NEXT OPA BOARD MEETING: Monday, October 4^th at Beverly Curtis’ house. Potluck dinner at 6pm, meeting starts at 6:30. Directions: From Portland take I-84 E to exit 13 (181st). Turn south (away from airport) and continue on 181st to Division St. Turn left (east) on Division and continue on to 212th/Wallula. It is a stoplight near the top of a hill before you get to Eastman Parkway. Turn right on Wallula, go two blocks to 6th St. Turn left on 6th and go 1 ½ blocks to 935 NW 6th. The house is on the left and is the only one with a long driveway. There is a white flag shaped sign at the top of the driveway with my address. It's probably best to park on the street and walk down the driveway, there's no turnaround.

OPA BUSINESS

ALL MEMBERS WITH WEB PAGES: Google and other search engines give greater priority to web sites with up to 100 reciprocal links. By linking your site to other OPA members we can all help each other with search engine placement. Please go to www.oregonpotters.org and click on "Share a link.....". You can copy the OPA member links page there and add it to your web site.

ALSO: All OPA members who have web sites but are not linked at oregonpotters.org, please let me know so I can add your site to the OPA members link page. Jim Sloss, Jim@oregonpotters.org

MARKETING SEMINARS: Ginger Steele is organizing a Marketing Seminar to be held in November at an OPA member’s home. It will be aimed at helping newer members with marketing, but anyone is welcome to attend. Check the October Newsletter for details.

HOLIDAY STUDIO SALE GUIDES: The OPA Holiday Studio Sale Guide application form is included in this Newsletter. Please return the form to Cyra DuQuella by Sept 20. The Guide is not juried, anyone who would like to be listed is welcome. The finished Guides will be brought to the November OPA Meeting.

CLAY IN EDUCATION: We are still looking for people to do some Clay in Ed projects. If you know of a Senior Citizens Center where you would like to teach, or have an idea for a Children’s program, you could get paid by the OPA to teach a class or workshop. The way this works is you find a place that needs a ceramics class or workshop, especially a place that might otherwise not have access to this type of thing, you approach them and ask if they would be interested, then you call the Clay in Ed Chair and ask if you can do this teaching project. You are paid by the OPA for every hour you spend actually teaching (no pay for prep time). Interested? Contact Nancy Hart, nancyjohart@yahoo.com,

OPA/SHOWCASE JOB DESCRIPTIONS: In the June Newsletter, there was a questionnaire for Committee Chairs, Board Members, Steering Committee Members, and anyone else who does anything important for OPA or Showcase. It was to be filled out and sent to Richard Roth so he can make a new, complete job description book for the organization. Have you filled yours out yet? Tear it out of your last Newsletter or get a new one from the OPA website. While you are at it, fill out the pricing questionnaire that was printed on the back of it.

OPA/NCECA SHOWS: OPA will have to decide exactly what shows they want to host by the NCECA show application deadline in late November. We are currently leaning toward three shows: A functional teapot show; a wild, wacky teapot show; and a show of Clay Guild/Co-op members from the west coast (OPA, Washington Potters Association, Clay & Glass Artists of California, Local Clay, Clayfolk, etc). All of these shows would be juried. We have had some other suggestions for themes for these shows, and will continue to discuss themes from now until the Board Meeting in early October. Please contact Janet Buskirk with ideas, janetbuskirk@yahoo.com. We also are still looking into locations for the shows. A possible location is one of Skutt’s warehouses, but if anyone knows of a big, beautiful space in the Pearl District that we could have for a week or two and pay hardly any rent, please contact Janet!

OPA FINANCE COMMITTEE: The OPA board passed a motion to create a finance committee. This Committee will meet periodically through the year to review the OPA and Showcase financial information and create budgets for each Committee. They will then bring their recommendations to the OPA Board and Showcase Steering Committee to be voted on. Currently, the Treasurers do this job and it takes them a huge amount of time, it worries some members that a bad Treasurer could have too much influence in these decisions, and the Board spends a lot of their meeting time discussing this information. This type of Committee is very common in non-profit organizations, especially groups as large as ours.

The members will also vote on whether to form this Committee. This will be brought to the general membership at the September meeting (the picnic) to be voted on. At this time we are looking for 3 people to serve on the committee. If you have financial experience, enjoy budgets and are interested in serving on the committee, please contact Anne Stecker, annestecker@comcast.net. There will be three members, serving 3 year terms with 6 points awarded per year. Service will be staggered and therefore to begin with we will have a one year position available, a two year position available, and a three year position available this first year.

