Debra Sloan, Presenter at the Canadian Clay Symposium

Though I have tried, I cannot leave
the pot behind. Pottery is a universal
language made visible; it is about func-
tion, form, concept, and beauty. Pot-
tery enables contact, informing
through use and touch. Pottery is the
record-keeper of the beginnings of
human expressivity. Most of what I
do exists in a nebulous region between
the context of the figure in sculpture,
and the context of the pot. The pot
and the figure share many common
attributes. We employ descriptions of
the figurative: shoulders, belly, and
foot, to locate areas on the pot, and
the pot easily assumes or suggests the
figurative. It is a copasetic situation.

Initially, my interest in doing a com-
plete figure was in response to some
17C "Staffordshire" figurines. ("Staf-
fordshire" being a very broad term.)
The clay figures I'm referring to were
hand-modeled figurines that stood,
with the assistance of a column of clay.
This column was a part of the scen-
ery, or sometimes even left unadorned.
What I took, from this pragmatic ap-

Man About Town 16°high

proach, was that, by revealing to the
viewer the potter's method of handling
soft clay, and allowing us to see the
problems it causes, the viewer was
included in the process, given a bit of
insight. This made a direct connec-
tion from maker to the viewer.

What I am presently working on has
evolved from that original response.
The figures are free standing on a mod-
est, slightly informative, base. They
are caught between thought and mo-
tion. Built like hollow tubes, they are
worked from within. The exterior
form reflects the shaping of the inte-
rior walls; and the clay is the interme-
diate place between the two. There is
access to the internal space when the
heads are lifted off. If the pieces were
sealed that space would be unattain-
able. These pieces remain within the
realm of pottery without being pots,
or providing a commentary about pots.
Tam using the contained volumes and
forms, reminiscent of pots, to describe
my narratives. By making them bot-
tles instead of contained pieces, I in-

Beat of a Different Drummer - 17 "high

6 Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

vite the viewer to them pick up.

To make these pieces, the clay was
stretched out to take on a form, ani-
mated, and embellished to describe a
narrative. Small stress cracks, or
striations in the coloured slips clearly
mark the areas where the metamorpho-
sis has been particularly arduous. Like
the columns of supporting clay in the
Staffordshire figures, the history of
these events (as the piece was trans-
formed from green clay to fired form)
is not erased or concealed, but left un-
touched for the viewer to see and sense

the process.

Please note that Debra's show,

“ALL DRESSED UP”,

runs from March 4th to the 29th ,
2004

Opening reception at the Crafthouse,
(across the street from the Guild)

on Granville Island.
Thurs, March 4th 6-8pm

By the Light of the Moon - 18”high

March 2004