Author Archives: maryannsteggles

I went to the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar in 1990 and received my PhD from the University of Leicester in 1993. After three decades of university teaching, I retired to devote my time to the study of raptor behaviour. I am particularly interested in Ospreys and am working on a long term project on third hatch survival and siblicide in these raptors. My blog is a result of a fascination with my local wildlife and the desire to encourage others to love and care for birds! I live on the Canadian Prairies and prior to the pandemic travelled a lot. I am questioning the use of aviation fuel at the moment as we all strive to help our planet. My early research was in politics and art including British public statues exported to Southeast Asia and Vietnam Resistors that contributed much to Canadian ceramics. Books and articles were published on those subjects over a period of 3 decades. Now I am working on books for children so they can learn about the challenges our raptors face.

End of Day 5: The Kiln is Finished! Matt Boyd laid the last brick in the last course of the chimney around 4:45pm. Wow.

Everyone has either brought bisque work or created objects that will be loaded tomorrow.  The kiln will be fired with dry Poplar logs on Thursday for about 14 hours so that we can reach cone 14.

Markus mixed up some amazing short bodied heavily grogged clay.  All of the participants and Markus worked on the wheels (Diane Laluk made masks) and those vessels have been drying in the kiln room or out in the sun to be loaded tomorrow raw.  Can’t wait to see how the lick of the flames changes them.

It has been a great experience.  Everyone seems to have much more confidence, realized talents and muscles they hadn’t used for awhile, and made some new friends.  You literally could feel the ‘cooperation and respect’.

Now if you are looking for some experience building a similar kiln and live near Maple Creek Saskatchewan, get in touch with Zach and Adrienne at Smiling Cow Studios.  They already have their pad ready and will start the build in about a week.  Zach is an incredibly nice guy – drive over and give them a hand.  I am certain that they would come and help you!  Pass along this information to anyone that you know.

This Bourry box kiln with the extended throat should fire beautifully using little wood.  It is time to think of the environment and to slow down.  Will post some of the images when the pieces come out of the kiln!  There are going to be some beauties!

Need a chimney built? Rebecca Wong from Vancouver can really swing a mallet. Helping out is Zach Quin, Smiling Cow Studio, Maple Creek Saskatchewan

It is Day 4.  The arch of the main chamber is up and cast.  Tomorrow there will be lots of welding and the chimney will go up while the lid to the firebox is cast…everything looks like it is a go for a firing on Thursday.  Fingers crossed!

If you are looking for a great kiln builder that knows the importance of using good materials so your kiln will last, the need to save the environment (less wood) and someone who can truly build a smokeless kiln, then look no further than Markus Boehm.

The Rocky Road to the New Kiln

The old train kiln’s chimney was leaning like the tower of Pisa and, in fact, Markus Boehm called it the ‘Pisa chimney’ quite often as he thought about the design for our new wood kiln at the School.  The brief was:  had to be able to be fired by only 1 or 2 students in a period of time that they were not exhausted plus some ash effects.  The old kiln was worn out, its bricks had expanded and contracted and without mortar, it was leaking air like a sieve.  The last firing that the students did with Martin Tagseth’s special workshop for the Ceramics Club took around 48 hours but the temperature was uneven with the front reading cone 8/9 and the back cold and the work oxidized.  Our director, Paul Hess, had already decided it was time for a new one in the fall of 2017.

Through a series of events, the School wound up having to get a permit at the 9th hour.  Kudos to Scott Shank, Andrew Sinclair, and the amazing structural engineer whose name I forget (complete apologies).  They took Markus’s sketch, turned it into a detailed drawing and it was stamped by the engineer and presented to the City of Winnipeg for approval.  This was May 11.  Our workshop starts on June 21.  We need materials!  What if we didn’t get our permit?  Some of the participants already had their airline tickets.  I never thought of myself as too anxious a person but this was beginning to cause me to worry.  There were quite a number of people holding their breath.  We kept the faith.  Chris Pancoe ordered the materials that Markus had specified.  Some were coming from Georgia in the US.  The rail strike lingered but was resolved.  Whew!  Everything just seemed like it might be going our way.  Accommodation for the workshop participants was found at St John’s College.  Now, where can you stay for $55 a night including 3 meals?  [They are even making box lunches for the five of them so that they can work through the standard time and not have to leave the construction site.]  The permit came the third week of May.  Materials were to arrive June 18 and 19 – and they did!  It all came together.  The workshop participants arrived from across Canada and from Winnipeg, many current or former students of either the School of Art or the Faculty of Architecture.  They are a great team.  It was inspiring to watch them learn from and work with Markus yesterday.  Stay posted.  The logs arrive today for our firing of the kiln on Thursday the 28th.  I will keep you posted on the progress.

 

Made room for 2 lucky individuals if you want to learn about wood firing and join some fantastic folks building a wood kiln with Markus Boehm June 21-30

The permit is in hand, the materials are on site or on their way, and excitement is beginning to stir.  It is just 16 days away from the first day of the wood kiln workshop at the School of Art, University of Manitoba.  I have opened up 2 additional spaces for another lucky 2 people to join us.  If you know of anyone, please let me know.  The fee is $325 – a bargain.  If you are coming from out of town, there is accommodation at St John College for $55 per day and that includes three meals.  Feel free to contact me for further information or any questions you might have.  It is a great group coming from Budapest, Vancouver, Maple Creek, Red Deer and Winnipeg!

