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

Tuesday, August 1

Populace

POPULACE at the Canadian Museum of Nature

I've been absent from my blog for well over a year now but with very good reason. I've been involved in the biggest ceramic project of my career - POPULACE. It began as a proposal to Ottawa 2017, and a grant from the Arts, Culture and Heritage Investment Program. Our original estimate of 7,350 pieces turned into 9000, each individually hand crafted, fired and glazed then mounted on steel rods. Our site partner, the Canadian Museum of Nature, provided not only the land for the installation but also the manpower to daily patrol the garden, and gardeners (grass cutters) to maintain the paths between the beds.

2000 Canadians, some of whom were new to our country, participated in over 50 workshops in a 10 month period. We delighted in sharing the project with people who work with clay on a regular basis and those who do not. Students, adults, seniors all put their hands and spirits to work, surmounting the voice of doubt many expressed not only in their ability to make pieces but also in our collective ability to get to the finish line on time. But finish on time we did!

There were many highs on this journey. The best ones for me were the stories of individuals and the opportunity to share this project with family and friends. My parents came out twice to my studio, lending their skills to the project and being that ever encouraging voice of support and pride I've known all my life. They also came out to help install Populace in the park, mom filling pieces with putty and dad hammering in rods.

I have been blessed to work with two incredible women on this project, neither of whom I knew at all when we began. Hilde Lambrechts, at probably 5' 0" but always perfectly dressed in the most impressive heels, is the designer of the project from top to bottom. Kim Lulashnyk is our beautiful and talented wordsmith and media manager. I manage the money and general coordination of the project. Don't let that fool you though. This has been a collaborative effort from the very beginning.

I could write a book about the journey of Populace. Maybe one day the three of us will - it is on the radar and in the cue actually! But for now, I'll direct you to our website for all the information you'll ever need on the project. When you get there, be sure to click on the links to our Social Media pages, especially Facebook. Go to: www.populace2017.com Enjoy!

Feathers made by my dad, my nephew Joseph and my mom


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