OPA TREASURER POSITION WILL BE OPEN IN 2005: One of the Co-Treasurer positions will be available in January of 2005. This is a four year commitment. The first and last year of the position are spent as OPA Treasurer and years two and three are spent as Showcase Treasurer.

During the first two years, one is learning the details of each job, and the last two years will be teaching the new Co-Treasurer the job. The Co-Treasurers work very closely together so that each knows what the other is doing and are available for questions. Both treasurers work closely with the auditor as well.

The Treasurer receives all bills for OPA, pays the bills, and enters the information in Quicken on the OPA computer. The accounting is reconciled with the bank reports. The treasurer is responsible for reports, such as quarterly and annual reports, that are then sent to the auditor. The Treasurer reports the OPA finances to the OPA Board. A Treasurer attends OPA Board meetings, Showcase Steering Committee meetings, and OPA General Meetings. The treasurer works with the new Budget Committee to develop the budgets for the next year. If you would be interested in running for this position, please contact Ramona Searle  mmusic@gorge.net or Deborah Bouchette for more detailed information. This is a big job, but it is interesting and it is great experience, too.

EMPTY BOWLS in Portland was a great success. We made over $19,000 in four days. This broke all sales records! Our booth made more money for the Food Bank than any other booth at the Blues Festival and broke our previous sales records. Thanks to everyone in OPA who worked so hard, and special thanks to Kristin and Jenny, our fearless Chairs

LOCAL CLAY & CLAYFEST

CLAYFEST will be October 9-10 at the County Fairgrounds in Eugene. Their Steering Committee is working hard right now to make sure all their new concepts get implemented successfully. The first (100%) refund deadline passed on August 2nd. To date they have gone through five people on the Waiting List which leaves sixteen artists on the list. Most have made the decision to display their work in the Gallery even if they do not get a booth space this year. For those still interested, the application deadline for Gallery Only is September 24th and if you're interested contact the Registrar (registrar@clayfest.org) for an application packet.
The Move-In packet along with WorkShift/Committee assignments will be in the mail by August 20th. Please be sure to read the entire packet when it arrives so that you are clear on all aspects of the show before you arrive at the show (and it's too late to make adjustments). Want more info? Look at their website, www.clayfest.org.

CERAMIC SHOWCASE

SHOWCASE 2005 will be April 22, 23, and 24^th

SHOWCASE 2005 APPLICATIONS will be included in the October OPA Newsletter and will be available on the OPA website by late October. They will be due on November 15. If you have not received one by late October, check the website or call your Newsletter Editor janetbuskirk@yahoo.com) for one.

SHOWCASE COMMITTEE CHAIR JOBS AVAILABLE: These two positions still need to be filled for 2005 Showcase, and some of the work begins soon! To apply for them, write down past experience and credentials for the job, include any information that would help the Steering Committee in their selection. Mail or e-mail to Audrey Graham, 32493 SW Juliette, Wilsonville, OR 97070, agraham@centurytel.net.

CREDIT CARD SALES CHAIR: 12 points. Provide credit card sales capability for, and to manage all credit card sales activities, during Ceramic Showcase.

PUBLICITY-FREE, CO-CHAIR: 3 points 1^st year, 6 points 2^nd year, 3^rd year assume the Chair job with 14 points. Job Description: Work with Publicity Chair promoting Showcase and OPA through free media.

SPONSORSHIP: Showcase is actively looking for sponsors, both to give us operating money and "in kind" sponsors (groups or individuals who donate all or part of their services, for instance discounts on printing posters or similar things). Mark Heimann is now chairing this. If you have any ideas for potential sponsors or if you are thinking about approaching someone for sponsorship, please contact Mark. All sponsorship needs to go through him for continuity.

COLLEGE & EDUCATION BOOTHS at Showcase: Ron Linn has volunteered to chair this. He plans to expand the area and include some booths from local high schools that have exciting ceramics programs.

REBATES: There is a possibility that there will be a rebate from Showcase 2004. A few more bills will be coming in during Sept and Oct, then the finances will be examined. Whether we receive a rebate or not, the good news is that we did not overspend our budget during a year of show expansion and economic contraction. None of us thought that there would be any possibility of rebates this year.

SHOWCASE STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS: These meetings are open to any OPA member who would like to attend. The dates have been in the middle of each month, and somehow usually coincide with the day the Newsletter is mailed out. If you would like to be informed about the dates and locations, contact the Showcase Chairs, Natalie Warrens and Ginger Steele.

