KAY AUSTEN
‘Back to the Garden’
Ceramic Wall Sconces, Garden Urns and Orbs
Making with clay forces the ceramist to be a philosopher, to be accepting. So many times, a promising piece doesn’t come through the firing. There’s cracking...there’s warping, there’s glaze runs. Sometimes, a whole firing is disappointing. So much pottery comes under the hammer…so many seconds and thirds…Clearly too, very often there are wonderful surprises…gifts from the kiln.
Thank goodness it’s so much fun to use, or I’d have given up years ago. Creating with clay is essentially a solitary process…but about five years ago, Andrea Hoff and I started having outdoor Raku firings and inviting others interested in experimental firings to take part. The Wall Triptychs and Funerary Urns in this display are some of the results of our last “Baltic” or “Obvara” Raku firing. -Kay Austen-
LIN TAYLOR
‘Back to the Garden’
Quilt and Felt Art
I am a self-taught quilter and aspiring fabric artist with an interest in felt. I am inspired by nature, by travel and by my own inner journey. I love naive art and colour and am attracted by asymmetry. I have not learned the rules of art, form or colour so each piece is an experiment, an expression of an experience or an attempt at a new technique that has attracted my attention.
I felt compelled to carve out bits of time to create while working full-time in a professional career and raising my son. Now, my art is inspired and interrupted by excessive travel!
The show “Back to the Garden” is a collection of pieces old and new that represent my love of nature and the wilderness. My little garden and the vast, beautiful forests of Squamish helped keep me sane over the last 16 months of being grounded from travel. Art helped me explore and express my despair and hope over the months of isolation during covid 19. -Lin Taylor-
