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For the next five weeks, Lyghtesome Gallery, 166 Main St., Antigonish, is featuring the raku pottery of Robin Clarke of Halifax, N.S. Originating in Japan over 300 years ago, the raku pottery process uses fire and water and the restriction of air to create a reduction environment to which the metallic glazes and their oxides respond in unpredictable and colourful ways. A pot is pulled from the kiln at 1800 degrees and immediately enclosed within a "can" containing combustible materials, such as newspaper, sawdust or leaves, resulting in a smothering fire and smoke. The pot is then removed from the intense heat of this reduction atmosphere and quickly immersed in water to fix the colours that have emerged. A variety of creative effects can be achieved by interference at various points in the process. The classic shapes of Robin Clarke's bottles, vases and jars are characteristically enveloped with swirling hues of every colour in the rainbow played out in subtle, illusive shifts of tone and shadow, like smoke itself. One line of his pots feature a bamboo wax-resist motif and many of the larger one-of-a kind pieces include applied or cut decoration around the rim or lid.
Robin Clarke was born in 1955 in Midland, Australia. He moved to Toronto and then Schomberg, Ontario, where at the age of 16 he became interested in clay. In 1972 Clarke began studying pottery at Sheridan College, apprenticed for a year with potter Jack Herman in Kleinburg, Ontario, and then returned to Sheridan as a full-time student. He opened Bestwood Farm Pottery in Schomberg in 1976, producing a line of functional stoneware pottery until his move to Cape Breton in 1980. Clarke opened Mudworks pottery at Ottawa Brook near Little Narrows in Cape Breton in 1989 continuing to produce functional stoneware as well as one-of-a-kind raku pottery.
Clarke's work was featured at the Centre Bras d'Or Festival of the Arts in Baddeck in 1992. He was awarded "The Best in Show" in both the 1992 and 1993 annual Nova Scotia Potters' Guild exhibitions and in 1994 was elected president of the Potters' Guild. Recently one of Clarke's raku pots was purchased by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for their permanent collection. He now works out of his studio in Portuguese Cove, N.S. and exhibits throughout the province.
Also being featured at Lyghtesome are six images of Nova Scotia wilderness, limited edition reproductions by Alice Reed, produced by Scape Arts and chosen from Reed's SACRED WORTH touring exhibition of original watercolours documenting 31 wild areas in Nova Scotia., currently on display at the St. Francis Xavier University Gallery in Antigonish. Alice Reed created these landscapes to increase awareness and support for the protection of wilderness. An accomplished artist whose paintings are included in collections worldwide, Alice Reed is also Atlantic Director for the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour and Honourary Director of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust.
Upcoming spring exhibits at Lyghtesome Gallery include an exhibit in April entitled "InterTwining" featuring four Nova Scotia textile artists: Louise Chisholm, Elfi Graber, Suzanne MacLaughlan and Janet Pope, and in May, the 12th Annual Floral Art Show, an invitational group show featuring artists from across the province.
Beth Parker