WORKSHOPS, LECTURES, CONFERENCES

KATHY KUHN: "Pit Firing: In the Flames," hands on, learn how to get many exciting colors out of pit firing. Sept 18-19, $140+25.

RONNA NEUENSCHWANDER: "Mixed Media with Ceramics," hands on, combine recycled materials and found objects with ceramic work. Oct 9-10, $140+40.

PATRICK HORSLEY: At Lower Columbia College in Longview on Sat, Oct 16. Contact Trudy Woods, (360) 442-2510 or twoods@lcc.ctc.edu for more information.

OWEN RYE: Plan ahead & take a break from your Showcase preparations to attend a workshop by Australian woodfire potter Owen Rye. There will be a clay workshop April 4-6 2005 at Mount Hood Community College, and a woodfiring workshop the following weekend at the Astoria Dragon Kiln. Mark your calendars now (buy a 2005 calendar first) & check future newletters for more information.  "Rather than repeating something which works, I prefer to continually explore something which may not."  --Owen Rye

CERAMIC ARTS ROAD SHOW & SYMPOSIUM: This event is sponsored by the Potters Council. It features lectures and demonstrations by about 40 ceramic artists including David MacDonald, Toshiko Takaezu, Peter Callas, Steven Branfman, Jeff Zamek, Winnie Owens-Hart, Bill vanGilder, Christa Assad, Tom Kerrigan, Sheri Leigh, Ramon Camarillo, Jonathan Kaplan, Matt Burton, Alfredo Ratinoff and more. Sept 18-19 in Riverside, California. $135 per day plus fees per educational session, 888-999-3973, www.hortonevents.com/ceramicsroadshow.

POTTERY NEWS

TRADITIONAL FRENCH WOODFIRING: OPA member Don Clarke visited a group of French potters who were rebuilding an 1800's traditional wood-fired pottery. They plan to fire the rebuilt 100 cu meter (that’s meters, not feet. You could almost park a bus in it) kiln. If you are planning to go to the Saint Amand en Puisaye area or if you are curious, check their website: http://asppp.free.fr/english/index.htm

WHOLESALING ADVICE: If you are a professional ceramic artist and are interested in the wholesale marketplace, the Rosen Group has a Visiting Artist Program that offers you a chance to meet with a business advisor for a mentor session, attend educational seminars, and walk through the world’s largest wholesale art event. To learn more about this or to register, please contact Debra at (410)889-2933 x222, DebraA@rosengrp.com, registration forms are also available for download at http://www.americancraft.com/BMAC/artist/forms.html

SAFETY LIMITS FOR BORON CONSUMPTION: The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) recently announced that people can safely consume more than twice the amount of boron previously considered harmless. The NCEA is the division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency charged with assessing health risks associated with substances found in the environment. The new limit is 14 milligrams per day, up from 6.3 mg. For more information, www.epa.gov/ncea or www.borax.com.

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT FOR ARTISTS: A recent piece on NPR radio mentioned the Artists Pension Trust, a New York group who takes 8% of the work an artist produces in a year and holds it in trust until the artist retires. Then the trust sells the work (retaining a commission to cover their expenses) and the artist receives their "retirement income." Are you planning for retirement? There is an informative article in the August CraftsReport that gives information about different types of retirement accounts, how much you should put into them, how much you might expect from Social Security, etc.

NEW WAX CRAYONS FOR CERAMICS: There are some new crayons made by Ceraline that are based on hydrocarbons and mineral stains, are dust-proof. Visit www.ceraline.be

NCECA 2006 in Portland: Ted Vogel and Tom Orr continue to scheme and plan this Conference. They need volunteers to help them with various aspects of the planning, starting now and continuing through March 2006. If you are interested in seeing how NCECA works from the inside, contact them. If you want to put together some kind of exhibition during NCECA, the proposal deadline for exhibitions that will be included in the NCECA packet is this fall. The deadline for proposals for talks and other presentations is next spring. Check www.nceca.net for info.

CLAY ART CENTER says that people continue to call and ask why their website does not work. The answer is: because they have a new web address at www.clayartcenter.net (not .com!)