My e-mail is:   maryannsteggles@icloud.com

 

One space in the kiln building workshop opened up!

Sadly, one of our participants is unable due to an illness in their family.  So if you have been hoping to be part of this amazing workshop with Markus Boehm and missed out, now is your chance.  The cost is $325.  If you are coming from out of town, we have arranged accommodation and three meals per day at St John’s College for only $55.  What a bargain!  And their food is good, too.  Best on campus most days.

So get in touch:  maryannsteggles@icloud.com

Interlake Studio Tours June 9-10

Every year the Interlake supports its makers with bi-annual open studio visits.  This year the dates are June 9 and 10 and September 1 and 2.  Go online, check out the map and visit the workplaces of the more than 29 plus talented individuals.

The Interlake has a history of creative individuals.  The Wave tour began in 2002 when School of Art graduate and Winnipeg Beach painter, Helma RoggeRedhers, organized the event. RoggeRedhers joined forces with Sandy Driscoll, a graphic designer, creating a self-guided tour of studios along Manitoba north highways 8 and 9.  The tour has grown successfully since its beginnings to encompass more than 29 artists (some years 40!).  Pottery, painting, sculpture, textiles…there is something for everyone.  Good luck to all of the artists this year!

 

University of Manitoba article on Sures

 

The University of Manitoba remembered Sures in a UM Today article:  Please go to:

Distinguished Canadian sculptor Jack Sures [BFA/57] dies at 83

Canadian Ceramics Community is saddened by the loss of Jack Sures on May 12

Jack Sures had a strong connection with Manitoba.  Born in Brandon in 1934, he started studying painting and printmaking at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art in 1954, when it was located downtown.  After transferring to the  University of Michigan and travelling to Europe and the Middle East, the young artist returned to Winnipeg to set up Jack Sures’s Studio on Portage Avenue in 1962.  The late Charlie Scott said that ‘Sures ushered in the modern era of pottery making in the City’.  This was, as far as Scott knew, the first independent ceramics studio in the City.  It attracted other talents such as Tam Irving, Anne Marie Schmidt-Eisler (later to study with Harlan House under Albert Borch in Alberta), Muriel Guest, Jason Krpan and Gerry Tillapaugh.  In 1965, the University of Regina attracted the talented artist and passionate teacher to lead up their ceramics programme.  Sures retired from teaching in 1989.

Timothy Long in the exhibition catalogue for Fine Form, Saskatchewan Ceramics stated: ‘In the post-war period, pottery gained substantially in status, moving from a cottage industry to a subject of academic study. Leading the way in Saskatchewan was Jack Sures (Regina), who established the ceramics program at the University of Regina in 1965. Sures advocated that ceramics be considered an art form on par with painting and sculpture.’

Sures used all of his talents when he created works of sculpture, ceramic murals, vessels and tiles.  He gathered up the influences of his studies abroad to add to his personal expression onto the surface of the clay and its form.  Sures exhibited his work internationally and for his talents was recognized by his being awarded the Order of Canada (Companion) in 1991, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2003, the Commemorative Medal of the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada for his significant achievement in the Arts, as well as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.  More recently he was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Excellence (2018).

For Sures clay was the most expressive artistic medium.  Throughout his life, he remained fascinated with the way that the medium could reinvent itself.  For this sculptor and vessel maker, throwing at the wheel was soothing for his soul.  Sures often said that the richness of one’s life and spirit is reflected in their work and in turn, transferred to the viewer.  Sures will be sadly missed.

Fired Up! Victoria, BC May 25-27

More than three decades ago, the late Robin Hopper and his partner,  Judi Dyelle, envisioned an event that would showcase the best of British Columbia ceramics on one site for an event packed weekend.  During these 32 years, twenty-three ceramists have displayed and sold their work at the Metchosin Community Hall.  It is, in fact, the longest-running ceramic exhibition group in Canada.

The theme for 2018 is ‘Coastal Vessels:  Romancing the Sea’.  The exhibition and sale are open from 6-9 on May 25 and 10-5 on May 26 and 27th.  If you are out in Victoria, check out the great talent that has been juried into this exhibition and sale.

Julia Nema, Budapest ceramic artist, will join Markus Boehm in Winnipeg to build the new wood kiln for the School

Julia Nema is one of the most respected wood fire potters.  She has a studio in Budapest and was recently featured in an article ‘Welcome to Budapest’.  Julia has been firing her work in a Phoenix Fast Fire Kiln.  She now needs to build a new kiln in an urban area, so she is joining us to learn how to build this smokeless kiln designed by Markus Boehm.

I am so pumped that she will be able to join us.  You can check out her work online.  Really beautiful dinnerware used by some of the finest restaurants in the Budapest.  If you go to Budapest, please check out her studio.  And if you are thinking about joining us for the wood kiln building workshop and firing from June 21-30, she is another reason to come.  We had two cancellations so spread the word there is now another opportunity if you thought you missed out!  Contact me:  maryannsteggles@icloud.com

Photo credit:  LB9 kep

Fotó: Polyák Attila / W
Fotó: PolLB9 kép