"The Blues"    

Teapot textured with computer chip and seed pod
Two and one/half dimensions
  

   

TEAPOT

 Textured with a computer chip and a seed pod.
  Two & one/half  Dimensions

" The Alien and the Earthy '

Me at work in my studio

Rolling a slab of "Timberdoodle"

Putting the finishing touches on a 2 and 1/2 Dimensional

Bird Jug

Photos by friend and neighbour Bill Collins

The Story of 'Impact'

ceramic tiles by Marlene Bowman

mounted on toasted cedar by Robert Byers

39"x22"

 For this narrative of the impact of Europeans on the first people of the Salish Sea I have referenced the work of Charlene George,  kQwat'st'not, T'Sou-ke,  First Nations artist and teacher.  I am also indebted to her for giving me, in gentle understatement,  new insights into “the period before the visitors came” when “the circle was in balance” and into “the great giveaway”.  I have also been influenced by the work of lessLie, an acclaimed Coast Salish artist, whose “colonized, Catholic, Canadian” name is Leslie Robert Sam.  

As a descendant of white settlers, I would like to bring 'Impact' to the attention of as many people as possible as a way of doing my small part to promote conversations about the harsh realities of our shared history.  'Impact' grew from my response to that history of loss - loss of culture, language, livelihood and life. (The loss of life through disease is represented by the small pox virus.)        

      'Impact  I'

When this version of 'Impact' was first shown in art shows in 2012 and 2014, I had a number of conversations with interested viewers. Those conversations were very rewarding for me and I remember them all with much gratitude.  There was one comment, however, that was especially memorable. "It's not nearly broken enough."

Forward to the spring of 2015 when an appropriate juried show came to my attention. I entered 'Impact' and was delighted and honoured when it was accepted. The night before the show opened, however, the hand of fate intervened. During the hanging of the artwork, 'Impact' fell to the floor and was in no state to be shown. I brought it home and reassembled it. 

I can now show it in its new, more meaningful form. 

 'Broken  -  Enough'

I am very happy to have donated 'Broken - Enough' to the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. 

'Land Use I'

The first in a series of
interactive multi-piece works

'Impact II'

Fired Up!  2012   Metchosin

'Impact II'

floating over Salmon Arm
photo by Brad Calkins

     

'Forest Cathedral'

'Yellow Salish Sun'

side 1   height 13 inches

'And Counting'

Back to the quietness of throwing classic forms on the potters' wheel,
a contrast to the excitement of hand building 

'Black Bird Jug'

fun with two and one-half dimensions

'Road Not Taken'

forest side

                           

'Road Not Taken'

 city side

                         

"What's Left II"

height 14"       fired six times

"Rose Wired Wimple"

'Stone Man'

'Gliding Tpot'

Textured with Sardinian cactus
and driftwood from Vancouver Island.
Another two and one-half dimensional form.

'Yellow Salish Sun'

side 2  
 height 13 inches
texture and applique

Texture fascinates me. I use natural objects such as seedpods, bones, lichen, and dried cactus skins, often mingled with bits and pieces from my obsolete computer, to create texture on slabs. It’s fun to see high tech markings dance in tandem with organic texture and come alive in the material of one of the oldest technologies on earth.

'Glowing Forest'

monochrome stains

'Not Alone II'

stretched clay coloured with stains
height 9 inches

'Abstract'

Textured, layered and stretched clay slab
Height 11 inches

'Picasso's Ears V'

a two and one-half dimensional form
Height 15 inches

'Being'

Layered and stretched slab form
Height 10 inches

'Androgyny'

Textured and stretched slab form
Coloured with copper and rutile
Height 10 inches