a site 2 see friday: Save Clark Wood-fired Pottery!

Lee & Yolande Clark are dedicated
Canadian wood-firing ceramic artists. A tragic oil spill has devastated
their home, land, studio and kiln. Help them rebuild. 
  

We are Lee Horus Clark & Yolande Clark.  We are wood-firing
ceramic artists, and we have dedicated our lives to art, to clay, to
fire, and to our family for many years. We have worked extremely hard to
create a home for our children, and a kiln on our own land. 

We have 3 beautiful children:  Horus, 4, Treva, 2, and Felix, 10 months old.

The pottery and sculptures of both Lee and Yolande are recognized
nationally and internationally.  We exhibit both in New Brunswick and
abroad, and we have both been the recipients of provincial arts grant
funding.

Lee Horus Clark has a large sculptural vessel in the permanent collection of the Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredericton.

Two years ago, after a decade of insecurity, we borrowed more money,
and finally moved to our home, a 1/2 acre property in the tiny hamlet
(population 75) of Queenstown, in rural New Brunswick.  It took us a
year to build our Anagama kiln, and many thousands of borrowed dollars
for bricks and materials.  We fired the Queenstown Anagama for the first
time in August, when our youngest child, Felix, was 2 weeks old. 

What Happened?

Last week, on June 1st, 2013, there was a
large and catastrophic oil spill.  Our heating oil tank began to leak,
and the oil streamed into the ground behind our house, down the hill,
and pooled around our kiln.  

Our water well is located 4 feet from the oil tank.  A stream, that
runs directly into the St. John River, is just feet from the kiln, where
the oil is concentrating.

We called the New Brunswick Department of the Environment immediately, and we evacuated our family.

Over the past few days, we have moved our possessions out of our home, as the nightmare has unfolded.

What Now?

We have been informed by the Department of the Environment that our
home is uninhabitable, our water undrinkable, and in order to clean up
the oil spill responsibly, the property will have to be excavated.

Please read more about the situation and how you can help.
www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-clark-wood-fired-pottery  

a site to see friday: Marcelina Salazar and her Bourry-Box Blog

 

 

Marcelina
not only creates beautiful pottery but she also is documenting her
process in kiln building to share with others interested in building.

From her website:
“Marcelina grew up in Colombia and moved to Canada in 1999 to go to university. In school, she developed a keen interest in food issues. At the same time, her passion for clay was taking shape. Pottery
seemed to bring her interest in food and food issues to the table.

So, after finishing a degree in science at Trent University, she decided to pursue pottery more seriously. In 2007 she completed a Ceramic Certificate at The Haliburton School
of the Arts, and then she studied some more ceramics at Sheridan
College.

Now she works as a full-time studio potter in her timber frame studio, on her farm in rural Ontario.

She also tries to spend free time with her husband, organic farmer Jason Hayes, and her beautiful dog, Kanuk.”

www.marcelinasalazar.com

Bourry-Box Blog @ marcelinasalazar.wordpress.com

“I
have recently finished building a bourry-box kiln in rural Central
Ontario. This is an account of that process, hoping to reciprocate some
of the help and encouragement I’ve received from the ceramics community
all along.”
 
 
 

a site 2 see friday: Your Favorite Bowls by the NY Times

image via http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/exhibitions/5412/

“Consider the bowl, the most common of household
objects. It is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Museum of
Contemporary Craft in Portland, Ore. We asked readers to send images of
their favorite bowls and tell us what makes them special. ” (via NY Times)

Check out the interactive article here.
There is also a corresponding article: Finally, The Bowl Gets Its Due. by Julie Lasky

And don’t miss Object Focus: The Bowl @ the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Ore.
Curated by: Namita Gupta Wiggers

www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/exhibitions/5412/

Museum of Contemporary Craft
in partnership with Pacific Northwest College of Art

724 Northwest Davis Street
Portland, Oregon 97209

Tel. | 503.223.2654
Fax | 503.223.0190
[email protected]

The Gallery at Museum of Contemporary Craft
Tel. | 503.546.2654
Fax | 503.546.2610
[email protected]