I am excited to announce 3 workshops I will be leading this year. The first is Printmaking Techniques On Clay which will be run on February 4 and 11th at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo.  This is going to be a chance for people who are interested in getting images onto their work to try a variety of different techniques. Topics to be covered will include photocopy transfer, photocopy lithography, paper resist, silkscreen transfer and laser decals. You can register here.  http://www.theclayandglass.ca/education/adults/

On March 1st I have been asked to be the guest speaker for the Mississauga Potters Guild. This talk will probably be centered on the body of work involving stencils that I have been developing over the last few years. This is the first time I have been asked to speak to a group of potters about my work and I can already feel the nerves starting.

Finally I have had the great honor of being asked to present a pre-conference workshop at this years Fusion conference. Fusion is Ontario’s clay and glass association and every year puts on a conference hosting weekend long workshops by prominent international artists and a number of one day workshops by more local artists. Needless to say I was surprised and excited to be chosen.  I am revamping the workshop for the CCGG and incorporating some handbuilding. Also this will be  a long overdue chance to check out some of London’s ceramic institutions. Lots to look forward to and plan for in 2012.

Where to begin…. First off I would like to say how happy I am to be back in the swing of things. After taking the first half of the year to look after my son, (an amazing and exhausting experience) I finally feel like I have things moving along smoothly again in the studio. There has been a massive reorganization of the studio to incorporate some new shelves generously donated by a student of mine, new glazes, new techniques and images, new forms, commissions and technical work, and finally last weekend the Queen West Art Crawl was my first show of the year. We had beautiful weather, excellent crowds,  and I felt a little overwhelmed by the great response to the work. Thanks to everyone who came out and took an interest. One of the best things to come out of the weekend was a fairly frank conversation with a patron who grilled me on why I have yet to set myself up on Etsy. Since I didn’t have a good answer I made that my first job for the next week and now, if you look to your right, you should see the results of that effort. It has become clear that this is something I should at the very least explore, so please return often to check out new postings of new work. Also I will make a commitment here and now, it will not take me another year before I post again. The sun is shinning here in Guelph, I have clay waiting in the studio and I am excited to see how the next batch of pots continue to evolve.

Here are a few of the pots I brought to the QWAC. Hope you like.

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This November I was asked to be part of a group show at the Burlington Art Centre called Maker’s Choice. This was the 4th in a series of shows that brings contemporary makers into the permanent collection (the largest collection of Canadian ceramics anywhere) to select groups of pots for display in the Art Centre. We also had to write small essays that were collected in a catalog.  The show will run until late January 2011.  Below is a copy of my essay.

Maker’s Choice: Chris Hierlihy,  October 2010

I have always been inclined to see the creative process as a version of the scientific method. One begins work with an idea, a theory about how to realize it, and once finished one evaluates the results and wonders again, beginning the cycle all over.  Each completed pot exists as part of a continuous process of wonder, work and discovery, following the one before and anticipating the next. Ceramics has always seemed amazing to me, in part because into this creative method is inserted a capricious third party whose influence has to be resolved in ever changing ways. I often image the kiln as a sort of magic box that I put the things I make into, and which transforms them into things for which I can take very little credit.

I went into the Burlington Art Center’s collection with very little idea of what to expect and no idea of what sort of work I would choose. I decided to pick what I liked and figure out the whys afterwards. Reviewing my selections I have noticed two themes running through the choices. The first is an ‘opposites attract’ tendency in that most of what I chose has very little in common with what I make. These pots have a tenuous and superfluous relationship to the functionality of the objects, plenty of squares and sharp edges, unglazed and/or difficult to clean surfaces and a somber palette. They are inspiring to me in a personal way because they reveal avenues of questioning and exploration that I have so far missed and which resonate with me. Back to work, I think when I look at them.

The second theme I notice is an affirmation of a core principle I hold as a maker: that the work should be evolving. A former teacher of mine once said that when one encounters an art work, one should be asking where it is coming from and where it is going. As much as I love a concise and authoritative artistic statement, in terms of imagining a connection with a maker through their object, I usually prefer the sketch. This isn’t to say that these pots don’t stand as independent, successful objects. Rather I feel that when I see and handle them, I can imagine the makers being curious about the effect of recombining the elements, adjusting proportions, nudging the lines one way or another, changing the chemistry, extending the technique, wondering what would happen if… Whether they actually were engaged this way during the making of these pots is a bit beside the point. They have already reminded me to be excited for what is coming next.