All Projects

Celebration Project

In the face of the monetization of hobby pottery in recent times (by thousands of prepared products, special purpose tools and services) veteran potters who know materials and processes and how to be self-sufficient can feel a little like relics. Schools are increasingly onboarding people into the glaze-jar hobby pottery culture rather than teaching the basics of traditional ceramics. This is OK for right-brained people but doesn't scale well into production for the left-brained. This project was first about remembering and celebrating "the pros", many of whom have laboured for decades, often in relative obscurity, producing large volumes of ware. Pottery is among the world's oldest and most valuable professions, one that has combined art, craft, mechanical, construction, prospecting, material processing, etc. The veterans of the craft are a cultural heritage to be preserved and passed on in a search-engine findable form. Their knowledge, techniques and styles need remembering in a ceramics world loosing its way in many places.

Second, this project is also about celebrating younger potters displaying the same kind of talent, dedication and determination that will make them the veterans of the future.

Third, it celebrates art centers and teaching institutions, many of whom are contributing in a big way to the preservation and growth of quality ceramics and pottery. Not just that, they are teaching the value of craft and art to a society heading in directions of increased anxiety and depression - pottery can be very therapeutic.

This project started with customers of Plainsman Clays but it soon became evident that this could and should be much bigger.

Here are some of the people that we have done so far. If you are a supplier would you like to start creating a database to celebrate your customers? We are working on a web service to provide this functionality. Please contact us.

Ginette Brinkman
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/6uW331RmXo.pdf Go

Stephen Girard
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/bwviKdtykX.pdf Go

Cathi Jefferson
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/bKfczi6ELY.pdf Go

Alan Lacovetsky
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/c7SL8SJShe.pdf Go

Luke Lindoe
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/MhnkJm8NCN.pdf Go

Sarah Pike
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/WZenM78qaA.pdf Go

Pamela Rodger
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/YsKcNwvr2y.pdf Go

Nick Saville
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/a1noFiXxSB.pdf Go

Rod & Denise Simair
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/hDWqKZ7zvC.pdf Go

Kim Undseth
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/t8jr4KeJKT.pdf Go

Brian Wiebe
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/XNZ1Ny1ucn.pdf Go

Basiclai.com
(Marianne Robilotta)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/PB7j6gGnBt.pdf Go

Brenda Parks Pottery
(Brenda Parks)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/uWycihDAhR.pdf Go

Burnt Earth Services
(Roxanne Neu)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/vt5s8gpPf7.pdf Go

Clay Studio Three
(Paula Cooley)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/4v4sjMhE9w.pdf Go

Grassroots Studio Ltd.
(James Marshall)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/fitfehogok.pdf Go

Kwantlen Polytechnic
(Ying-Yueh Chuang)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/J2kQgciya2.pdf Go

Mary Fox Pottery
(Mary Fox)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/njk9TtTway.pdf Go

MyLilShopCanada
(Lillie Turner)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/J1yHWjYkgF.pdf Go

Nestel Pottery
(Marie Nestel)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/tyxnuzekur.pdf Go

Okanagan Pottery
(Peter Flanagan)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/TxEtgWDsh5.pdf Go

Parsons Dietrich Pottery
(Zach, Devon Dietrich)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/K77Wyaudzu.pdf Go

Pike Studios
(Connie and Bob Pike)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/zT8t6A37mZ.pdf Go

Plainsman Clays
(Tony Hansen)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/qpqGMxojrT.pdf Go

Pridham Studio
(Micah & Jeremiah Wassink)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/KZF7xgyyMi.pdf Go

Stillpoint Pottery
(Lance Hall, Maureen McEwen)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/cacxagosif.pdf Go

Voyager Tile
(Brian McArthur)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/w8Se8TcYQW.pdf Go

Wildflower Arts Centre, APA
(Gillian Boon)
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/CAC79ypy3y.pdf Go

Workshop Studios
(Becky, Andrew )
https://plainsmanclays.com/artists/umE9s5enaZ.pdf Go

Related Information

New batch of celebration posters at PlainsmanClays.com

Do you know a veteran potter or sculptor whose work and dedication really need to be appreciated, celebrated and remembered in more ways? Especially ones who are techno timid. In 2020 we added the ability for account-holder customers at plainsmanclays.com to submit their story and other information and upload and organize up to seven photos. With that data, the site can generate PDF posters like this. However, our intervention was required to make most of these - the artists are one of the very things we celebrate them for - really busy! So - there are many hundreds more to do. Please contact the coach, tony@digitalfire.com, if you or someone you know really should be a part of this collection. So far we have not published anything, these simply exist for our internal use at the factory and on sales calls. But we are hoping to turn them into a library at some point.

Links

By Tony Hansen Follow me on

Got a Question?

Buy me a coffee and we can talk