Catherine Vowles' Giant Pears | Open Day | WSP Annual General Meeting | Raku Club | Open Studio | Clay supplies | Children's classes | WSP Annual Exhibition
Catherine Vowles' pears on exhibition
Congratutions to our friend and talented artist Catherine Vowles who has some work on exhibition at The Sculpture Park that is well worth a visit.
"Stories of the Landscape is now on at The Sculpture Park at Waitakaruru Arboretum. I was lucky enough to have my Giant pears selected to feature as part of the exhibition. Each pear was hand built and took approximately two bags of sculpture clay weighing 12 kilos each. Built in two sections. The bottom piece first then left for a few days to harden, then coil on to that to finish the top. The stalks were done separately and are hollow and have a steel rod going up inside of them and then attached to the pear body. I will call it luck that out of the six pears that I made 5 made it through to the finish, as pottery can be very devastating some days. They were very heavy to lift into the kiln as I have a top loading kiln so my husband assisted me in this task. We were lifting the sixth one in and got a bit blase about this task and both took our hands away at the same time and crack! Well that was a very sad day in my studio. I hope you find some time to visit the Exhibition as it has been extended for a couple of months as it has proved so popular. There are other ceramic pieces and lots of other mediums of sculpture’s to view so it is really worth a visit." Catherine Vowles
Open Day - new date 23 April
Due to insufficient volunteer numbers, we have postponed Open Day until Saturday 23 April.
So here I am again, asking if any of our lovely members would be willing to volunteer to help us out. We will invite the wider community along to our Clay Day Out to find out what all the clay fuss is about. We have all been hiding away a little and it would be a great way to spread some cheer as we emerge over the Omicron hump.
A market!
We have a limited number of market spots available for those of you who might like to set up a stall to sell some of your gorgeous handmade ceramics. If you don't think you have enough to fill a stall, you could see if you have another WSP member potter friend who could share with you. You will need to supply your own furniture and marquee is recommended in case of bad weather, but the space will be free. Spaces are limited.
Please complete the online form to apply for a market spot...
Volunteers needed!
We need our members to help us tell everyone how great WSP is! This kind of event takes lots of work, especially with the extra measures needed to run it safely. You don't have to stay the whole time, but if you can give a few hours, that would be amazing. If you can help with any of the below jobs, please contact me manager@waikatopotters.co.nz to let me know your availability and which jobs you would like to help with.
6-8am - 6 volunteers to help set up (for set up and pack down, volunteers who are reasonably fit and able to help move furniture)
9am-2pm
4 volunteers to help people make a planter (handbuild)
4 volunteers on paint a mug (guide people painting with underglaze)
1 volunteer to help the wheel throwing demonstrator (get clay, refresh water, carry thrown pieces to a drying spot etc)
4 volunteers on make a pendant (handbuild, decorating)
12 volunteers for the have a go at throwing (guide people through the basics)
2 volunteers at market gate controlling numbers in the market.
2-4pm - 6 volunteers to help pack up.
I can't wait. It's going to be a fun day.
Thank you to Creative Communities Scheme who have made the event possible by providing funding.
Annual General Meeting 2022
Date & Time: Tuesday 24 May 2022 at 6pm at the Waikato Society of Potters
Open to financial members to attend. We will review our past year, the annual accounts, vote in our committee and make plans. An agenda will follow shortly for the AGM.
The committee is accepting nominations for the 2022-2023 WSP Committee.
- All nominations must have written consent of the nominee, who can nominate themselves.
- All nominations must be received at the WSP by 3pm Friday 20 May 2022.
- Nominations can be delivered to the clubrooms or sent by email to manager@waikatopotters.co.nz
Raku Club Firing
Raku Club is back on in 2022. If you haven't been part of a raku firing before, they are fun, dramatic, and yield unpredictable but breathtaking results.
Get involved with handling glowing things! Our raku expert, David, will run this event providing our members with an opportunity to fire a few items.
Studio business
Open Studio
- The awesome Teresa and Tim will be here tomorrow morning and there are still studio spaces available. Bookings will close at 6pm this evening so hop on and book quickly to get your clay fix this weekend.
- Bookings are online, in advance for Open Studio spots on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
- Our only non-member session at present is on Wednesday mornings.
Clay for commercial (member) potters
Last year we had to put restrictions on the quantities of clay we were selling to our members as we had some major supply issues. While these supply chain problems may come and go while COVID-19 is around and political instability impacting fuel prices, we have had some reassurance from Decopots that there will be a more reliable supply of clay this year. So, we are loosening restrictions on our Primo clays and will be able to sell to our commercial potters again in modest quantities. Note, this is not the case for Macs Mud Clay as we have preordered our Macs Mud clay for a few terms so we are still being careful to ensure our club supply.
If there are specific Primo clays that you would like us to order more of in the next order, please let us know. We also have a few potters sampling their new PW20 recipe and will provide some feedback on that as soon as possible.
Cleaning equipment
Another reminder to clean all equipment after use. Leaving it for someone else to do is simply unfair. Once again, the extruder was discovered used and with leftover clay inside on Monday. Please remember to go back and clean it if you use it.
Expressions of interest for children's classes
We have not had children in the studio for ages and we miss them. Last year, we had very small class sizes while they were running. We are interested in gathering expressions of interest for a children's class in Term 2 for children ages 7 and over.
Classes would run on Tuesday afternoons 4-5.30pm for 8 weeks beginning 10 May.
Please get in touch with Sarah if you wish to enroll your child in this class as running the class is dependent upon numbers manager@waikatopotters.co.nz
WSP Annual Exhibition
As you will recall, our 50th Annual Exhibition was due to open in October 2021 but due to COVID-19 getting in the way, we had to put it on hold. Our exhibition will go ahead and the opening date is 27th May (with the launch on 26th May) and we are inviting our members to start making!
I am awaiting the updated documents from ArtsPost with all the important information about deadlines and they have promised these by Monday. So, more information to come next week, including entry forms. We are very excited to finally celebrate your hard work in an exhibition space.
