Artistic Statement/Bio/CV

Artist Statement

Working with clay is an incredibly rewarding escape from the pace and demands of a busy life. The creative process is unending in its complexity and lessons.
For the past 20 years, I have been developing my voice in clay. What began with a summer course to "get out of the house once a week" became a 3 year stay at a local pottery studio. By the fourth year, I had purchased a wheel and a kiln and started my own studio. In general, I am inspired by things to do with my family such as the places we have visited and the heritage of my ancestors. To that end, I have created pots ranging from iconic colors and shapes associated with Scotland and Ireland, to lace and flowers and to the colors of the ocean and the beach. In every case, these spaces, times and people inspired me to throw all of my ideas and skills into creating pots that embodied all that I felt, remembered and experienced there and then.

Professional development, through workshops, conferences, events and visits to studios and shops all filter into my work, often through careful experimentation but always through creative inspiration and interpretation. Like any artist, ideas, designs, skill and opportunity comes in waves. The work I create reflects that ability to carve out a place for my art in amongst all of the other things I do with my time, some years more than others. As the clay itself will tell you, you can't rush it, a motto for daily life!

Bio

I come from a family of creative minds!
I received a Bachelor of Arts (Hons. Psychology) from Carleton University and went on to receive a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa. Teaching and then taking time off to begin our family meant that a creative outlet was in order. First came the study of watercolour techniques and then along came clay. Both have intersected more than once in my artistic career, each leading discoveries that worked with the other and creating a personal expression in both mediums.

I have been working with clay now for twenty-three years, amassing ideas and inspiration through courses/workshops/seminars given by the City of Ottawa, the Ottawa Guild of Potters, Fusion Clay and Glass Assoc. and the National Council for Education on the Ceramic Arts (Providence, RI and Pittsburgh, PA). I have served on the Ottawa Guild of Potters Executive as VP, President and Past President and coordinated the giving of charitable donations on behalf of the OPG at sales for 10 years. In 2006, I orchestrated the OGP's presence at the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa and, in 2009, helped organize and install the OGP ’s 30th Anniversary exhibition, "Symphony", at the Craft Ontario Gallery, Toronto. The greatest project of my career in clay to date, "Populace", began in 2016, culminating in 2017 with a 9000 ceramic sculpture installation, for which I served as Project Coordinator. My work, both functional and sculptural, is found in private collections in Canada and abroad.

Qualifications

Courses and workshops in functional ceramics (began summer 2000, ongoing)

BA Psychology 1989, BEd (Cum Laude) 1990

Memberships

FUSION, the Ontario Clay and Glass Association

National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA)

Ottawa Guild of Potters

Workshops and Conferences

NCECA, Pittsburgh, March 13-18, 2018

FUSION workshop with Chandra Debuse, Oct 21-22, 2017

Demonstration Workshop with Tom Jasczczak, Ottawa, August 18-19, 2017

Demonstration workshop with Martha Grover, Kingston, 2016

NCECA, Rhode Island, March 24-28, 2015

Decal printing with Arthur Petch, Ottawa - Private lesson, February 2015

Surface Decoration workshop with Chris Sneddon, Ottawa, September 20, 2014

Animal Sculptures with Susan Halls, Ottawa, October 5-6, 2013

Demonstration workshop with Steve Irvine, Nepean, February 2012

FUSION conference with Robin Hopper, North Bay, May 2005

Tile Decoration Workshop with Carolynne Pynn-Trudeau, February 1, 2003

Cone 6 Glazing with Anne Chambers, Nepean, Feb 8, 2003

Handbuilding Workshop with Chandler Swain, May 2003

Demonstration Workshop with Lois Romanow, "Do What You Love, Love What You Do", Dunrobin, Jan 27-28, 2001

Activities and Functions

Chair, Ottawa Guild of Potters 50th Anniversary Scholarship 2023

Served as Ottawa Guild of Potters VP, President, Past President from 2005-2010

Charitable Donations Coordinator, Ottawa Guild of Potters, 2005-2013

Co-created and coordinated OGP Clay Olympics (October 21, 2007 and June 22, 2013)

Proposed and coordinated the OGP at the Canadian Tulip Festival, Major's Hill Park, Spring 2006

Coordinated and installed "Symphony", an OGP Juried Exhibition in Toronto at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery (May 7-31, 2009)

Coordinator - ‘Populace’, Ottawa Guild of Potters, Ottawa, 2016-2018

Teaching

‘Populace’ workshops and demonstrations:

Ottawa Guild of Potters sale- Public Populace making event. Ottawa, April 28-30

Canadian Museum of Nature, April 4

West Carleton SS, All Saints CHS, Ecole Secondaire De La Salle, Loam, Ottawa, Nov 2016 - March 2017

City Hall, Ottawa, and Opeongo HS, Douglas, February 2017

Loam, Gloucester Pottery School, De La Salle HS, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa and Kingston Pottery Guild, Kingston, January 2017

Loam, December 2017

Gladstone Clayworks, Loam, Canadian Museum of Nature, November 2017

Lynda Northey Studio, Dunrobin, September and October 2017

Workshops for the West Carleton Home School Co-Operative, Dunrobin, Feb 28 & March 6, 2008

Workshops for March Academy, Kanata, June 2007, Jan 2008, April 2015

Group Exhibitions

‘Populace at Home’ – Dust Evans Gallery, Ottawa, October 21-December 13, 2017

Celebrating Clay – ‘It's All About the Wings' - Gallerie Côté Créations, Ottawa, November 1-30, 2017

‘Populace’ – Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, June 17- September 9. 2017

Ottawa Guild of Potters Juried Spring Exhibition, Ottawa, May 22-24, 2016

Awards

Ontario 150 grant of $10,000 on behalf of the Ottawa Guild of Potters for ‘Populace’, February 2017

ACHIP grant of $12,000 on behalf of the Ottawa Guild of Potters for ‘Populace’, September 2016

Bibliography

O Canada! A celebration of 150 years, Joan Weinman and Kimothy Walker, 2017, page 133.

