BOARD Members 2018-19
President: Erin Freed
Vice President: Louise Brud
Treasurer: Genevieve Goodhart
Secretary:
Director: Connie Cooper
Director : Gillian Boon (Website)
Director: Louise Cormier (Newsletter)
Director: Rylee Petkau
Director:
Member Profiles:
Shannon MacNaughton
Shannon MacNaughton is a Calgary based ceramicist and artist. Outside of working full time, Shannon spends every extra hour doing what she loves: playing with clay. Shannon has been a member at Wildflower Art Centre since 2012 and has participated in many ceramic workshops, her most recent in Fernie, AB, learning slab techniques from Sarah Pike.
As a current member of Workshop Studios, Shannon has a dedicated studio space that allows her to create and grow, along with many other talented individuals in Calgary, AB. www.northsouthceramics.com
Instagram @northsouthceramics
Melanie Gaudet
Melanie Kathlene Gaudet is a ceramic artist currently based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Alberta University of The Arts (formerly known as the Alberta College of Art + Design) in 2018, and is currently a long term resident artist at Medalta in Medicine Hat. Her work has been exhibited at the Fifth Parallel Gallery (U of R), the University of Manitoba, the Marion Nicoll Gallery LRT space, cSPACE King Edward in Calgary, and the Yuill Family Gallery in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Melanie uses various hand-building techniques to create often brightly coloured pottery which celebrates patterns found in nature as well as in the domestic setting. Although she works primarily with clay, she also incorporates different media such as paint and found objects to create large scale installations often dealing with the subject of mental health.
Instagram: melaniekathlene
https://www.instagram.com/melaniekathlene/
Website:
Lisa McGrath’s sculptures are the expression of the animals with whom she shares her backyard. McGrath plucks those beings and transports them into her whimsical, wonder-filled narratives..... so to with her functional work. It is just as full of wonder and evokes a story... this mug reminds you perhaps, of the night circus – or something....
Lisa McGrath completed her BFA in Ceramics from Alberta College of Art and Design in 1997. She lives and maintains her studio on the cusp of Kananaskis country with her partner and child and four furry family members.
Lisa McGrath
Tammy’s work is inspired every day by the world around her. It might be a tall building, flower, or insect, a flowing stream or a beautiful tree. She has the best of both worlds with wood-firing and electric firing, both warm & natural or bright & vibrant colors. She looks forward to each new piece from creation to decoration so that she can express her love for nature and life itself with whimsical drawings in slip, underglazes or carving. She strives to make her pottery “fun” to look at and functional at the same time.
Website: http://tammyparkslegge.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tammyparksleggepottery/
Instagram: @tplpottery
Tammy Parks-Legge
Genevieve Goodhart
Genevieve Goodhart is an emerging Calgary artist with a background in fibre arts and watercolour painting. She graduated from ACAD in 2007 with a degree in Fibre with Distinction and, after a long break, started exploring ceramics in 2017 and fell in love with the process. She is fascinated with beautiful and lush gardens, even though she is a mediocre gardener at best (but getting better every year). Gardens are incredibly restful and meditative spaces for her despite, or maybe because of, the dynamic colours, abundance of textures, sweet scents, and cacophony of bird song. Elements from these places are her inspiration for her pottery vessels.
Gillian Mitchell
Gillian attended Alberta College of Art + Design where she graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She received a Bachelor of Education 2014 from University of Calgary. Currently living in Calgary, she works for The City of Calgary at Wildflower Arts center as the Ceramics Technician. Living in Alberta has Gillian longing for the sea, thus inspiring her ceramic work. Finding inspiration from coral reefs and tide pools she brings it all together with colour pulled right from Grassi Lakes in Canmore. Gillian is then able to create these strangely unique pieces of art.
www.gillianmitchellceramics.com
Instagram @gmitchellceramics
Louise Brud
Ceramic Artist Louise Brud resides in Calgary, AB. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with Distinction in ceramics at the Alberta College of Art and Design. After graduating she turned her attention to a career in the art gallery, helping other artists showcase their work. After some year she realized her need and love of creating and returned to ceramics and began to focus on studio practices. This included years of glaze development in finding new and unique glaze and colour combinations. Her interest was in creating functional work that was tactile, decorative and artful. The design and pattern of nature has been her largest influence, and have inspired her decor. From this she has created her first series of work “Swirl”. The work consists of functional ware with the design of a textured swirl vortex and rich overlapping colours. She has now begun developing a new series of work “Spike.”
DAvid Barnes
David had been a potter for over 40 years, working professionally in England, France, and Canada. His work has been exhibited world-wide. His work can be found on public display in Ramsgate, England, as well as in the permanent collection of the Gallerid du Musee (Brux) in Vienne. David has also been teaching since 1976, including holding the Head of Ceramics position at South Kent College in Dover, England.
In July 2006, David moved to Canada. His workshop is located in Naphtha, south of Black Diamond. His work is currently exhibited and sold at Blue Rock Gallery (Black Diamond, AB), Galleria Gallery (Calgary, AB), and The Leighton Arts Centre (Millarville, AB).
