Peninsula Clay Artists Show and Sale
Opening Reception
5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7 • 25902 Vernon Ave. • Ocean Park, Washington
360-665-5200 • Free
Workshops
For a complete workshop schedule, photos of clay art, and a registration form, see the
Peninsula Clay Artists Facebook site: www.facebook.com/peninsulaclayartists
Workshop prices range from $35 to $95, including materials. Come make jewelry; craft
a clay fl ower; throw, glaze and fi re a pot or vase; create clay garden mushrooms, totem
animals or sprites; or join the mosaic group. Pre-registration is required.
Demonstrations
See a variety of diff erent ceramic fi ring techniques including:
Raku • Paper kiln • Barrel fi ring • Pit fi ring
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Photo by Joshua Bessex
From left: Vicki Sullivan, Susan Raymond and Linda Marsh stand in Bay Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park, Washington. All three artists will lead
workshops during the Peninsula Clay Artists Show and Sale Aug. 7 to 15.
A community mosaic from a workshop two years ago is displayed in the backyard of Bay Avenue Gallery. About 25 people worked on the mosaic, which was
sponsored by Sue Raymond, during the fi fth Peninsula Clay Artists Show and Sale. This year, people in the mosaic class will be working on a pair of benches.
Art from Shelley Curtis Weaver, Karen Brownlee, Vicki Sullivan, Danni
Pederson, and Michael Sullivan will be on display during the Peninsu-
la Clay Artists Show and Sale.
Photo by Cate Gable
Jan Richardson, co-founder of the Peninsula Clay Artists and founder of Windy
Meadows Pottery, is known for her unique hand-built cottages.
Peninsula Clay Artists throw down
Get some clay in your hands during this seventh annual Long Beach Peninsula art show and sale, featuring open studio time, 12 workshops and nine art-fi lled days Aug. 7 to 15
S
But she still insists it was all Jan Richardson, who
was the founder of Windy Meadows Pottery. Jan is na-
Sue Raymond, co-founder of the Bay Avenue tionally known for her meticulously hand-built ceram-
Gallery in Ocean Park, Washington, is the engine ic cottages, with details like window sills and shutters,
behind the Peninsula Clay Artists. She’s like the stone WLQ\SRWVZLWKÀRZHUVLQWKHPLQGLYLGXDOWLOHVRQWKH
WKURZQLQWRWKHED\WKDWFDXVHVULSSOHVWRÀRZRXWLQ roofs, and carved doorways.
all directions, though she claims, “I would have sunk (See www.windymeadow-
without Jan Richardson.”
spottery.com)
“When I came to the Peninsula,” Sue says, “I was
These two woman
used to a really strong clay group like the one I had together created both the
in Arizona. I thought everyone worked together like membership organization
that. But it wasn’t happening here. I tried out the idea of Peninsula Clay Artists
on a couple people, and I think they were scared of and, in their second year
me — like, ‘Who is this person?’ But when I spoke together, the tradition of a
to Jan about it, she got it right away. She literally week’s gathering of clay
knocked on doors and said, ‘We can do this — we are artists, workshops, demon-
going to do this!’”
strations, sales and exhi-
Sue has two under graduate degrees (in art and bitions of ceramic work.
K-12 education), a Master of Arts in art education, They not only brought together the talented ceramics
and a Ph.D. in arts education — her passion is ce- already working on the Long Beach Peninsula but
ramics and teaching. With her unstoppable buzz of nurtured the talent of many newbies.
energy, she’s created a one-woman art phenomenon
New location, same great art
at her gallery on the north end of the Long Beach
“Most ceramics studios charge you by the hour to
Peninsula. Locals and visitors alike gather to throw,
shape, build, carve, glaze and otherwise have fun work,” Sue said the other day at the studio surrounded
E\HQRUPRXVFOD\JDUGHQÀRZHUV³%XWWKDWGRHVQ¶W
with clay.
