In 2001 the Gallery of BC Ceramics had its
best year on record! For the first time our
ceramic sales surpassed $250,000. This
increase is the result of many small initia-
tives and the hard work of staff, the Board
of Directors and Gallery committee.

Gallery Committee

The resurrection of a committee of volun-
teers who focus on the Gallery has been
one of the many highlights of this year.
Thanks to Jinny Whitehead, Pia Sillem,
Celia Rice-Jones, Sheila Morissette and
Maggi Kneer who have put in countless
volunteer hours. I would like to thank each
of them for their endless effort and con-
stant stream of ideas and positive energy.

Jury & Policy Guidelines

Re-working of the Jury Guidelines and
Gallery Policies has also contributed
greatly to our increase in sales, Among the
most important changes in the new and
improved guidelines has been the mainte-
nance of fresh stock with the 6-month rule,
and the Annual Review. We have begun to
retum pieces to artists thar we have had for
longer than six months. As well, under the
new rules, anyone juried in will only be
juried in for six months, after which time
they will be reviewed on the basis of their
sales and the quality of the work submit-
ted. If we are unable to sell an artist's
work, or the quality of work delivered is
inconsistent, we will no longer carry that
artist's work. Artists who are already juried
into the Gallery will be reviewed annually,
using the same criteria.

Staff

There has been little change in the staff.
Anes Chung continues on as Assistant
Manager, and has become more responsi-
ble for the accounting aspects of the Gal-
lery. Sheryl Wilson has been promoted to
the Exhibition Coordinator. From Sep-
tember to February we had two highschool
students, Chris Watt and Juliana Caon,
working under the Youth Community
Action Program. Chris was responsible
for organizing and cataloguing the Guild
library, and Juliana was trained as a Gal-
lery Assistant. Both Chris and Juliana were
a joy to work with, and I would like to
thank them for their contribution.

Gallery of BC Ceramics

Annual General Meeting Report

Customer Survey

During 2001 the staff in the Gallery took a
survey of where our customers were from.
The results of this information were that
more than 7456 in the summer months and
over half of our customers in the non-
summer months ans not Canahian, but
mainly American. After September 11,
the Gallery sales slowed down considder-
ably; however becuuse we had had an
extremely busy summer, we were still able
to report record sales. We will have to wail
and see what, if any the long-term effects
of September 11 will be.

Gallery Quarterly

We continue to write the Gallery Quar-
terly every three months. We have ex-
panded our Jocal mailing list to inchude
every architect in the Lower Mainland,
and we are in the process of adding the
interior designers, These lists combined
with our customer list bring the total
number of mailouts to over 1000. As the
result of an invitation we sent oul wilh our
last Gallery Quarterly of 2001, we had a
record number of people attend our annual
Christmas party. Gallery sales on that
evening were $400) in two hours!

Alliances

In 2001, we participated with the Crafts
Association of British Columbia, Kew
Small and Sterling Glass Sodio, and Forge
and Form in producing a full colour post
card that can be found on the ferries featur-
ing fine craft on Granville Island. During
the summer months we also participated
with the same group taking a full page ad
in Where magazine, one of the top tourist
magazines in Vancouver.

Award winner: May Leung Spirimal Passage
(Budda image is bridge holding figures)

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

This was the first year that we scheduled
Ouropenings in conjunction with the Crafts
Association of British Columbia, and we
will continwe to form alliances within the
craft community, We are co-hosting an
upcoming exhibition with the Wood Co-
op, and have been one of the members of
the organizing team for Festive Hands an
annual craft crawl on Granville Island
during November.

Looking to the Future

Over the year I have been at the Gallery,
there have been many changes; some of
these have been physical, while others
have been on an organizational level. Both
the Board and | have concentrated on
making the Gallery a viable and flourish-
ing business, and given the dramutic in-
crease in sales over the last year, this
seems to be attainable.

Tt has been one of the most exciting and
challenging times of my life. I have really
enjoyed meeting many of you, as well as
becoming acquainted with cach artist's
work,

I would like to take a moment to thank my
stellar staff, every one of the extremely
supportive and dedicated Gallery Com-
mittee members, Lynne Graham, our faith-
ful Wednesday volunteer and the Board
for their ongoing support and hardwork.
Thank you all so much fora traly wonder-
ful year. It has been an honour to work
amongst such beaury.

Kimcha Rajkumar

Silk Road
Asian Influences in BC
Pottery
Exhabition cantinues to
June 4.

June 2002