A couple of this city’s most capable artists are putting their best pots forward for the new show at the Visual Arts Alberta Gallery in downtown Edmonton.
Shape + Form is practically devoted to the great talent coming out of St. Albert, what with JulieAnne Hage and Linda Willard representing and former city resident Dennis Brown adding some painterly flair to the gallery’s walls. Stony Plain potter Tarra Wedman rounds out the foursome.
I’m a big fan of Hage’s works, especially her bold, dramatic lines and colours. She also endeavours to create art that has functionality as well, so you’re getting something beautiful and useful at the same time.
I missed the opportunity to get to know Brown while he was still a resident here and a member of the RCMP. Now retired, he has ventured off to the spectacular countryside of B.C. to explore his wild imagination with colourful abstracts in watercolour and acrylic. Abstract work is always a hit-and-miss game so I appreciated the ones on display that offered a kind of vague, landscape element or figurative centre to give a small measure of perspective or focus. It sure helped direct me in my interpretations of what he was expressing.
Willard, for her part, sure knows her way around her raku. Her Japanese-style pots have brought recent acclaim. She nabbed her first solo show at Art Beat this year and was a nominee for the emerging artists award during last month’s St. Albert Cultivates the Arts Awards ceremony. To top it all off, she got the nod of provincial approval when the Alberta Foundation for the Arts purchased two of her pieces for its permanent collection.
A member of the St. Albert Potters’ Guild, she said her works generally have simple and traditional lines but some of her methods might be slightly unusual. She puts a lot of thought and intent into the process, even when she adds peanut butter to the mix.
“I hand build everything and so the time to build it is considerably longer than if I threw things on the wheel,” she says. “I put a lot of energy into it. It’s so meditative to me.”
While she doesn’t use glazes, she prefers burnished pots that have been saggar-fired. This involves putting the pot inside a container with another substance, like sawdust or other organic materials or chemicals, to enhance its surface. Peanut butter isn’t her preference but she does occasionally use cornhusks or horsehair. Whatever the means, the ends are still sublime.
