The Arts and Crafts movement that started in the British Empire in the 1880s began as an anti-industrial reaction to the impoverishment of the decorative arts. Advocating for the role and product of the traditional craftsman, it lasted for decades, and influenced a similar movement throughout Canada. It also emerged as the Mingei movement in Japan in the 1920s having a profound effect on pottery in that country through Yanagi Soetsu and Shoji Hamada. The Summerland Art League was thus founded in 1922 as a way to promote art, craft, and cottage industry to help improve the employment prospects for seasonal orchard workers. They began by constructing a log cabin in 1922 as a sales room. Built under the direction of local pharmacist Jack Logie, the log cabin opened on June 1, 1922 along the Kelowna-Penticton Highway. The group decided to start with pottery and take advantage of the natural clay banks in the area. Clay samples were gathered and sent away to be tested in Ottawa. The clay was deemed unsuitable for pottery so they mixed it with clay from Medicine Hat to improve its plasticity. In Winter 1923 the Art League hired Mary Young of the Banff pottery for a short residence. Young had five years of experience working as a technician for the Mines branch in Ottawa giving her a unique knowledge and understanding of earthen materials. She also had formal pottery training at the famed Alfred University in New York, taking summer sessions in 1918 and 1919. In 1920 she quit the Mines branch to move to Banff and started the Banff Pottery producing pieces incorporating designs from the local indigenous peoples. For two months, beginning in March of 1923, Mary Young taught the first pottery course ever held in BC to about 20 adults. They learned the fundamentals of mixing and firing clay as well as elementary glazing work. Using a kiln loaned out by a local resident, they produced vases and tiles which they began to sell at the log cabin in June of that year. Of all the people producing pottery in the Summerland Art League, a Mrs. Doris Cordy would prove to be the most prolific. While most participants in the Art League disbanded by the late 1920s, Cordy produced her wares into the late 1930s. She was even brought in by a similar group being established in Victoria in 1924, sharing instructional duties with Margaret Grute from England. As tourist traffic to the log cabin waned (as a result of a rerouted highway and the use of Logie’s cabin as a theosophy centre), Cordy sold her work out of Vancouver. She exhibited at the PNE in Vancouver, the CNE in Toronto and won second place at the Canadian Handicrafts Guild in 1934 in Montreal. Just after the establishment of the pottery group in Summerland, Axel Ebring would start production pottery on his new site at Notch Hill, outside of Sorrento. A big thanks to Allan Collier for sharing his knowledge and research on this topic. Allan is a historian and curator who has produced important exhibits like "The Modern Eye" (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2011), and "Modern in the Making" (Vancouver Art Gallery 2020). If you have any information on the Summerland Art League, its potters or its pottery, please feel free to contact me. Update - February 2023I was recently contacted by a lady with a few pieces made by Doris Cordy. She inherited them from her father who worked doing home clearances while going to university in the early 1940s. These pieces were picked up at that time and likely made in the 1920s.
All three represent some strong Okanagan themes and perhaps some indigenous influence. The 65 cent price tag indicates these pieces sold originally for about $10 each in today's currency. The photos are below for the sake of documentation. Ms. Cordy's mark is shown on each to help collectors in identification. A big thanks to the owner for sharing her story and the images. I've been fortunate enough to travel to Japan twice so far, once in the 80s and again just a few years back. When I was younger I received an invitation to a formal tea ceremony - "chado" and was struck by the elegance and reverence it holds in Japanese culture. When I returned a few years ago I visited the Ippodo Tea Company in Kyoto - a 300 year old tea seller where I was able to sample some of the finest matcha in the country. On both trips I was struck by the variety and craftsmanship of Japanese pottery. Wayne Ngan understands the Japanese aesthetic and masterfully demonstrates this in his tea bowls. His work has given me a renewed interest in the humble tea bowl and the simple pleasure of enjoying a bowl of fine matcha. The yunomi, like the one pictured above, is a smaller form of tea bowl used for everyday. Its usually taller than it is wide. This example features Wayne's hakame brushwork over porcelain. The chawan is a larger and wider bowl used for preparing and drinking matcha. The finely ground green tea is whisked with a special bamboo tool in a precise motion to froth it in preparation for drinking - best served at 80 degrees. This raku chawan features a hand carved foot or "kodai." The Japanese have a special appreciation for the kodai of a chawan as they feel it reveals the potter's skill and spirit. A selection of three different chawan. The first two are raku examples of "han tsutsu-gata" or half-cylinder shape. The third shape - a porcelain bowl with green and tenmoku pinwheeled glaze is called "hatazori-gata" or "lipped bowl." This is a very early example of one of Wayne's yunomi, likely dating to around 1960. Its an unusual form for him called "kuroginsai." Its difficult to tell in the photo but there is a bird painted underneath the blue overglaze. Two fantastic examples of Wayne Ngan hakame. These yunomi were sold as a pair called "meoto yunomi." One is slightly larger than the other which is typical for a special set like these - usually reserved for wedding gifts.
