Favorite Pages
Photos
2 of 3 albumsSee All
VISUALS presents Kay Austen workshopCreated about 8 months ago
ArtWalkCreated on September 22, 2008 at 4:25pm
4 of 29 fan photosSee All
|
| ||
|
|
Events
1 upcoming eventSee All
- Seeing Red
Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver
Friday, December 4 at 12:00pm
Notes
3 of 5 notesSee All
- Extra extra! ArtWalk article in The Chief 7:09pm Sep 14
- More artists in the mix. 10:25am Sep 7
- Annual Fundraiser Draw 3:22pm Sep 3
VISUALS invites you to the December 5 opening reception of Seeing Red at the Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver.
VISUALS group show
Location:Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver
Time:12:00PM Friday, December 4th
VISUALS
Visit VISUALS’ Art at the Market gallery to view fine art pieces created in Squamish, one of Canada ’s top spots for professional artists. Entry is free.
Enjoy an exciting array of paintings, photography, pottery, woven, metal and more. Exhibiting artists include Sheila Alonzo, Ed Colberg, Margreet Dietz, Wanda Doyle, B...arbara Ellingson, Jan Phelan, Joanna Schwarz, Fran Solar and Michiko Splinter.
Vote for your favourite item on display in our People's Choice Draw for a chance to win a painting by Gunter Wissmeyer. VISUALS will also be selling fundraiser raffle tickets: win an original ceramic bowl created by Jan Phelan valued at $900.
Meet the artists and discover their unique works on Sat August 1, 10am-4pm at Squamish Arts Council Building, 37950 Cleveland Avenue, Squamish, B.C. www.squamishart.com 1 866-333-2010
One-day only VISUALS group exhibition
Time:10:00AM Saturday, August 1st
Location:Squamish Arts Council Building
VISUALS Please check out the new VISUALS blog:
visuals-squamish.blogspot.com
Are you signed up yet to participate in two separate Art at the Market group exhibitions at the Squamish Arts Council building this summer? New members are welcome!
VISUALS
The Art at the Market gallery is a group exhibition by VISUALS held on three separate days in summer.
First show: June 27, 11am-3pm, and July 1, 11am-7pm
Second show: August 1, 11am-3pm
Enjoy an exciting array of paintings, photography, pottery, stained glass, jewelry and more.
Entry is absolutely free. Come to simply vi...ew an eclectic collection of fine art. You may also discover pieces that will transform your home or office (suitable for all tastes and budgets).
And remember to vote for your favourite item on display in our People's Choice Draw for a chance to win art donated by one of our artists.
VISUALS will also be selling fundraiser tickets to help support our programs. Win an original ceramic bowl created by Jan Phelan (valued at $900).
The gallery is at the Squamish Arts Council Building in the park at 37950 Cleveland Avenue and is (wo)manned by the artists showing that day.
Don’t miss the unique chance to meet the artists in one of Canada ’s top creative spots.
The Farmer's Market is held simultaneously next door.
Two-day show on June 27 & July 1
Time:11:00AM Saturday, June 27th
Location:Squamish Arts Council Building
VISUALS
VISUALS is displaying the work of its members this Sunday, June 14, alongside the annual Squamish Garden Tour.
VISUALS members will have a Garden Tour Showcase themed, naturally, around garden plants and foliage at the Quest University Cafeteria at 3200 University Boulevard in Squamish, BC.
Sunday June 14, 2009: 9am - 4 pm
www.squamishart.com
Special exhibit alongside the Squamish Garden Tour
Time:9:00AM Sunday, June 14th
Location:Quest University Cafeteria
VISUALS VISUALS board member Zoe Evamy won international recognition for her work as senior art director on the animated TV-series Zeke’s Pad, a Canada-Australia co-production.
www.squamishchief.com
VISUALS
(By Margreet Dietz)
Kay Austen’s explorations in clay during the past 40 years have allowed her to discover a lot more than a way to create her beautiful and functional pottery. As Kay shares her vast knowledge and unbridled enthusiasm for her art, the retired elementary school teacher’s approach to the creation of her ...pieces shows wisdom and self-awareness that applies far beyond decomposed feldspathic rock.