David Barnes Ceramics http://www.eversfieldequestrian.com/ceramics.html
daviddbarnes9@aol.com
Catherine Dale
Catherine Dale is the owner of Muddy Otter's Pottery located in Calgary, Alberta. Her focus is mainly tableware and other functional pieces, such as buttons. The buttons are produced for Custom Woolen Mills in Carstairs. Catherine prides herself in making work which is both beautiful and functional. She has a passion for working on the wheel and for making glazes which interplay with each other to form spontaneous and stunning surfaces. She called her studio, "Muddy Otter's Pottery," because of her love of sea otters and the idea of "going with the flow" they embody.
PATRICIA E. LANSDELL-DENHOLM
At this very moment someone, somewhere in the our world is creating in clay; some in very primitive situations with only their hands (and feet),stones,wood,and fire; others in modern studios with “modern” tools and firing their work with gas, wood, electric kilns or clay blocks and fire...so many alternatives. Each time I, too, create with the ‘gift of the earth’, I feel a universal connection with fellow potters.
The love of clay began in the 1970’s while living in Vancouver and since 1989 I have appreciated having my own studio. My work has been mostly wheel thrown functional ware, electric fired to cone6(1200C/2192F) with lead free glazes – made to enjoy every day around the family table. Care of your hand made pottery will ensure that it will be used and loved from one generation to the next. A great pleasure is when people tell me how much they enjoy using something I have created.
A favourite time in the clay process is when the clay is leather hard – firm enough to hold its’ shape yet soft enough to be carved into or cut out. Handbuilding with slabs and coils is a perfect match for the carving and cutting process. Recently I have been making boxes, baskets and vases using this technique, adding wooden handles, cut out leaf shapes, or imprints of leaves, and loving the feel of clay on my hands.
Although I have lived in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, my fourth generation Alberta roots hold me here – the prairie landscape being where I feel most comfortable and with natures’ colours suiting my pottery palette.
Jane grew up in Red Deer where she started her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Red Deer College. She then transferred to the Alberta College of Art and Design where she graduated in 2011 with a major in Ceramics. Since Graduating she has exhibited at the Esker Foundation and participated in an Artist in Residence in Vallauris, France. She is an avid traveller who loves exploring different landscapes including here in the Rockies.
Jane Durham
KAthy Ransom
I work from my home studio in Strathmore where I hand-build my work, formulate my glazes and fire to cone 6 - stoneware temp. In the past year I have had my work at Okotoks Art Gallery Shop, Vale's Greenhouse - Cultivation of Art in Black Diamond, Millarvile regular and Christmas Market, Alberta Craft Council Gallery & Gift Shop in Edmonton, as well as small venues in Strathmore and Red Deer.
Monika Smith
Past President 2012-2013
The Visions West Studio
Ceramics by Monika Smith
BFA, major, ceramics with distinction, ACAD
Handmade ceramic art with an equine theme… figurative and animal art to support Alberta wilderness and environment.
Tiles, Sculpture, Tableware, Custom Corporate Gifts and Awards. In terracotta and porcelain. Specializing in terra sigilata finishes on terra cotta for that bright brick red glost.
Ceramic decals created from your photographs or designs.
Email: smithpr1@telus.net
TERESA WYSS
The work I create reflects the enjoyment I have for throwing, embellishing, creating and using. All of my pieces are wheel thrown and altered in some way. I embellish some of my work with a deep carved surface at times and others with mixtures of various coloured glazes. I have recently started incorporating sgraffito and intaglio techniques, which allows me the luxury of adding a more illustrative feel to my work.
KELLSEY RONAGHAN
Director - Newsletter Editor
Kellsey makes functional pots. She recently received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art and Design. She has previously received her Diploma in Business Administration from SAIT Polytechnic.
Kellsey was born and raised in the Yukon by a family of makers. While she primarily works with clay, Kellsey also has a love affair with woodworking, textiles, and paper. The objects made by kellsey are functional and are meant for everyday use in the home. Kellsey hopes to eventually build her own studio at home in the Yukon, make pots, and share the things she's learned.
Giselle Peters
Giselle Peters was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Alberta College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Concordia University in Montreal. She now resides in Lethbridge, Alberta where she makes and teaches ceramic arts. Although originally coming from a painting background, she works primarily in Ceramics, making both functional pottery and figurative sculpture. Initially drawn to clay because of its long history and its innate relationship to archaeology, her work reflects themes of history, culture, and artifact. Decoration is an important element in her work and she incorporates and contemporary pattern on her surfaces using underglaze transfers, slip decoration and sgraffito.
www.gisellepeters.com
Membership Director
Currently resides in Irricana with her husband and three boys. Always looking for ways to stretch and grow her creative side, she has been known to try her hand at any art form and travel anywhere to develop it. Her travels have taken her across Canada to Germany, Italy, West, East and South Africa. Rylee’s spends most of her creative energy working in her small studio on the wheel throwing pots, bowls, mugs, platters and pretty much anything that she can think of! Often pieces will be manipulated to incorporate additional hand build embellishments. Her art tends to capture the natural, with branch handles and colorful flowers additions, covered in a variety of glazes ranging from earthy to colorful! When she's not playing in the studio she's teaching the art of clay to numerous different organizations, groups, schools and camps in Calgary, Airdrie and area.