SUMMER RAMBLES

Last November, attending my father's funeral in
Ontario, I promised myself an extended visit to On-
tario this summer. It turned out not only to be that,
but also much more. An almost-cross-continent
discovery tour with my two fourteen-year-old boys
would have to be more! I don't think I ever imagined
how much more!

In order to survive the daily driving grind, we devel-
oped techniques for survival along the way. An army
surplus store here, a skateboard ramp there, and to
my surprise, the willingness of David and Peter to
indulge with me in hunting out antique shops and
museums that might give up hidden ceramic or glass
treasures (I have a curious passion for | cup ceramic
teapots of any description).

Medicine Hat was high on my list of miusl-sees,
although the ambient air temperature meant there
was no consideration of staying very long! A working
museum on the former Medalta factory site has been
planned for some time. Understandably, given the
scale of reconstruction necessary, there have been
difficulties in getting underway. I eventually found
the Medicine Hat museum and was given a tour of the
storage area in which their Medalta et al. collection fs
housed. That brief time has given a whole new
purpose ta my Vancouver scavenging for bits and
pieces. If any of you have identifiable bits of Medalta,
Little Chief, or other goodies, and warit to get rid of
them, Donny White, Curator of Human History ,
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, 1302 Bomford
Cresc. SW,, Medicine Hat, Alberta, TLA 5E6, would be
very pleased to hear from you. Well worth a visit,
along with the Glenbow Museum's collection in Cal-
gary. The challenge to people like Donny to record
something of a community's history is Immense.

Eventually made it to Quebec City, with the boys and
my husband, Jim, as well, Tourism ts the No. |
industry there in the summer and {t's very easy to
begin to feel as if reality is a mob of tourists, After two
hours, I become distressed, and it was therefore with
great relief that | discovered Héléne Labreque, wife of
Gabriel, selling her husband's work in one of the open
air markets. It was like burnping into an old friend,
and happily realizing you still have a lot to talk about.
Gabriel's work ts found throughout the east, and in
several western locations; Hélené says he's too busy
working to think of travelling and giving workshops,
but he and Ron Tribe would have fun comparing
notes, I'm sure, Ron's work | see as more sophisti-
cated, but Gabriel uses airbrushed turquoise, grey
and blue colour to striking effect on lightly-textured
thrown and slab forms.

More to follow next month, on Hull's new Museum of
Civilization, and on notes from Montreal, Toronto, and
Minneapolis!

Jan Kidnie

BIZEN: A VISIT BY YU FUJIWARA

Earlier this year the Guild and the Emily Carr College
of Art was approached by Keith Fedoruk of the Japa-
nese Consulate with a tempting opportunity, 1989 is
the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the
Japanese Consulate in Canada and to celebrate its
centennial, the Consulate was arranging a series of
special events. Their proposal to the Guild was to
bring a potter to Vancouver for a workshop in June
along with an exhibition of Japanese folk art and
would the Guild be interested in organizing a work-
shop?

We enthusiastically agreed, although no one knew
who the potter would be. Several weeks later we along
with the Consulate, were still waiting to hear from
Japan. Finally word arrived that Yu Fujiwara from
Bizen would be the potter coming. Several meetings
were held and the details would be worked out by Tam
Irving, Jan Kidnie and myself,

We were also invited ta a dinner for Mr, Fujtwara
hosted by the Consulate. It was at the restaurant that
the realization of my ignorance of Japanese protocol
began to overwhelm me, especially when Consul
General Yoshida arrived. 1 realized they weren't fool-
ing around, and Tam and Takako hadn't arrived yet.
Mr. Fujiwara and his son Kazue artived, and after a lot
of bowing and introductions (in Japanese), we were
ushered into a private room, I had been told that Mr.
Fujiwara and his son didn't speak English (which
compounded my amxdety), but my sense of responsi-
bility to the Guild Kept me from bolting from the room,
After a few minutes of crushing silence , we waited for
the guest of honour to be seated. Afler some chit-chat
{in Japanese), Mr. Fujiwara turned to me and asked in
English how many potters there were in Vancouver.
My immediate reply was “1 didn't know you spoke
English,” What a relief. He replied that he has been
to Canada and the US, several times and that both he
and his son had studied English literature in univer-
sity, By this time Tam and Takako arrived and the
sensation in my neck and shoulders was returning.
As the evening progressed I found Mr. Fujiwara to be
quite charming and entertaining, and | looked forward
to his workshop.

The morning of the workshop, | was surprised to see
the large number of people in attendance in the
ceramic studio at the College, We had arranged a
rough timetable for the two days to be followed by a
dinner at Jean Fahrni's, I had arranged to have a
friend, David Lloyd, who has potted in Japan, to
translate. The workshop itself was not so much a
how-to type of workshop, as Mr. Fujiwara preferred to
explain the unique aspects of Bizen pottery and the
philosophy behind his approach to their work. He
compared Bizen ware to other traditional ware in
Japan and reflected on its position in contemporary

society.
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