To Teach, To Learn, To Share

Holiday Wishes

As Chair of the Board for KPG, I would like to take a minute to thank all of our wonderful customers, students and members.  We never thought we would grow as much as we have during Covid and we are very thankful for all of you.  This year has been the first full year of classes, sales and summer camp, since 2019.  We have been very happy to welcome all of you back and introduce your new friends to our great shop, teachers and members.  We look forward to seeing you again in 2024.  

The Guild will be closed for business and regular operations from December 24, 2023 – January 3, 2024, opening again on January 4th.  Classes will begin the week of January 8th and as of this writing, there are still a few spaces left.  

From all of us, to all of you, we hope you have a healthy and happy holiday season, and we wish you the brightest, and most creative New Year.

Holiday Sale Thanks!

We have to say that we were blown away this past weekend by all the wonderful visitors to our sale.  Despite it being the touted Black Friday weekend, we were humbled to discover how many of you love to shop locally.  Our potters and our Guild are very thankful.  The shop is still open until December 22 should you need another gift on your list.  

KPG Annual Holiday Sale This Weekend!

Our annual Holiday Sale begins tomorrow (Friday Nov 24) at 10am!  We have 20 members participating including 5 newer members who have never been in the sale before.  The studio looks fabulous with all the colours and lights and we are so looking forward to seeing you this weekend! 

 

Square hand built tray with carved loon - Cathy Allen
Cathy Allen
Large teal grey mug with thumb rest and throwing lines. White inside. Darlene Malcolm-Moran
Darlene Malcolm-Moran
A mug, small handled casserole and bird shaped pitcher in Heather Brooks' cream and blue glaze combination
Heather Brooks
White speckled clay with white glaze round vase holding colourful flowers.  Emily Vail
Emily Vail
Hand built house garden sculpture.  With blue Dutch style roof.  Raku fired - Jane Turner
Jane Turner
Grey tiles with compass stars impressed into the clay - Holly McGillis
Holly McGillis
Brown and gold carved large platter with handles in Grecian style - Karina Bates
Karina Bates
Two Santa Gnome decorations - Jean Moloney
Jean Moloney
Painted blue grasses on porcelain plate - Priya Harding
Priya Harding
A variety of mugs - Lillian Forester
Lillian Forester
Ovalish platter, hand built, painted and carved with a pilieated woodpecker - Sue Flanagan
Sue Flanagan
Blue wave mugs with tree and cloud like texture and red clay applique buttons at the top of the handles - Sara Purves
Sara Purves

Throwing Large Workshop

This is for any intermediate wheel throwing potter looking to get over the hump of that tricky amount of 1kg – 1.5kg (2.2 – 3.3 lbs) and throw larger.  We will be looking at most aspects of throwing larger, from working on bigger forms to trimming and glazing.  This is a short 3 week intensive workshop, taking place on Tuesday afternoons, Noon – 2:30 from November  21 – December 5.  Concentration will be on bowl forms, but other forms may be considered depending on the student’s goals.  Karina Bates is your teacher for this workshop and she regularly teaches the intermediate/advanced classes here at the Guild.  

Cost for this workshop is $169.50 for members (inc HST) and $186.45 for non-members (inc HST).  All materials and firing are included.  Registration can be made in the Pottery Shop or via etransfer – please contact our Admin, Donna, for details.

light red clay large bowl decorated with white slip and intricate sgraffito inside and medallions outsideLarge berry bowl and plate painted with cobalt blue slip and carved through. Filled with bananas and cherry tomatoes

Summer Clay & Play Camp!

We are filling up fast for our popular Summer Clay & Play Camp.  Our facility is air conditioned and open, giving your children comfort and a safe place to breathe in these smokey and hot summer days.  If your child is interested in the arts, our week long day camp is for them.  Ages 7-12 (we do have a Teen week in August for those 13-17), running from 9 a.m to 4 p.m Monday-Friday, we spend most of the week playing with clay.  Please visit our Camp page for more details or don’t hesitate to contact us via email or phone: 705-742-4979. 

One of our week 1 campers building her castle shaped candle holder
One of our first week campers making a castle shaped candle holder.

