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Dorset Pottery Group Newsletter July 2004 |
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Links
to Other Documents A
membership form with Standing Order instructions. Please
deal with this and tell your bank to send us the money! Annual
Exhibition at Bridport Arts Centre Paperwork
:- Posters – Please
display these (contact Bill if you want more copies) Invitations
to Preview on Sunday 17th October Print
out your invitation to pin on your wall! Registration
Forms and conditions, these are for potters to book
their spaces. It would be useful to let us know if you are not appearing
this year (if you normally do). Please return the form soon, so that
we know who to expect to turn up and can plan the layout. |
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Annual Exhibition
at Bridport Arts Centre
17th to 30th October 2004
As agreed with members who attended the American Supper after last year’s
exhibition it was programmed that the Dorset Pottery Group would once again
hold its annual exhibition in Bridport in the year 2004. It has become the
most popular exhibition of the Arts Centre year, with very many visitors and
good sales.
The date of this year’s show is from 17th to 30th October 2004 and similar
format as previous years. Set up is on Sunday 17th October, with the preview
on that evening, take down is on Saturday 30th October from 4.00pm. Closed
Sundays and Mondays.
A larger team of people will be involved in running the event this year and
we are looking for some new ways of doing things and attracting some new people.
Until this year exhibits have been from the members of the Dorset Pottery
Group only, however, we presume that no member would object if we included
potters from outside the group as special guests (to make up numbers). In
order to make sure that the exhibition is viable and can go forward, we need
to know members' interest, so please send the enclosed form to Sarah Herring
by the end of July, 2004.
We will plan to have publicity in the local media, information centres, ceramic
review and craft magazines. Also exhibitors will be sent preview invitations
and posters to hand out/put up in their area. Even if you live far from Bridport
it would be very helpful if you would put up the posters, you never know who
might be planning to visit Bridport! I expect we have all spent hours before
now standing behind a stall with too few customers because the publicity has
not been distributed. Every little helps so please let us know how many posters
you think you will be able to put up in your local shops, post offices, notice
boards and tourist attractions.
The Conditions
of Entry for the 2004 Exhibition and Registration
Form can be downloaded by following the links
Notice of Annual General Meeting of DPG
Saturday 4th September 2004. Meeting Starts at 7.30pm
at Upwey Old School Village Hall
The Upwey Potters are hosting the AGM of the DPG, during their September exhibition
and workshops.
The meeting will follow the standard procedures, so expect to see the usual
elections of officers and discussions. Only paid up members may vote!
There will be an informal meal after the meeting – please bring a bowl of
something edible to share!
Members and their guests are welcome to come during day and join in the workshops,
but please contact the Upwey Potters to learn what is happening and to book
places.
Pricing Our Pots.
Several members remarked during the last BAC exhibition that the pricing of
work is causing them grief (And we are not alone – most artists and craftspeople
find it a most difficult task).
The “professional/amateur” divide lurks in the background and “hobby potters”
may under value their contributions, thus devaluing the whole event and making
it more difficult for full-time potters to sell their work at reasonable rates.
However fighting has not yet broken out, indeed the DPG is proud of the encouragement
it gives potters from all backgrounds.
As an aid to help members tackle the joys of pricing their pots for this year’s
show, we aim to stage an evening at which this is discussed. Members will
be sent details with the acknowledgements for their entries.
Membership Fees.
An annual membership fee of £6 was brought in at the general meeting.
A Membership card has been posted if your entry has been checked on the group’s
bank account statement. You will find a slip to set up a bank standing order
at this link.
A special thank you to members (or their banks) who paid the subs twice! Rather
than refund them by cheque now we will hold a credit.
Members are welcome to bring guests to most events, but paid up members will
have priority when booking events. Guests who are potters will be encouraged
to join.
Small, propane-fired kilns.
I expect that most of us, who are already on the mailing list of CTM Suppliers
of Exeter, have been sent a brochure of their new Rohde kilns from Germany.
The blurb tells us what excellent quality they are and this I can indeed confirm
as a short while ago I was lucky enough to join a friend for her first firing
of her brand new one. We fired raku and it was amazingly easy with excellent
results. Whew! So in my mind I started to compare this latest result of modern
technology with the “top-hat” version which Pat Simpson, Molly Gardener and
I made three winters ago — with some help from MolIy’s husband, Norman. We
made it from Fil Cooke’s description of his own raku kiln in Ceramic Review
no.161, pp 10-13. We had fun and a great sense of achievement when it was
ready to fire.
The Rohde kiln seems to me to be excellent value for money but of course ours
cost less though it took time to make. Both are very economical. I think that
we over- insulated ours, but what a good fault! Both produce excellent results.
The Rohde stands on its own base, so the ground under it needs no protection.
For our top-hat one we lay out a layer of bricks with ceramic fibre blanket
(which must not get wet on top. When we unload two of us are needed to lift
the” hat” while a third person watches to make sure that it stays level and
does not touch the ware on the shelf. Each time the shelf is reset and the
top-hat lowered over it, the burner must be repositioned, whereas the Rohde’s
burner has a stand, is adjusted and fixed with a screw and can be left in
position..
Our top-hatted shelf of fired ware, glowing with its raku temperature, cools
down extremely quickly once the removal of the “hat” leaves it exposed to
the air and we unload it like maniacs, each dealing with their own work, to
get it into the wood shaving bins while it is still hot enough for reduction.
However, the walls of the Rhode kiln protect its fired ware, which keeps its
heat for far longer so that unloading can be a more leisurely and considered
process and needs only one person as opposed to the three required to make
our top-hat sessions comfortable. (In practice there have generally been more
of us.)
I think for efficiency, ease, safety, and probably durability, the Rohde kiln
could not be bettered; but for sheer drama, tension and excitement our top-hat
makes for the best party and, having the satisfaction of making it ourselves,
we feel extra pleased at the good results.
Phyllida Horniman
www.ctmsupplies.co.uk tel 01395 233077
Ceramic Review
Did you see the Upwey Potters soda kiln article in the January issue?
Alan Ashpool has passed on to the DPG a collection of back issues from 1980’s
through to early 2000’s. Bill has scanned them for inspiration, but if any
other member would like to house them for a while please let Bill know and
he will pass them on.
HIGHCLIFFE CASTLE
2005
As you all know, we have been on the lookout for an exhibition venue in the
east. I have been in contact with Manda Graham, the exhibitions organiser,
at Highcliffe Castle, Christchurch and have provisionally booked a period
from August to October 2005 for a Dorset Pottery Group show. It is too early
to give you any more details at present but this is a very exciting prospect
for us. Highcliffe Castle is a prestigious venue with some excellent exhibition
space. I will give you more information when we get together for the AGM.
In the meantime, get this exhibition pencilled in to your diaries. Fil Cooke
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