One thing you notice when you see and hold a Gordon Hutchens pot is its technical excellence. Every piece of his pottery I have held amazes me in its form and balance. The glazes he concocts and their application are somehow immediately recognizable as his alone.

​Gordon Hutchens originally hails from the U.S. where he obtained his B.F.A. with Honors in ceramics at the University of Illinois but has been a fixture in the B.C. pottery scene for nearly fifty years. He established his pottery on the north end of Denman Island in British Columbia where he has lived and worked since.

Mr. Hutchens formulates and blends all his own clay bodies using many different clays from across North America as well as clay from his own property. I’ve heard him refer to his glaze work as alchemy and the range and results of what he has created over time with experimentation certainly fits this description.
​
​Equally adept in various in various methods, he creates pieces in raku, salt glaze stoneware, reduction fired earthenware, and a line of crystalline glazed porcelain (shown below) - a complicated technique that emulates the natural formation of crystals in rock cooling deep in the earth - that took him years to perfect.

Hutchens designed and built an Anagama woodfiring kiln - the fourth Tozan kiln in the world -under the guidance of Dr. Yukio Yamamoto between August 1996 and April 1998. Made from 3000 firebricks, the kiln holds hundreds of pottery pieces, burns for three days straight—using five cords of wood that the potters hand-feed in shifts—and reaches up to 2350°F (1300°C).

​Taking inspiration from the natural world around him and inspired by the famous Edo period wood-block prints of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, my favourite works by Gordon have to be his “big wave” vases. Evoking the turbulent beauty of foam-crested waves rolling across stormy seas, these pieces are magnificent.

Mr. Hutchens also generously shares his knowledge throughout British Columbia, across Canada and internationally through classes, workshops and exhibitions. Since 1999 he has taught ceramics at North Island College, School of Fine Art and Design. 

​In 2019 Gordon Hutchens was bestowed a BC Achievement Foundation Award of Distinction in Applied Art and Design. He has exhibited across Canada, from Halifax, Montreal and Toronto to Vancouver & Victoria. He has had over 25 one-man shows and over 70 group exhibitions across Canada and the U.S.A., with three major exhibitions in Japan.

His work is displayed in permanent collections such as the Bronfman family’s Claridge Collection, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Burlington Art Centre, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

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.

I 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 received permission from the Summerland museum to post the following images related to the Summerland Arts League.

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.