The Athabasca Pottery Club is hosting its annual show and sale this Saturday at the Athabasca Seniors’ Drop-In Centre, and everything from a panda bear piggy bank to padded clay eyeglass holders will be on display or for sale.
Both functional and decorative items made primarily from local Athabasca clay will share shelf space, and the prices will be reasonable — about $5–$50, with most pieces on the lower end of that spectrum, said pottery club president Monica Wolanuk.
She suggested kids might find something perfect for Mother’s Day, while those interested in more expensive, decorative objects will also be served.
“We want to make pottery accessible to everybody, and we’re not a like a guild. We’re not professionals, although we have a few members in the club that have professional-level skill,” said Wolanuk.
The fruits of new techniques members have learned over the last year will be out in full force. Members learned the “raku” firing technique last summer, a process in which work is removed from the kiln at bright red heat and placed in containers of combustible materials, such as straw.
“Basically you’re using raw materials like straw, wheat, feathers as part of the oxidation process,” said Wolanuk, adding that the end product is interesting and unpredictable.
Former Athabasca Pottery Club member Otto Stickel gave the club a workshop in sculpture this spring, focusing on how to make larger, hollowed-out sculptures. Wolanuk said Stickel’s help was invaluable to growing members’ abilities, as the small, 30-person club finds bringing in outside instructors prohibitively expensive.
“We’re trying everything we can to keep the cost low, keep it fun, keep people engaged and make some stuff that normally they wouldn’t tackle on their own,” said Wolanuk.
A menagerie of animals will be on display from the sculpture workshop.
“We’re hoping to use that as a jumping-off point for us to do some more sculpture for future sale pieces,” she said.
The club has typically focused on hand-building and wheeling rather than sculpture.
A display of old Athabasca clay pottery will also be assembled for the May 3 show and sale, which runs from noon until 4 p.m.
After the sale, the club takes the summer off, save for another raku workshop, a summer program for kids and, if necessary, a few sessions of hauling in more Athabasca clay.
The 53-year-old club will start another season in October and run until the end of April, drawing everyone from young members to those in their 80s.
“We’ve got the whole mix of the generations,” said Wolanuk, adding that new members are welcome in the fall.