Story by CATE GABLE
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Some of Sue Raymond’s unfi nished clay pieces sit on a work table in the Bay Avenue Gallery Studio. The pieces will be fi nished and on
display for the Peninsula Clay Artists Show and Sale.
12 | August 6, 2015 | coastweekend.com
make sense in our area. I say, ‘Tell me what you want
to do, and I’ll give you a price. Then you can work as
long as you want.’”
This approach has created both a vast array of ar-
resting art and a band of ceramicists.
“Everybody in PCA is
expert in something, but
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never can learn it all,” Sue
continues, “so we all learn
from each other. We totally
respect each other’s work
and respect boundaries. No
one else makes clay houses
for instance, because Jan
does; that’s her territory.”
For family reasons Jan
has moved to Florida, but
she returns to participate in this year’s clay artists’
event that she and Sue hatched up. Seven years run-
ning and PCA is stronger than ever.
In fact, this year Peninsula Clay Artists members
will be conducting their annual show, sale and work-
shop series in their own home town, Ocean Park.
There are 12 workshops, more than in any other year.
Many are at Bay Avenue Gallery, located at 1406
This year, Peninsula Clay
Artists members have gone
crazy for garden art. Colorful
and realistic clay fl owers
adorn the walls of the studio.
Bay Ave., in the ceramics studio just adjacent to the
gallery.
Some of the workshops will be held in the artists’
own studios — so it’s a combination open studio,
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from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 7 to 15.
The main gallery show is at the Ketel Building,
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and demonstrations are free and open to the public.
Workshop fees vary but are in a reasonable range
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Art for people
One of the wonderful aspects of the gathering in
past years is the beautiful mosaic panels that have been
group projects, created under the professional eye of
ceramicist Heather Richardson, Jan’s daughter. Mo-
saics adorn Bay Avenue Gallery and the Artisan Gal-
lery in Ilwaco. A beautiful rendition of the North Head
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“Heather is a professional Mosaic Art Queen,”
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shops the goal was for people to make their own mo-
saics, but they had down time, so the idea was to use
that time to work on a group piece for community
spaces. We have several at the gallery now — a mer-
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Art from Linda Marsh and Susan Raymond will be on display during the Peninsula Clay Artists Show and
Sale, which takes place Aug. 7 to 15.
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blew up a visual of it and then had the group make it
into a mosaic. Now it swims in the backyard of Bay
Avenue Gallery.
This year, Peninsula Clay Artists members have
gone crazy for garden art. Colorful and realistic clay
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idea has many members making garden art “totems
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vegetables are formed and glazed, then stacked togeth-
er on specially treated rebar and placed in gardens.
“We have a lot of repeat participants in our work-
shops,” says Sue. “Because people say, ‘My mother
wanted the piece I made so I gave it to her, and now
I need to make one for myself,’ or ‘I brought my best
friend because she saw my piece and wanted one.’”
As Jan says, “Heather and I have loved creating
public art so that people can become part of their
community by creating things of beauty and living
with them.” And that’s the point of art, isn’t it? To use
your hands to create something of beauty to share.
A special guest
This year’s event will feature visiting ceramicist
Richard Roth of Grand Prairie Designs Pottery in
Winlock, Washington. He will be doing two demon-
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scraping through one ceramic layer to reveal anoth-
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p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12. Richard will be showing
off his carving skills, and the pubic can come, watch
and ask questions at the gallery.
After a break, Richard returns from 5 to 8:30
p.m. Aug. 12 for an evening reception, and he will
be throwing an “upside down bowl.”
Even Sue isn’t sure exactly how this works, but
she’s sure it will be exciting. “Richard is a master!”
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be showing off that technique in a special workshop
as well.”
The concept of local clay artists forming, more-
or-less, a potters guild to share space, expertise,
techniques and group shows like this one is inspir-
ing. Art by the people, for the people.
So stop by for the kick-off evening reception
from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7 at the Ketel Build-
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the artists and see their wares. Or, even better, sign
up for a workshop and get some clay in your hands.
August 6, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 13