Pine Tree Potters' Guild Members' Gallery

Artist: Katherine Xanthakis-Pavlou

Artist Statement

An Australian of Greek descent, with a Graduate Diploma in Education, I moved permanently to Toronto in 1988. It was not long after that I signed up for a beginners pottery course and discovered what has become for me, a life long passion.

"Slab construction" is a technique that involves joining slabs of clay together to create a form. It was when I realized the limitless range of shapes and forms that I could create using this method, that I truly became 'hooked on clay'. When using this method, I will sketch out my sculpture on paper, cut out a template, roll out my slabs and then join them, carefully and slowly, to create my form.

The pottery process is not quite complete until the piece is fired in the kiln. It is then that I start to wonder "did I join my slabs well enough, did I use enough slip on the corners" knowing that the final result is in the hands of the 'kiln gods'. When I open the kiln and all has gone well though, I look at my piece with a sense of relief, satisfaction and contentment, realizing that this idea that started in my mind, has transformed into this wonderful creation, made entirely by my hands, step by step and all from a ball of wet sticky clay.