Press Release
PAT FOOTE: “A Tempest of Teapots”
September 8 – 30, 2009
Lyghtesome Gallery
166 Main St.
Antigonish, N.S.

From September 8 – 30 Lyghtesome Gallery in Antigonish is featuring work by well known Nova Scotia potter, Pat Foote. Entitled “A Tempest of Teapots”, the show features over two dozen unique teapots, all one-of-a-kind creations in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and surface treatment. Pat has contributed work to group shows at Lyghtesome over the past several years, but this is her first solo show at the gallery now that she has now relocated to the area and set up her pottery studio in Pinevale, Antigonish County.

Born in Kentucky, Pat studied drawing, painting and printmaking at the University of Kentucky. A required pottery course immediately changed her focus to the medium of clay and launched her career as a potter.

Immigrating to Canada in 1971, Pat worked for Gordon Pottery in Toronto for three years working exclusively on the potters wheel. She also set up her own studio, exhibiting work in galleries and shops in the Toronto area. After a move to Kitchener she changed direction for a brief period and worked in graphic design before turning back again to pottery, with subsequent shows in both Winnipeg and Calgary. Another creative detour during that period resulted in a show of lithographs at the Bookshelf Café in Guelph, Ontario before, once again, she turned back to clay.

While living in Ontario, Pat worked with white clay at stoneware temperatures but when she moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 1986, red earthenware clay became her new focus, requiring a change in style and decoration to her form. Pat taught pottery at the Findlay Community Centre in Dartmouth for 18 years, with students of all ages, before moving to Antigonish.

Pat feels a teapot is a complex form comprising three different levels of colour, shape and function. Red clay demands a new way of working and a teapot, to her, is a real challenge worth exploring in a myriad of ways to which “A Tempest of Teapots” is a true testament. Her next direction in clay will most likely be away from the form of the teapot, with more of an exploration of texture and flat surfaces.

“ A Tempest of Teapots” runs through to the end of September. There will be a Tea and Reception with Pat Foote on Saturday, September 26th at Lyghtesome Gallery from 2-4pm in the afternoon to which everyone is invited to come and meet the artist.