Teen working on finishing a hand built mug

Campers displaying finished projects for parents
Campers displaying finished projects

Celebrate Ceramics 2023!

deep bowl in cobalt blue with carving in a mandala pattern through to the white clay below

We had such a pile of fun at Celebrate Ceramics last year that we’ve decided to hold it again this year.  The date will be the evening of Friday June 2nd and again we will hold it at the Lion’s Club in East City, Peterborough.  Tickets will be on sale, in the Pottery Shop only, beginning March 1st. 

It promises to be a fun evening with live music, delicious appetizers and of course, the main attraction, beautiful pottery and every Guest Ticket holder will leave the event with a piece of pottery valued at more than $80.00.  Monies raised from this event enables the Guild to provide ceramic arts education for all ages and supports the continued advancement of ceramic arts.  
 
Mark the date on your calendar so you don’t miss out on this fabulous event! 
Guest Tickets are $80.00 + HST and Friend Tickets for $25.00 + HST. 
 
Here is a sneak peak of some of the items that will be available.
 
black and white bowl with legs and face of cat. on opposite side is a long tail raised above the dishBlue pitcher with single dark blue floral design on side of body
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
white bowl with painted bunches of cherries and painted calligraphy text "life is just a bowl of cherries"

Special Sculpture/Mural Class!

We are in the fortunate position of being able to run a pilot project to investigate teaching remotely through on-line avenues. We are looking for new and experienced hand building students to learn from a teacher outside of our community and give us feedback about the online learning experience. This is a great opportunity to help our Guild and learn from an experienced teacher you might not otherwise have an opportunity to engage with.

The E-Clay Project, in partnership with The Kawartha Potters Guild is working with a team of teachers and eight Guilds/ Not -for- Profit studios to develop ways to teach online, interactive pottery courses. Each course is being taught by an experienced teacher who is part of the team developing the best ways to teach pottery online in an interactive and dynamic way. As a student, you too will be part of this exciting project offering your insights and experience about your experiences of taking this course. When you complete the session and the evaluation you will be given a $100 rebate. We value your input and hope you forgive any hiccups we may encounter.

An 8 week Hand-building pilot project session is being offered at our Guild location, February 10 – March 31 from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. by Aitak Sorahitalab. (Please note date change).

Aitak Sorahitalab is a contemporary ceramic and mural artist, an art educator, also a public art researcher. Her sculptures and installations narrate societal and political challenges drawn from personal and collective incidents and observations. Using background knowledge, Aitak incorporates elements of Iranian and Mesopotamian epics, artifacts and motifs as part of her practice through creating surrealist figurines and compositions. In her work, aesthetic discourse is in equal importance with methods and the process undergoing.

Aitak has more than two decades of experience in art education, specifically ceramic, working with art organizations and institutes such as Gardiner Museum, Good Sheppard Creative Studio, ArtStarts, and Etc.

As a doctoral candidate at York University’s Environmental and Urban Change, Aitak is investigating the position of public art in contemporary culture and its connection to the right to freedom of expression.

If you, or someone you know might be interested in this course, please pass this information along.

To register and review the course information and requirements please visit our classes page or contact our Administrator. For more information about the e-Clay Project , please go to https://www.e-claylearning.ca/

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. 

 

Happy Holidays and Thank You

As another year of Covid comes to a close, we would very much like to thank our customers and students who have continued to support us, even as the cost of living spikes.  We try very hard to keep our costs down in order to share the knowledge of clay.  Your patronage of our store and sales supports both the Guild and our independent artisans and we thank you.  

As Chair of the Board, I also wish to thank our amazing Admin and Tech who do so many things to keep our Guild running smoothly.  Our members and volunteers are definitely our backbone, and I extend my thanks to you for all you do to help us accomplish our goals.  Thanks also to our Board who work hard to keep moving our Guild forward.  

We will be closed December 24 – January 2, 2023.  We do try to check orders and messages, but please allow for delays as our staff celebrate the Holidays with their families.  

May you have a wonderful and healthy Holiday season and a Happy New Year.  We look forward to seeing you in 2023.

Guild holiday tree with pottery, gourd and wooden ornaments

Kawartha Potters' Guild