Women's Work

Here are a couple of hard working women at Jugtown. Pam Owen makes some great critter knobs  with confident lively sgraffito on the jar itself.  Here are a couple of her salt glazed jars in the vast collection of pots at her sister Jennie's house.
Pam Owen

Pam Owen salt glazed bird jar

Pam Owen Rabbit jar

Bayle Owen is hard at work on the wheel making lids for a large number of pumpkin jars Jugtown will need for it's annual Pumpkin's at Jugtown October 5th.
Bayle Owen - turning or as in the Queen's English- Throwing

Drying pumpkins
The similarities between Jugtown and Pinecroft are uncanny except they have 30 years on us. Jugtown's starts in 1917 where as Pinecroft started in 1947 after my aunt and uncle came home from  serving in WW2. Pots for people to use- whadda a concept.
What will happen to the potteries of Seagrove was a question posed to me last night? Seems a lot of potters are retiring around Seagrove. Jugtown's legacy will continue with Bayle and Travis still turning and burning. Not sure about Pinecroft when Brenda and I no longer make work there. With the costs of higher education doesn't it make sense to cut your teeth working at a real pottery? University education here in the US from what I am hearing could be $50,000 a year. Hey mum and dad, I want to be a potter and I'll start out $200,000 in debt. Mum and dad silently stare at their child with their jaws on floor  and wonder where they went wrong.

Comments

John Bauman said…
The "...wonder what will happen?" question is a good one and one I've been mulling over myself for a few years.

What will become of art fairs? I see a few younger people stepping into the scene, but not in the numbers that built the art fair.

What will become of St Croix Valley Pottery Tour? Look at the collective ages of the venues and you have to guess that the grandaddy of all tours is just a few years from its expiration date.

There are more makers than ever, but pottery is moving in a different direction -- just as we moved it in my generation.
Anonymous said…
Establish a Clay College Stoke like they did in England with their adopt a potter program?
Anonymous said…
Is there an adopt a potter program in North America?

http://www.adoptapotter.org.uk/

Anonymous said…
Is Haliburton School of the Arts still the biggest bargain out there?
8 months of study jammed into a 15 week course. Intensive is the word!

https://flemingcollege.ca/programs/ceramics
Anonymous said…
Or if you are on the West Coast is Kootenay School of the Arts the best bargain with its 10 month program?

http://selkirk.ca/program/ceramics

Anonymous said…
If you are into island life, how about North Island College, and who wants to be a professional potter in one year?

https://www.nic.bc.ca/programs-courses/fine-art/fine-art-programs/professional-potter-advanced-diploma/

Anonymous said…
Sounds like the 1970's when you could become an apprentice and get real work experience training at an established pottery. Is it possible to revive that work and lifestyle again?
Anonymous said…
Any other hidden gems for ceramic and pottery training out there?
Anonymous said…
Sorry Sheridan College in Oakville, you are a gem of a ceramics program but four years of tuition for Canadian students is $38,000 and for international students $76,000, plus rent, food, supplies, transportation and other educational expenses, it does really add up. How long will it take someone starting a ceramics career to pay off all that debt?
Anonymous said…
I especially like the stories from old timers that they could work a summer job and have enough money to pay for their school year and live pretty well to boot. Those days are long gone. Today you need to work a part-time job and sometimes a full-time job during the school year just barely make it through plus the debt of student loans.
Anonymous said…
If you are concerned about the future of Pinecroft you can do what Doris McCarthy did with Fools Paradise, have it set up with Ontario Heritage Trust as a pottery, educational centre and artist retreat.
Anonymous said…
Still want that 2 year diploma check out New Brunswick College of Craft & Design for a reasonably priced program.

https://nbccd.ca/programs/ceramics/

Anonymous said…
Any plans to establish a potters/artist colony?
Anonymous said…
It seems that people will now be paying off their student debt when they are into their 60's.
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