Local Art Shows

Many OPA members hit the Art Show circuit in the Summer and this year is no exception.

This weekend you will find quite a few of our members showing and selling their work at the Lake Oswego Fine Art & Craft Faire.  The Faire opens Friday, June 22nd and will run through Sunday.

OPA members participating are:

Debra Nelson

• Laura Cooke
• Gil Harrison
• Linda Heisserman
• Carol Lebreton
• Kristy Lombard
• Debra Nelson
• Steve Provence
• Rabun Thompson

This is a great show with great art, live music, food & drink.

I've heard that there is a chance of rain this weekend but don't let that stop you!  We'll start our rain dance now to keep the drops away.

Good luck to all of our fellow members - we hope you have a great show!

Three Days and Counting

The Year is 2010 and Margaret Synan-Russell is the President of the OPA and Brenda Scott is the Chair of Ceramic Showcase.

And the Best of Show 2010 is Jim Koudelka.

Best of Show 2010
Jim Koudelka

"My work is ultimately a reflection of my creative response to materials and processes, images and ideas.

I have an interest and involvement with a vessel format that is influenced by architectural, mechanical and industrial images.  The pieces I create display the actual or implied function of containers or devices extracted from primitive to contemporary times.  My intent is to interpret and display the essence and qualities of these images through my art work and create a dialogue to the viewer through it.

Process and materials also play an important role in the development of my work.  I allow the ceramic, glass and or metal materials and their processes to maintain a voice in the choices of design, physical construction, surfacing and final viewing of the pieces."

In 2010, the OPA family experienced the loss of one of our founding members, Dave Enna.  Dave served as the President of OPA in 1983 as well as serving as the first Chair of Ceramic Showcase.  Dave committed many years to the OPA Board and served on many committees for Ceramic Showcase.

This was written about Dave in the Sandy Post : 

“Not many people have the courage to think they can make a living with their hands,” said Sue Enna. “He wanted to encourage that.” ... Enna might have been the typical “hippie-dippie” artist of his day return- ing from military service in during the Vietnam War, growing a scraggly beard and sitting in a dirt-floored Gresham garage to make things out of clay. “His father said, ‘That’s nice, but how will you make a living?’” remembers his wife. But the Ennas did make a living and a name for themselves as potters. In the mid-70s they moved from Gresham to Brightwood, not to dropout, but to be community members. Enna served 13 years on the Sandy High and Welches school district board, now the Oregon Trail School District. He was a founding member and president for two years of the Oregon Potters Association and for 13 years was an active member of the Gresham-Ebetsu Sister City Associa- tion. The latter cause took the Ennas to Japan 11 times, where they were partnered with the family of an Ebetsu pot- ter. “It (Japan) was our adopted home,” Sue Enna said. “Two weeks before Dave died the family came from Japan to see him.”

In the last few days of Dave's life, his family was able to bring the wedding ceremony of their son to the hospi- tal. He very much enjoyed being a part of the wedding and also the recent visit of the Kanai family from Hokkaido.

This year we will honor the memory of Dave as well as all of our OPA members that are no longer with us, in a special Memorial Tribute adjacent to the Lobby Display. 

The 30th Anniversary Ceramic Showcase opens its doors on Friday, May 4 at 10am.  

Come join the celebration!

Nine Days and Counting

The Year is 2009 and Victoria Shaw is the President of the OPA and Beverly Curtis and Brenda Scott are the Chairs for Ceramic Showcase.

In 2009 the International adventure continued with OPA members traveling and exhibiting in Hokkaido, Japan.  Many members took side trips throughout Japan.  One side trip found Jim Johnstone and his wife in a tiny village that literally was closed but thanks to the kindness of strangers, found a room for the evening and a small pottery where Jim was surrounded by the works of Shoji Hamada.  Jim recounted this story at an OPA General meeting, and to hear the tone in his voice and the sparkle in his eye, you knew that he had experienced a life changing moment.  And when he unwrapped his little treasure, his delight was as evident then as it must have been in that tiny village pottery.

And the Best of Show 2009 was Penelope Dews.  I asked Penelope about the evolution of her work and this is what she wrote:

Best of Show 2009
Penelope Dews

"The idea for this piece evolved over a number of years.  I would make changes to the bird and the energy of the piece, but, the feeling I was searching for kept eluding me.  What ultimately made this idea come alive were two things, we adopted a cockatiel and having a live bird in the home changed my way of looking at birds, and I had seen an image on a calendar of a small bird singing its heart out.


The piece was made using a modified coil method.  Short fat coils, flattened into short slabs about 2 - 3 inches tall, and attached to a slab base.  The bird was added last and is hollow, using clay "flying buttresses" to hold it up until it was stiff enough to stand alone.  Then the supports were cut away.  The piece was anagama wood fired on a top shelf about a third of the way back in the kiln.  Placed with its back to the firebox, so not too much ash would fall on the birds face, and potentially obstruct it's features. The added bonus was the shape the flame made up the back of the piece during the firing."


The 30th Ceramic Showcase opens on May 4, 2012 at 10am and runs through Sunday, May 6.  This year's Ceramic Showcase will celebrate our 30th Anniversary with a weekend full of art, music and camaraderie.  We hope you will join us as we welcome back many of the artists that participated in the 1st Ceramic Showcase.  Live music will happen Friday and Saturday evenings featuring Lynch Mob, Mo Mac and Mood Area 52.  There will also be live music throughout the weekend performed acoustically by local area high school students and musicians.  Our Demonstration Stage will be busy all weekend, Adult and Children's Clay areas if you feel the urge to get your hands dirty, local beer,wine and spirits featured at our no-host bar and last but certainly not least the ceramic work of more than 200 local ceramic  artists.  Find that beautiful cup to enjoy morning coffee, a bowl to grace your table, sculpture to enhance your home and come meet and talk to the artists that have created this amazing work.

We hope to see you in just 9 short days.

(Can you hear the kilns of the Northwest just fire up?)

Three Weeks and Counting

The year is 2008 and the OPA President is Larry Nelson and the Chair of Ceramic Showcase is Beverly Curtis.

2008 was a very international year for the Oregon Potters Association.  We welcomed a delegation of potters from Hokkaido, Japan who participated in events at Ceramic Showcase as well as the Japanese Garden.  The 15 Hokkaido potters brought with them a breadth and diversity of clay techniques and styles which they shared through demonstrations during Ceramic Showcase.  An integral part of the OPA's mission is to provide public educational opportunities in the art of clay.  Although many did not share a common verbal language, the dialogue through clay was extensive.  Through this exchange, 28 OPA members were juried into a show in Sapporo, Japan.

In addition to the Hokkaido exchange, 3 OPA members traveled to El Salvador in February on a volunteer mission to teach art to children.  Artists taught paper making, mask making, book making, weaving and textiles.



And Best of Show 2008 is Karen Washburn.

Best of Show 2008
Karen Washburn

Poster Award 2008
Alan Higinbotham

And The Poster Award for 2008 is Alan Higinbotham