I made the recent Raiders wait to see the results of their work until I had filled my kiln. Thursday was the super kiln opening day.. it’s always exciting but a little nerve-wracking, even with an electric kiln. First I’ll post photos here of the little group of Raiders’ plates and then, in my next blog I’ll share pics of my own creations. As mentioned before, Monique and David were here on the morning of June 27th and each painted two plates. Here are Monique’s delicate, layered images on lunch-sized coupes. Monique Monique David chose a large round platter for his first piece and pain ..read more

Thursday evening saw the opening of three shows in the PoMoArts galleries. A fellow ceramics student from Emily Carr U days, Margaret Hsu, joined me to see what this year’s Ceramics Artist-in-Residence has produced for her year-end solo show. Georgia Fitton, also an Emily Carr graduate, was already giving pottery classes in the Arts Centre when she was awarded the Ceramics Residency. She tells us that she will continue teaching there after September 1st, but of course will be looking for a new studio to make her own work. I don’t know if the next artist to be awarded the position at PoMoArts ..read more

On the last Thursday in June a small group gathered for a Raid. David MacWilliam and Monique Fouquet arrived here on a rainy day, bearing lunch and their ideas for the day’s plate painting. It was so good to have a day of friendly conversation and concentrated art-making once again. David, Monique & me As usual Alan and I enjoyed lunchtime treats, including Monique’s made-that-morning quiche, and bread, yummy cheese and cold cuts from David. I made a tossed salad. But there was more! Monique brought decadent brownies for tea-time. Karen had arranged to bring Eric along, just for the af ..read more

The Craft Council of BC is hosting sculptor Debra Sloan’s latest solo show ‘Les Grandes Dames’ at its gallery/craft shop at 1386 Cartwright street, on Granville Island. It’s in the building that we knew as Crafthouse in the past. When we found that registration for the Opening on June 6th was full we made a plan to attend Debra’s scheduled artist’s talk and see the show when there was less of a crowd. Her talk will take place at nearby Carousel Theatre, at 1411 Cartwright street on July 18th. at 7pm. https://craftcouncilbc.ca/les-grande-dames/ The Big Skirt - A Museum 2024 But then ..read more

Port Moody’s version of a Culture Crawl/ArtWalk, our SHUFFLE, happened last night. We worried as the marvellous volunteers brought signs and a feather flag, in the rain, but the skies cleared for the duration of the Shuffle. TriCity potter Jade turned up in the afternoon with baby Jet and filled my bird vase with tall flowers from my garden. They really lent a festive air to my display of earthenware and stoneware pots. Probably because my studio was #1 on the brochure I had lots of visitors from 4 o’clock on. Cat came out from Vancouver to see examples of Port Moody clay, neighbours drop ..read more

The other day I noticed that a Vancouver ceramic artist we’d invited to speak to TriCity Potters, Mitra Mahmoodi, was in a two-person show, along with fellow Iranian-Canadian artist Jamal Tabasinejad, at our local Evergreen Cultural Centre Gallery in Coquitlam. Somehow I missed the opening but I saw that there was to be a curator’s talk about the show last Friday. At 12.30pm I joined curator Katherine Dennis and a group of mainly Iranian fans of the work. Here is the link to my little blog about Mitra’s talk last November: https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2023/11/28/mitra-mahmoodi ..read more

Tuesday was the day I’ve been waiting for. At 1.30pm sharp the team were all there, waiting to start the unloading of the 107th firing of the Soda kiln at Shadbolt Centre. The kiln is showing its age, with some nasty chunks having fallen into pots which were placed on the bottom ledge of the door. Tony was considering whether repairs are in order or if a door replacement is needed. That kiln is in constant use these days. front shelves back shelves Look at the variety of colours and of shapes. We are being asked to bring along taller pieces these days. When the shelves are filled with mu ..read more

Deadlines are good! I booked myself in to join a soda firing at Shadbolt Centre’s Vault kiln on May 22nd. So, at the beginning of May, I cleaned the red earthenware out of my wheel and started work with Plainsman H555 and Georgie’s Umpqua cone 10 stoneware clay. I made my two cubic feet quota of ware, including carved bowls, jugbirds and more, and bisque-fired my earthenware and stoneware pieces all at once.  When the soda pieces were liner-glazed and wadded I switched back to glazing the red clay pieces, and they were firing as I delivered my stoneware pots to Shadbolt this week. I pop ..read more

When we go in to Vancouver Alan and I like to make sure we do more than one errand. On Friday, a week ago, we certainly did that. Raider Renée van Halm’s show at Equinox Gallery was due to close on the Saturday so this was our last chance to see it. I’d seen some of the paintings online but really wanted to see them in person. Plus, we hadn’t found the new Equinox Gallery location since their move from next to Emily Carr UAD, due to Skytrain building.  We took a walk around Trout Lake, seeing it was a sunshiny day, before finding the gallery, just a couple of blocks away, on Commerc ..read more

On Saturday March 23rd I accompanied fellow potters Carlene, Kay and Eliza for the 1 1/4 hour drive out to Chilliwack for the opening of Fraser Valley Potters Guild’s annual juried show. I haven’t been attending meetings for many years but as a founding member I am honoured to have lifetime membership. Kay invited me to participate this year and I agreed, seeing I had a couple of pieces from a recent soda firing that I considered exhibition-worthy. Mainly I felt it was my duty to take photos of everybody’s work, with the intention of putting together a blog. It turns out that there are many ..read more