BRUCE COCHRANE WORKSHOP

Wow! What a memorable weekend. The
Fraser Valley Guild sponsored Bruce
Cochrane's visil In late June toKwantlen
College. Bruce's tralning, after art col-
lege in Montreal. includes a bachelor
degree at NSCAD under Waller Ostrom.
and a MFA from Alfred University, New
York State. For the past 12 years he has
taught ceramics at Sheridan College in
Mississaugua, Ontario, and only recently
became President of the Ontario Clay

Bruce started off the two day session by
showing slides of the work of Walter
Ostrom and other potters that have
been an influence to him, as well as of
wonderful folk pieces, moathy Chinese,
that he feels are his favorite and largest
source of inspiration, Aspects of this
appreciation are evident in some of
Bruce's plecea. Even the gaudy Euro-
pean Baroque work shows some merit
when particular aspects of form and
skill are considered, Until six years ago,
Bruce's work was high-fired salt. These
pleces were gorgeous in their simplicity
and boldness, as were the wood-fired
pieces. Then he showed his earthenware
work with which we are presently most
familiar. The terra sigillata altered forms
are a joy to behold In their quality and
strength of line and form.

Personally, I could have looked at slide
for hours, but Bruce quickly gol into
throwing parts for the different pleces
Which would be assembled later in the
two days. The process remains very
important to him, even though so little
of the time involved in each piece is
spent on the wheel. A butter dish alone
ran take five hours to assemble, bal the
parts only minutes to throw. [f a part
can be made on the wheel, Brice will
certainly take that route, often achiev-
ing more quality In the plece and a
certain uniqueness of each part. The
bottom slabs are thrown over an inch
thick, cut off the wheel, and tmmecti-
ately Lhrown on the canvas table to the
same thinness as the wall of the vessel.
The slab if then scored with a soft
plastic scrubber and a tooth metal rib,

Next, he picks up the round bottomless
wall and places jt over the bottom, ad-
justing so that It Is a perfect oval [nice
trick Ifyou can co {t!), and begins to Mute
the wall with great care. mapping with
fingers where the flutes will go. Slabbed
tops or Ids are draped into the vessel

form, using light plastic sheet as di-
vider. and set aside for later work.

Bruce threw, altered and assembled
parts for two different casseroles, a but-
ter dish, a tea pol, a fruit bowl and a
vase. He also discussed different glazes
and firing techniques [a good section on
this is to be found in the November 90
Ceramics Monthly).

Before we knew it, (t was 5 o'clock al-
ready. Bruce had a tour of Granville
Island, Lynn and Bob's (Johnson) troller.
and his home in North Vancouver where
he spent the first ten years of his life.
Then on to BBQ salman and other deli-
cacies In Deep Cove. Thank you every-
one for your contributions to a great
evening.

For old-time sake, on Sunday, Bruce
made some of his earlier, essentially un-
altered forms. A large, liddect casserole
with thrown inserted handle, a set of
three nesting mixing bowls and a plate
were demonstrated. For casseroles and
bowls, he rolls the lip, which provides a
great rim for any pot. A hole is poked in
te let the air escape while a wooden tool
slowly makes the foot rim for the lid. The
holes are always replugged. The round
platter was made oval by cutting two
willow-leal shaped wedges out of the
base anc pushing the outside in over the
inside edge, pressing tt down, and add-
ing the removed pieces as coils to give
further strength.

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