| My
name is Ashley Morrow, and I
began throwing pots in 1993 (I think). I was attending Mount Royal
College in Calgary Alberta where I was taking every conceivable university
transfer course possible, but did not have a direction or goal in mind.
I needed a creative outlet, and found that campus rec. offered a class
in pottery. I have always had a curiosity about throwing on the wheel,
and this was a very inexpensive way to get my feet wet (or should I say
hands). In the fall of 1995, I transferred schools to the University of
Northern British Columbia, and I began taking courses towards getting my
Bachelor of Science. The only downside was that being a very new school,
they did not have an art department, and therefore, no pottery. Sooo...I
had to take a break, that lasted for 3.5 years. I finally got my degree
with a major in wildlife biology, and returned home to Calgary in the
spring of '99. As I did not have a great job, I was forced to put
pottery off for a bit longer, until 2001 where I found Fairview Studios,
owned and operated by Dave Settles (www.fairviewstudios.com).
In 2003, a group of potters, including
Dave, traveled over the pond to Ireland, where we took a week long
workshop with Marcus O'Mahoney at his pottery near Lismore (Glencairn
Pottery). The course culminated in a salt firing, in which we fired
bisqued tea bowls that we had previously thrown and bisque fired in
Canada.
Since then, I have spent most of my
spare time at the studio, throwing and throwing and throwing.
Just this spring, I took part in a pit
firing at Loretta MacNab's place in Brag Creek (just southwest of
Calgary). While we loaded the kiln, we also did a few raku firings. The
results were pretty fantastic, but Loretta is the terra sig queen in
Alberta, so her pieces were spectacular. Mine were quite nice, but as I
had never made terra sig before, and my experience with it's application
is limited, my results were not quite as nice as Loretta's.
I am currently selling my pieces
through The Galleria, privately, and via the semi annual Fairview
Pottery student sales.
The next Student
sale is November 25, 2006. It runs from 9am until Noon, and is located at
the Canyon Meadows Community Centre, 848 Cantabrian Dr. S.W., Calgary.
|