FGY Art Gallery Christchurch Ceramic Art Flash Exhibition, Surprises at Live Pottery Demonstration
From 7th to 15th August, Christchurch potter Della Goodinson held a Pottery Flash demo Show at the Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery Christchurch. On 7th August, Art Gallery Curator Venerable Abbess Manshin, and operative director Venerable Jue Xi, Friends of the FGY Art Gallery and 40 members of the public attended the live demonstration. This is a platform for local artists to exhibit their work and for art lovers to have more opportunities to appreciate colourful art creations.
Della began her demonstration by introducing herself as a previous full-time nurse and pottery enthusiast, who later switched from nursing to a full-time career in pottery because of her love for the art. She explains and demonstrates the steps of pottery making, saying that it is a matter of sitting in the right position and using the right amount of force, while being patient and meticulous enough to create the desired shape from the spinning pottery wheel. Della enjoys making ceramics because she can be as creative as she wants to be. She makes a wide variety of ceramics, including bowls, plates, cups, spoons, teapots, flower vessels, and other practical utensils. Della uses sand from Taylor Mistakes, a famous beach in Christchurch, with the sand’s special ingredients producing natural textures and colours, such as the beige colour of sand or the indigo colour of the ocean.
Afterwards, Della gave a hands-on teaching session, allowing attendees to experience the joy of making clay. Both children and adults enjoyed themselves and showed off their trophies. Della was amazed by the creativity of the children's ceramics, which were beyond Della's imagination, and she learned a lot from them.
Della said that she usually holds pottery classes at different community centres with small classes of about 10 students. This is the first time she held a Flash Demo exhibition and the first time she taught in front of so many people. She was very happy to share her knowledge of pottery with the public and thanked the art gallery for this rare opportunity. She hopes to have the opportunity to conduct similar events in the future and to reach out to different groups to interact with people on advance level.
In addition to the live pottery demonstration, Della's latest works will be displayed in FGY Art Gallery Christchurch for another week, so that her supporters and other pottery lovers can come and enjoy her works. We also hope that more people will come to recognise the amazing art creations from local artists in Christchurch.