That clay has permeated and shaped Kay’s entire adult life is clear as soon as you arrive at her Squamish home. The main floor contains a pottery studio where she throws her pieces. The double-car garage houses her 16 1/2-cubic-foot electric kiln as well as all the materials she uses to create the glazes for her pottery. Kay uses the electric kiln to bisque her pieces, which hardens the clay by heating them to 1000 degrees Celsius.
Afterwards, Kay can apply her glazes to these pieces without deforming them accidentally in the process. Next stop is the backyard which contains a 20-cubic-foot gas kiln - she built it herself when she and her husband retired seven years ago. An official sticker from the gas man proves that Kay’s four-burner kiln meets the required standards. Her eyes light up when she explains the use of this kiln which slowly fires the pieces stacked in it to 1300 degrees Celsius over a 12-hour period.
“For me the life of a pot starts here,” Kay says. “I light the kiln and turn it up a little bit at a time until I’ve reached temperature. Then I cut off the amount of oxygen that’s going into the kiln and have smoke and flame rolling around in there. The gas brings out colours in certain metal salts. And those metal salts are in the glazes - so red, for example, is copper in the glaze. It’s what creates metallics and lustres. That’s what I’m aiming for: I want colour, I love different colours.”
This high-fire process also ensures that all her pieces are safe to be used in a microwave, freezer or dishwasher without cracking or the glaze colours disappearing.
During the 12 hours it takes to fire, Kay checks at least every hour via a peephole wearing a mask. To gauge the temperature inside, Kay always uses a set of four clay cones that each slump at a different temperature. “I look into the kiln when it is at really high temperatures and I can see these cones going down. That’s what tells me how hot my kiln is.”
Towards the end of the firing she checks every 10 minutes. “That’s when you baby it and watch it and make sure that everything is going the way you want it to be.” Even so, a gas kiln is a metaphor for life – there are few guarantees. Seeing the results after the firing has been exhilarating but, at times, also crushing.
“You cannot always control what happens in the kiln, particularly a gas kiln. Often you will get fabulous surprises. But I’ve also opened my kiln and cried. So it’s not like the kind of control that you have with painting, ink or weaving. You don’t always get out of it what you put into it. You just have to give it up to the kiln gods and either it’s great or it’s not.”
Kay’s ceramics training in the UK was focused on functionality which is still her main goal today. “It is usable art. Because you have total control over what you’re going to be saying with it, the only constraint is in terms of function. If it is a teapot, it has got a point – it has got to work right. If it is a mug, it has to be light and balanced.”
When Kay moved to Canada in the 1970s, she experienced first-hand how North American potters differed from those in the UK. “For most North Americans it is an exploration of the medium personally. They’re getting out what they want to say with it. And who cares whether it is not something that functions. They’ll make a teapot and drop it on the ground while it is still wet. Then they’ll get this flattened thing, which is really cool but you couldn’t pour tea with it.”
Kay’s first and foremost an explorer, seeing the world through her potter’s eyes. “It informs what you do. When I go on holiday, very often I will go to the markets and look at clay pieces. I will almost always bring a piece of ceramic back home, even when it’s a couple of earrings or a mug. I pack it really carefully in my suitcase.”
Kay’s sketchbooks, the ones still in her possession date back to 1977, help her retain the ideas that inspire her. “My sketchbooks are written as well as drawn. Sometimes I’ll find a glaze recipe for instance. They are full of all sorts of little things. They are not showpieces - they are to inform my work. For example, I started to sketch some of the forms that I saw in the markets in Mexico - I couldn’t buy all of them obviously. In Egypt I started sketching the decorative friezes. I copied some of the elements of those friezes to use in my work.
“When people ask what I am inspired by, I hate to say it, but it's everything. From textures on a barn door to historical ceramics, to the work of contemporary potters - everything. I can’t stop looking and then thinking that I can use that as a stamp, or that motif for something decorative on the side of a mug. You have to limit yourself.”
She’s never stopped learning, and is the first one to sign up for the many workshops that explore new pottery techniques. “You never know everything there is to know. I like to try my hand at different kinds of clay. I find that playing at low temperatures or with a variety of different kinds of clay informs my high-fire work because it doesn’t matter to me if things don’t work out just right - it gives me a chance to explore ideas. Whenever I hear of a workshop that introduces a new technique, I’ll try it. You have no idea – people are coming up with new stuff all the time. It is just endless.”