As with all of Wayne Ngan's work, I appreciate the variety and his extraordinary skill of what he made. I've referred to Wayne as "Canada's Shoji Hamada" and his tea bowls are a fine example of why... If you have one or more pieces of Wayne Ngan pottery to sell, please take the time to contact me here. Ron Tribe is a potter who’s work I've always connected to. I've heard him referred to as the “electric eclectic” and the moniker fits his art. Ron Tribe was born in Surrey England in 1927. After a successful twenty-five year business career as a marketing consultant, he walked away from it in the early 1970s and attended the V.S.A. in Vancouver as well as U.B.C. and Capilano College. He established a pottery in North Vancouver and went on to teach at Capilano College. Ron Tribe stated his influences as Japanese and Scandinavian and it's easy to see his take on both styles incorporated into his work. Lawren Harris figures as a significant influence in his work - certain pieces of his sculptures (like the two shown above) look like they stepped right out of a Harris painting. Tribe was primarily slab builder who generally worked in stoneware and porcelain. He seldom used a wheel but to throw a few basic shapes - like the candle holder for his candle stands. His other main influence - Arthur Erickson - can be seen in the vast array of these he made with the “post and beam” look Erickson made famous. Ron Tribe’s work was exhibited numerous times including the prestigious Ceramics 80 Retrospective held by the Potter's Guild of British Columbia. Over 120 significant juried exhibitors were shown, of which he had three pieces selected. He was later one of twelve Honourable Mention winners at the first World Triannual Exhibition of Small Ceramics at Zagreb Yugoslavia where over 550 entries were shown in 1984. Ron Tribe’s work are usually marked with this chop mark (left). Sometimes he would stamp his pieces twice. Tribe produced almost no work in the 1990s only to return with a significant show of his sculptural works in 2000. Ron Tribe passed away in 2009. If you have one or more pieces of Ron Tribe pottery you would like to sell, please contact me here. In the summer of 1954, an Argentinian ceramicist named Reg Dixon, who was teaching pottery classes at the Vancouver School of Art, passed through Penticton. That summer he was driving around southern British Columbia in his station wagon, with an electric wheel in the back, stopping in communities and offering classes in pottery. Interested in taking the lessons "for pleasure," Louise Schwenk was to get her start in ceramics. Showing immediate skill and promise as a potter she was encouraged by Dixon to pursue the craft and take further classes. The impetus to study seriously came that same year. An Arctic front moved into the Okanagan Valley in November, killing a third of the orchards on the acreage run by her and her husband Adolph. Looking for a new way to support themselves in light of this economic blow, Louise enrolled in classes at the VSA in winter months of 1956, studying with Dixon as well as David Lambert, with the aim of pursuing and furthering a pottery career. Louise won two bursaries to attend UBC that summer where she developed her craft under the tutelage of BC luminaries such as Rex Mason, Hilda Ross, Olea Davis and Zoltan Kiss. It was there that she also studied sculpture with the famed Cubist, Alexander Archipenko, and pottery with Charles Lakofsky from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. For his part, Adolph began to study decorating, glazing and firing from John Reeve and Glen Lewis. As their reputation and clientele grew, an expansion to their basement studio was necessary - which Adolph accomplished by hand with a shovel and a bucket. The Schwenks considered themselves "artist potters" and as such they created an abundance of forms - primarily functional tableware but also whimsical and sculptural creations. They also developed some recognizable "signature" glazes - such as turquoise, black lustre, and a dark brown glaze made from the ash of applewood. As word of their work spread, the Schwenks quickly received accolades from across Canada. They were included in a number of national exhibitions and received a full feature article in Western Living magazine in April 1961. Their crowning achievement, however, was the award of a Senior Craftman's Fellowship from the Canadian Council in 1966 which would allow them to study abroad in Europe for a year. Sadly it was on this trip abroad when Louise suddenly passed away in England. Adolph would follow her only two years later effectively ending the Schwenk pottery. Over the span of a decade they established themselves as important potters locally and nationally, succeeding Axel Ebring as the early and important Okanagan potters. The Schwenk's pottery received accolades across Canada, including the following...
A display of their work can be viewed at the Penticton Museum. If you have one or more pieces of Schwenk pottery you will to sell please contact me here. Identifying and dating Schwenk pottery...Identifying Schwenk pottery is pretty straightforward. The photos above show variations and progression.
Far left: This is the earliest form of signature and was painted on the bottom. This mark was not used for long and dates to the mid-1950s. Second left: This incised mark is the most common form found. This was used from approximately 1958 - 1966. Note, the bottom initials are glaze codes which have been lost. Centre: The best pieces tend to be signed "Schwenk Penticton." This also dates a piece from approximately 1958 - 1966. Second right: Pieces signed with the "A" beneath were made solely by Adolph and were made after Louise's passing in 1966 until his own death in 1968. Far right: Pieces signed Schwenk Studios as shown were made at the original studio until the early 1970s after the death of both Adolph and Louise. They were made by apprentices and not what one would consider a true piece of Schwenk pottery. |
Studio Pottery CanadaPottery enthusiast learning about the history of this Canadian art form and curating samples from the best in the field pre-1980. Archives
March 2023
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