Artist of the Month:
Deborrah Hughes-Gahr
with Mariam Qureshi
Please tell Edmonton who you are and what you create!
My name is Deborrah Hughes-Gahr, I work full time and for the last 16 years I’ve made pottery evenings and weekends in my basement home studio in Sherwood Park. Most of my work is functional dinner ware and the last few years I’ve begun experimenting with
more decorative work for outdoor living spaces, such as patio table top water fountains
and smaller garden sculptures.
What makes a good pot?
I think good pots are pleasing to look at, inviting to hold in your hands and to use.
Handmade work should be beautiful and serve the purpose for which its made and should bring a warmth to your home and connection between the user and the maker. I pay a great amount of attention to detail – for example, bottoms of pieces are sanded smooth, cup handles flow, cup rims curve to fit the mouth comfortably, yarn bowls have smooth edges to prevent yarn from snagging when in use.
How did you get started?
About 16 years ago I went to a Christmas Craft Sale at the Camrose Pottery Guild to buy gifts. After about 20 minutes talking with one of the instructors I found myself signed up for beginner wheel throwing classes for the following January. I’ve continued with classes in Fort Saskatchewan and still take classes in Sherwood Park.
Do you have to heat the pottery? If so, where do you do that?
Each piece of pottery is fired twice in my kiln which is in the garage. The first “bisque” firing changes the clay to ceramics making it porous and able to absorb the liquid glaze.
The second “glaze firing” vitrifies the item and bonds the glaze to the surface making it food safe and will hold liquid.
Can you tell us a little about what your process is like?
I do a bit of hand building but the majority of my work is thrown and created individually on an electric pottery wheel. For example a coffee cup will require about 3 ½ hours of attention over a 3 week period. The item has to be at specific moisture levels when the bottom is finished, or when the handle is attached. Then the item is slowly dried to bone dry before firing, then the glaze is applied, fired the second time, then item is sanded on the bottom, washed and ready for sale.
The clay I use is prepared at Medalta in Medicine Hat, shipped up to Plainsman Pottery
in Edmonton. I purchase it by the box and it is ready to use.
My designs are original and given a good amount of consideration and thought as to
how the piece will be used. Throwing ability comes after many, many hours of practicing techniques, building skills, experimenting and letting my artistic creativity guide me through shape, form, function, mark making (carving and piercing) and use.
Discovery and exploration bring about new designs – I often ask myself “what if?”
I rarely layer glazes, I don’t personally like the wild glaze combinations. I much prefer a simple, food safe glaze that enhances the for and brings focus to my hand carving and decorating. For me the priority is the quality of the pot.