As she keeps abreast of the latest developments in clay, Kay revisits many of the ideas she had in college more than four decades ago. After trying nearly every visual arts medium at Wolverhampton Polytechnic in the UK as a teenager, a lecturer noticed Kay’s obvious love for one. His suggestion, “Kay why don’t you stop messing around and focus on clay?” prompted her to decide on a Bachelor of Arts in ceramics. “I did most of my discovery then. It was just like a burst of creativity and not enough time to really explore everything.”
After completing her arts degree, Kay took a post-graduate teaching degree and became an elementary school teacher. Her time-consuming job limited her explorations in pottery to the weekends and holidays until her retirement. ”Now that I’ve got the time to really play I have to remind myself – this is my time to be free to do it.”
Over the years, Kay has increasingly realized that she is unique and therefore her pottery is. “I can only make what I make. I have to stay within the confines of who I am. It will always look as if it came from my hands. When you hear about people saying your art should always be a continuum, it should relate to what you have made before - I couldn't disagree more. . How are you ever going to develop and grow? I am not going to find really big new things unless I step outside of what I normally do,” Kay says.
And even though some of the pieces she has created over the years are vastly different, they share the most fundamental connection. “I can tell that my pieces relate through the rhythm that happens, even the forms - the injection of humour or whimsy into a piece - the way I approach the clay has to do with who I am,” Kay says.
Kay does everything she can to allow herself to be the best potter she can be. She limits the weight of the clay she throws at any one time to 10 pounds. Her potter’s wheel is positioned so that she can work standing up, instead of sitting down, to limit the strain on her back.
Regular swimming and walking help Kay to balance her body strengths and keep her in the shape required to carry the 50 pound boxes of clay she uses.
“A potter needs to be strong - you can’t be a wimp,” Kay says.
Master potter Kay Austen will demonstrate clay-forming and finishing techniques on and off the potter’s wheel.
Sat May 2 & Sun May 3, 2009: 10 am - 4 pm daily
* Drop in (up to an hour) $10.00
* One full day only $30.00
* Both days $50.00
Reserve a spot: 604 898 9775 or email kay@austeneverest.com
Kay’s latest works will also be for sale, just in time for Mothers' Day.
Time:10:00AM Saturday, May 2nd
Location:Glacier Gallery Pottery
VISUALS
A fun and educational workshop facilitated by Toby Jaxon, Curator of The Foyer Gallery. In a supportive environment, we'll learn how to critique our own and other's works, get helpful art tips, and make new friends. Non-artists are also welcome, since this workshop will assist you in your art purchases.
Everyone i...s welcome. Bring one piece of your art. Cost is free for VISUALS Members. $15 for non-members payable at the door (can be credited towards a $30 VISUALS Membership for 2009.)
RSVP to toby@jaxondesignstudio.com
Workshop open to artists and art lovers
Time:6:30PM Thursday, January 8th
Location:Squamish Public Library Meeting Room
VISUALS
A fundraiser to benefit long time resident and volunteer, Martin Thorne, Furniture Maker and Woodturner, who will be unable to work for an extended period of time.
Details for Friday: Antique appraisals by accredited Canadian Antique Roadshow Appraiser, Gale Pirie.
Day also includes a silent auction, an art show by d...istinguished Canadian Painter, Suezan Aikins, RCA and socializing with great food and beverages available.
Appraisals $15 ea & $10 for 3rd item. Limit 3 items per session. Free admission.
Details for Saturday: Live music all day and night by a selection of performers to suit every taste. MC Steve Hainsworth.
Day also includes continuation of silent auction, art show by resident artists and socializing with great food and beverages available.
Tickets at the Brackendale Art Gallery (at the door), Billie's Bouquet, The Hotspot and Adventure Centre.
Tickets at door subject to availability. In/Out privileges. $10 Students, $15 Adults. Age 6 and under free.
VISUALS
Visitor to ArtWalk Squamish Valley trying her hand at pottery
Mike Sherlock, Watercolourist, demonstrating his technique at the Adventure Centre
Nancy Thompson and Joy of the Sea to Sky Community Services Society, hosted works in their offices by artists in the children, youth and adult program