“Honoring History” – Ceramic Review, Sept/Oct 2017

“The making of Populace: A Bold Ceramic Art Installation for Canada’s 150th Celebrations, Kim Lulashnyk- Fusion Magazine, September 2017 Vol.41 No.2

“Snapshot in Time: Ottawans Asked to Help Fill City Time Capsule with 2017 Mementos”, Erin McCracken, Nepean Barrhaven News, Metroland Media, August 30, 2017

“Le Tre Anime (in Fiore) Del Canada”, Georgia Tasso, IO Donna, Milan, August 5, 2017

“Nancy Riggs of the Glebe and Annu and Maya Chopra from Barrhaven help install thousands of ceramic feathers, roses and fleurs-de-lis…” –Nepean-Barrhaven News, Metroland Media, June 22, 2017

“Canada 150 pottery Exhibit Celebrates Canada’s Cultures During Confederation”, Lauren Malyk – Ottawa Citizen, June 19, 2017

News and Views with Rob Snow - Rob Snow, (Host), Interview with Kim Lulashnyk, Ottawa, On:580 CFRA Talk Radio, June 19, 2017

“Populace 2017 Pour Canada 150”, Barbara Laurenstein (Reporter) – Le tele journal CBC. French television report and interview, 16 juin, 2017

“82-hundred ceramic flowers are waiting to be installed at the Museum of Nature” – Radio series episode- All in a Day with Alan Neal, Ottawa, ON: CBC Radio One, 91.5 FM, April 28, 2017

“Making Pottery Pieces for Populace Project”, Michele Leboldus - West Carleton Review, Ottawa , April 27, 2017

“Potters Set to Plant Tribute to Founders”, Natalie Rocha - Centretown News, Ottawa, April 11, 2017

“Capital Fun: 150 things to do in Ottawa for Canada’s 150th Birthday” – Canada Altitude Report, March 20, 2017

“Potters Heat Up a Different Kind of Ottawa 2017 Celebration”, Michelle Nash Baker – Ottawa Community News, March 6, 2017

“Making a Community Celebration Installation” - The Potters Cast with Paul Blais – episode 287, January 26, 2017

Sunday, November 23

100 Cups



This link 100 Cups will take you to a Dropbox folder contain all 100 images of the cups produced this fall. You can also see them in the video above. While I am most proud of the final pots, they all have something special about them, one way or another. Enjoy!


When they're beautiful, they're beautiful!

I can't really say anything that would add to the joy that comes with making something so lovely, so perfect, so fully an expression of the inspiration surrounding me. I am grateful to the potters who have set a high standard of creativity and craftsmanship that guides me on my path. While nothing is ever really new in this craft, we are, all of us, an amalgamation of the potters who go before us. They inspire our thoughts, guide our quest for skills and challenge us to reach new heights. These lovely pots make me feel like I've finally stepped on the first rung of that ladder.






Friday, November 21

A Very Special Gift


It's wonderful to be able to give back to someone. All the more special that the someone is one you admire, have been inspired by, and who continues to feed your desire to create. I had a moment like that today. The work I've been creating this fall contains a glaze combination I created to reflect the shore, that beautiful place where the lake or the sea or the ocean breathes in and out. It is soporific, renewing and grounding. I have a feeling this wonderful woman loves the inspiration for this work as much as I do. Happy, happy day!


Inspiration


Inspiration. Where do you find it? It has occurred to me, as I work away on my offerings for the OGP holiday Sale, that just about every collection of work that I've put together for our Guild sales has been a mini exhibition. Inspiration comes from so many different places and seems to be the thing that drives me. This coming holiday sale is no exception. My inspiration, my muse, is the thing I collect: mugs. The humble, utilitarian drinking vessel that contains so much personal information and has the power to influence the enjoyment of that cup of tea or cuppa joe for the day is the focus of my work. You know that saying, "Who are you wearing?" Well, in my house, the phrase is, "Who do you want to drink out of today?" Sounds gross but you know what I mean! A few years ago, members of the Guild were asked if they have commercial dishes or potter-made dishes. Anyone who comes to my house will tell you that every mug in my cupboard (the count of which has just exceeded 50) is uniquely made. I'm happy to know all the makers of these beautiful pieces of art.For as many different possibilities as there are in the shape, size, colour, and function of mugs/cups/tumblers, that is the challenge I've given myself as I dream, create and, ultimately, finish the pieces for the sale. There is still much to be done but the collection is beginning to take shape. I look forward to presenting this mini exhibition at the a The Ottawa Guild of Potters Fall Holiday Sale, November 28-30 in the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park. See you there!





Choices, Choices

I'm so bad at keeping up with this blog. (Sigh) Life is full of choices though, right? So, let me set to rights the fact that my work has been a series of changes since last year. First, I finally took time for me and decided to take a workshop on sculptures! It was given by the wonderful Susan Halls (http://www.susanhalls.com/) and was a whole new world for me. I'd never done sculptural work because I couldn't think of an intelligent approach to it. Susan opened the door to a technique that fueled the fire of imagination and I was off. What came from that wonderful workshop was a line of angels, some of which you see here. Creating the body shapes, having fun with the wings...even working on "angel appropriate" faces lead to some very happy work.