great secret.
The words are a reaching out; a minute’s worth of conversation between us.
by Carole Epp | Feb 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
I am studio potter and teacher living on Vancouver Island. After many years without a place to call my own, I opened my studio and gallery, Dirty Girl Clayworks in 2004. My pots offer a contemporary, playful perspective on creating artful pottery that one can use to celebrate the everyday moments as well as unique occasions.
My work is informed by historical slipware. I use bright, fun colours, images, and text which reflect my belief that playfulness is an integral part of life. I have a love of words, both oral and printed. I find that the slip wants to be written on and into, carved and layered.
Text and simple, silhouette style stencils are the basis of my surface decoration. With this simple base I use printmaking techniques and inspiration from graphic novels, photography, poetry, politics, graffiti, and children’s books to tell stories on clay.
www.etsy.com/shop/dirtygirlclayworks
by Carole Epp | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
***You can’t miss this one! Yours truly will be there.
May 6 – 8, 2011 In the 21st century we find ourselves increasingly globalized through the food we eat, the clothes we wear, goods we purchase and the images we consume through TV and the Internet. In this conference we will look at the internationalizing of the ceramics studio practice and the effect that it has on us as makers. We’re excited to announce the following presenters for this event: Elaine Henry of Ceramics Art & Perception Magazine – Keynote Speaker Paul Scott (UK) – lecture and demo Ginny Marsh (USA) – lecture and demo Ian Johnson (CAN) – lecture and demo Jeremy Hatch (CAN) – lecture and demo Carole Epp (CAN) – lecture and demo Robin Lambert (CAN) – lecture Koi Neng Liew (Singapore) – lecture and demo Registration Details and Fees: Student Rate: $99
Late registrations (after April 1): $118.80
Course #: 1300 Regular Rate: $225
Late registrations (after April 1): $270.00
Course #: 1303 Register early and save! Registration fee includes all demos and lectures for the duration of the conference, as well as social events and meals throughout the weekend. Accommodation: Limited accommodation will be available in our Student Residences, and can be booked when you register for the conference. Additional accommodation is available at the Sandman Hotel and can be reserved by calling 1 800 SANDMAN. Stay Tuned for Details on Post-Conference Workshops with Paul Scott! For more info and to register visit the RDC website.
by Carole Epp | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jacqueline Robins works with clay, a timeless medium. In turn, she is compelled and inspired by the notion of heirloom. The cycles of life are a re-occurring theme in her work especially pieces that celebrate and record significant events in people’s lives.
Utilizing a variety of printmaking techniques, Jacqueline Robins illustrates and imprints the clay. When it is fired, the images and words are forever embedded in its surface. Her vessels are thus a narrative record: fragments of love letters, sheet music, photographs, maps, mementoes, and found treasures.
Vessels as memoirs, capturing specific moments, vessels as allegories: Jacqueline’s work is intended to be lived with, telling its story for continuing generations.
Jacqueline Robins lives in Vancouver, BC. By day she is a technician at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. By night, she slings clay in her East Van studio. Sailor, her black lab at her side.
Robins’ formal education in drawing, printmaking and ceramics was at Emily Carr, followed by an apprenticeship on Saltspring Island, BC. Robins has work in private collections throughout Canada, The United States, Europe and Japan. In her free time, she is learning to fly fish and is hunting for derby skates online. She also feels really awkward writing in the third person.
Jacqueline Robins
Ceramic Artist
www.jacquelinerobins.com
