CC&GG AGM - 28th September

You are invited to attend the

Cornwall Ceramics and Glass Group

Annual General Meeting

With Illustrated talks by Siddy Langley and John Pollex 

September 28th 2013 at Ladock Village Hall Ladock TR2 4PG

10.00 am for 10.30 am Start

Program for the Day

10.30 am - Opening and Illustrated Talk by Siddy Langley – Glass Artist

“I have had a love affair with glass for well over thirty years now and still, it shows no signs of abating.

It allows me to express myself like no other medium I have ever found. At its best, when one is working, it is like performing an intricate, choreographed dance with the glass. Equal partners, working together, to express a thought or idea”

www.siddylangley.com

12.30 pm – 1.15 pm ….. Lunch – a buffet lunch will be provided. Special dietary requests to

                                        ccggwebmail@googlemail.com asap please.

1.15 pm ….. CC&GG AGM official business.

2.00 pm ….. Illustrated Talk by John Pollex – Master Ceramicist

John Pollex has carved out a unique niche in the world of studio pottery. During the 70s and early 80s he established himself as a respected maker of traditional slipware, before his work took a dramatic turn in 1984. He dispensed with slip trailers in favour of brushes and sponges; intensely coloured earthenware slips are applied in a free and painterly abstract manner.

www.johnpollex.co.uk

4.00 pm ….. Close

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬CC&GG Annual Subscriptions.

Our subscription year begins on October 1st and we are pleased to announce that members’ subscriptions are being held for another year at £22, or £20 if paid at the AGM. For ease of payment and to reduce admin, we would urge you to pay by Standing Order if possible. You can easily set this up online yourself if you use online banking. October 1st is the annual payment date. Notify Carol Scott or Danka Napiorkowska when you have set up your SO.

Payments to Natwest A/c Cornwall Ceramics and Glass Group, A/c No. 54073219, Sort Code 535037

Non Members attending the AGM talks.

CC&GG welcomes non -members to its events and non-members may attend the talks at this AGM for a fee of £10 including lunch. If a non-member decides to join the CC&GG at the AGM, the £10 will be discounted from annual subscription. CC&GG welcomes non -members to its events and non-members may attend the talks at this AGM for a fee of £10 including lunch. If a non-member decides to join the CC&GG at the AGM, the £10 will be discounted from annual subscription.

CCGG Kiln firing 2013

CCGG Kiln firing 2013

The day dawned...the Raku kiln was lit at 8 am and Nina, Rod, Barry and Lynn perked up their dozy sunday morning selves with a nice strong coffee!

From 10am 25 members arrived laden with pots, bowls, sculptures and very generously with soft wood sourced from skips, house renovations etc. The kiln performed magnificently and got to 1000 degrees centigrade in a couple of hours.....ably stoked by Georgina, Jackie, Jan and a few others who wanted to try to learn the language and rhythm of our great little club kiln.

After much chatter and splattering of glazes the first pots started to be fired. Lynn Forth worked hard lifting the pots out of the kiln and plunging them into sawdust...aided by a rolling team of helpers. Nina packed a pit kiln with pots, sawdust, organic material, salt, oxides and wood. The pit had been dug earlier in the week by Rod, Ninas’ husband, it was then lit and covered with corrugated iron. A small housebrick smoke kiln was constructed...Unfortunately we only had a few burnished pots but a few unburnished pots were added, this was then lit and covered to gently smolder.

Everyone pitched in either chopping wood, making coffee, helping to prepare lunch...it was a very jolly, friendly atmosphere only slightly dampened by a couple of rain showers when we all had to dash for cover.

Lunch of home made soups, homegrown sausages from Nina and Rod’s herd of Gloucester Old Spot pigs, bread made by Barry Marshall-Johnson, cheese scones by Georgina Cominos and cakes by Brenda Albert were hungrily consumed. Everyone gave £5 towards the lunch and a £70 donation will be sent off to ‘Cornwall Hospice Care’.

The day was long but no one faltered in their enthusiam. Towards the close after laying out all the results we had a little ‘crit’ to see what had been successful and what could have happened differently in terms of glaze application, clay type, form etc.. It was generally thought that the more expressive application of glazes had more of a vibrancy and charm...when too much thought and control was brought to bear then they tended not to work quite as well. Some of the glaze colours were just plain nasty when used on large areas but interestingly did work when just a small amount was expressively added or dropped onto the surface, they then gave the pots a little subtle liveliness and quirky identity.

The pit and smoke kilns were unpacked next day. As predicted the burnished, white clay pots worked far, far the best....they can now be polished with bee or furniture wax to bring out the colours from the fire. The rough unburnished pots are still good to see for the potential of both types of primitive firings.

So all in all it was a very successful day. CCGG intend to invest in more glazes for next time. We also hope that members will rise to the challenge of making burnished ware and then we can build on the experience and reflections of what we have achieved. In terms of the Raku maybe we could all glaze one pot early on arrival, fire them to get 25 results, do a ‘crit’ and from that then go and glaze another pot so the learnings are integrated on the day rather than wait a year.

So thank you for all of you...everyone stayed, cleared up and thoughly threw themselves into a fantastic club event.