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Photograph by Paul Myers
Abby O'Connell, president of Orchard Valley Ceramic Arts Guild, holds a bowl made by Gina Hausmann at Mission City Coffee in Santa Clara, where the group has an ongoing exhibition.
Local ceramists create their art for long haul
By Shari Kaplan
From its humble beginnings as a brainstorming session with free food, to its present status as a large organization whose members earn both money and recognition, the Orchard Valley Ceramic Arts Guild has come a long way in one and a half years.
Although its ceramists live throughout the Bay Area, most members live in Silicon Valley, including Sunnyvale residents such as Marsha Anderson, Marilyn Austin, Paz Bar-am, John Chianelli, Lily C. Chinn and Cindy Couling, .Most guild workshops and exhibitions also take place in the South Bay.
This group of some 60 women and men is a dream come true for founder Abby O'Connell of Sunnyvale, who enjoys recalling how it all started in February 2000.
"I invited a few friends over to my house for dinner and said, 'Let's think about the perfect pottery studio--and I'll feed you!' That was all it took," O'Connell says, chuckling. She adds that her experience leading brainstorming sessions for her day job in the engineering field also came in handy. Indeed, she surprises even herself that she flourishes in two very different disciplines: "left-brain" engineering and "right-brain" art.
"One of the things I like about ceramics as an art form is that it endures longer than just about anything else. There are some ancient civilizations where nothing remains but their pottery," she says.
O'Connell says she originally hoped to develop a partnership with the city of Sunnyvale in which it would own, and the guild would run, a public art studio. That didn't pan out, but O'Connell says it's just as well, because it encouraged her to have the guild embrace ceramists throughout the South Bay.
"The whole idea behind this is a community-building idea. It takes a lot of support for artists to be creative, and it's especially hard for those trying to make a living at it," explains O'Connell, who calls ceramics an "isolating" art form because there are less outlets and groups that cater to it than for art forms like painting.
"We wanted to appeal to a full spectrum of people, from beginners to people who've been doing it for 30 years," she adds of the guild. "It's an opportunity to get together, talk shop, mentor each other and share resources. There's a lot of resources if you know where to look and who to ask."
The guild certainly lacks nothing in that department. Its members currently rotate pieces to be displayed at Mission City Coffee in Santa Clara and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Main Library in downtown San Jose.
Some members also lead or participate in workshops, at which the public is welcome but guild members receive a discount fee. The next guild-sponsored workshop is Sept. 23 at Claymaker, 1240 North 13th Street in San Jose. Taught by Jay Trenchard, a studio potter for 31 years, the workshop demonstrates advanced wheel-throwing techniques, including altering thrown forms and teapot construction.
The guild welcomes new members. For more information, call 408.998.3014 or visit www.ovcag.org on the Internet.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
