Artists are getting a chance to show their wares, demonstrate their skills and build their self-esteem in New Westminster.
The Community Living Society launched the PotteryWorks program 13 years ago and the program has grown by leaps and bounds. Working artists help provide instruction for the painters, potters and jewelry makers who participate in the program.
"We started with six artists," said Dee Blackmore, facilitator of the PotteryWorks program. "Now we are up around 40."
The program is based out of a studio on Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby, where classes take place.
"They come from all over the Lower Mainland - North Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, just about everywhere in the Lower Mainland," Blackmore said. "We want to teach. We give all of them the opportunity to learn and grow."
The members' artwork is displayed and sold at River Market at Westminster Quay. In addition to selling pottery and paintings in the space at River Market, the artists often work on projects so the public can see them in action.
Eclipps Hair Café on Sixth Street has become the first local business to display works by participants in the PotteryWorks program.
"It is spectacular," said Sharon Amos, a stylist at Eclipps. "It is very inspiring."
After one of her clients mentioned the Community Living Society's art program, Amos checked out the PotteryWorks Facebook page. She's been coordinating the salon's art displays for about three years.
"I try to show art in the salon," she said. "This was even more special."
Amos, who is also a painter, is impressed with the quality of the artwork that's created by people it the Pottery Works program.
"There seems to be more of a freedom when they paint," she said. "It seems to flow through them."
Eclipps Hair Café's customers also enjoy the artistic offerings as they get their hair done.
"They love it," Amos said. "They are totally blown away by the fact they are special needs. It's a nice reaction - we have actually had people buy a couple of pieces."
Eclipps Hair Café changes its artwork each month. It will continue to display works by PotteryWorks artists, as well as other artists.
"People come in - they look around and think we have renovated. It keeps it fresh and new and interesting," Amos said. "It's also promoting the artists in New Westminster and Burnaby area - a lot of times, galleries will bring in artists from outside the area."
Eclipps displayed art by James Lash last month and is displaying art by artists Rob Bell and Dan Tell in May.
"They are both very different," Amos said. "One is more abstract/ pastels; the other is more realism."
Lash, a former resident of Woodlands, is considered one of the program's best painters.
"He has been with our program since the beginning. He is a gifted artist," Blackmore said. "He really loves Cheval and Monet - those are two of his heroes. The paintings are his interpretation of famous paintings."
PotteryWorks offers classes in wheel-throwing, homebuilding and slipcasting, as well as fine art painting.
"Originally the purpose behind starting the program was to build their self-esteem and give them some connection with the community and for the greater community to have an understanding of what people with disabilities are capable of," Blackmore said of artists involved in the society's program. "It's become more than that. It's very healing in many ways. It's also therapeutic. This has been discovered in the last decade."
According to Blackmore, brain-mapping studies have show that art really helps improve brain function for someone with a mental disability.
"It's a really big thing for them to show the world what they can do," she said.
The Community Living Society welcomes the opportunity to display the PotteryWorks' members artwork in local businesses.
"We do a lot of work here. We have more pottery than we can handle at River Market, tons of paintings," Blackmore said. "It's about getting our artists and work out into the community."
For more information, go to the PotteryWorks Facebook page. Anyone interested in displaying artwork in their business can email potteryworks@ communitylivingsociety. ca.
tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