OPPORTUNITIES

APPRENTICE WANTED: Richey Bellinger is seeking an apprentice to work 10-15 hours a week in exchange for studio use. Jobs include loading kilns, mixing glazes, some glazing, pugging clay (rarely), and other miscellaneous tasks. For information call Richey.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: "2005 Clay National" at NCECA Conference in Baltimore, jurors Linda Arbuckle, Andrea Gill & Ron Nagel. Deadline Sept 19, show Feb-March 2005, work may not exceed 60", 20% commission, $20 jury fee for 2 slides, www.nceca.net, 866-266-2322

NEW BOOKS NEED TRANSPARENCIES: Susan Peterson is coming out with two new books and is looking for transparencies and slides. One book is a beginning clay book, and she wants process slides, especially hands in clay. There will be section on lowfire glazes, especially red, orange and yellow. Send 3-4 slides with captions & explanations. Also, she is working on edition 5 of Craft & Art of Clay and wants slides and large transparencies as well as updated bios and catalogues. Remember that books use original slides, duplicates cannot be printed very large. Send them to Susan Peterson, PO Box 1398, 38800 Spanish Boot Rd, Carefree AZ 85377, shpeterson@aol.com.

MEMBER NEWS

To our great sadness, we have lost our friend and fellow potter, Chris Gum. Chris has been an OPA member for 23 years. He has been on the board of both OPA and Showcase and has often been the voice of reason (sometimes to all of our chagrin) amidst chaos. Chris died in his home of unknown natural causes on June 29^th. A Memorial Potluck was held at the home of Linda Owen and Craig Martell on July 18^th.

Chris is survived by his father, Robert, and his sister, Karina, both of California. Just as importantly, he is survived by Patty Cirello and her children: Sally, Angie and Joseph of Corvallis, who from his college days together made him a part of their family. He is also survived by his good and close friend, Nancy Hart, who will perhaps miss him most of all.

Chris made beautiful pots, and for many years he dug his clay from local stream banks and collected local feldspars and other materials for his glazes. His work was very careful and methodical. Efficiency was never a concern for him, he would rather be true to his work and its process. Chris’s work was well known by potters and art appreciators alike, although Chris never wanted to be a famous person. Chris chose to move through this world quietly and modestly, doing his share of the work without demanding too much of the spotlight.

Chris had a passion for gardening. He probably felt that laundry sorting and truck washing were overrated, but he always took exquisite care of his plants. He was a good listener and never hesitated to express his opinions.

In recent years, Chris avoided attending OPA Meetings (why deal with petty bureaucracy?), but he almost always came to Portland to visit his friends (the most important part of this group) on the days we held our meetings and thus we could all spend time with him. He was a wonderful friend and his sudden death has affected the entire pottery community in Oregon. We will all miss him terribly. (thank you to Ellen Currans, who presided over the Memorial Service, and to Anne Stecker, both of whom provided some of these words)

PATRICK HORSLEY, RICHEY BELLINGER & CRAIG MARTELL will have an exhibit in the Lower Columbia Community College (Longview, WA) Art Gallery Nov 3 – Dec 2, opening reception Tues, Nov 2, 4-7pm.

FAYE NAKAMURA has a solo exhibition, "Painted Clay," a show of pieces that are glazed and painted with oils, at the Karin Clarke Gallery in Eugene, Aug 31-Oct 2, reception Thurs, Sept 2, 5-8:30pm.

DEBORAH SHAPIRO has an email address and bought a computer. That makes VICTORIA SHAW the last non-computer holdout who serves regularly on the OPA Board or Showcase Steering Committee!

DENNIS MEINERS & LESLIE LEE have a show of his ceramics and her oil paintings at the Hanson Howard Gallery through the month of August

JEANNE HENRY is having a show of clay photography called "Double Vision", Aug 6-Sept 25 at Silver Creek Gallery, 119a N Water St in Silverton.

JACK WALSH had a piece, "Kwataketl  #11," selected for "The Naked Truth: 2004 International Juried Woodfire Exhibition," Sept 2004 - Jan 2005 at the Cedar Rapids Museum, Iowa

JIM KOUDELKA & JANET BUSKIRK were married on July 10.

SHAMELESS ADVERTISING

FREE KILN: A "Bell Kiln" built by Hank Morrow, manually operated hydraulic lift, 6 burners, updraft, platform, natural gas orifices, metal with fiber, hood and stack included, fires cone 10.  Want to give it to someone who will share it with other potters. You move it. Kathryn Knoll,   Also, free chemicals (Feldspars, Lithium, more) (Newport, OR)

FOR SALE: Complete propane raku kiln, comes with tongs & glazes. Basket 26.5" diameterx24" tall, hoist 98.5" tall, $700, chavezclayworks@peak.org. (Eugene area)

FOR SALE: Ohaus triple beam with tare, includes 2500g weight set & scoop, cost over $200 new, asking $95. Paul Bush, bushdibs@sprintmail.com. (Portland)

FOR SALE: Walker pugmill, stainless steel interior, $100 or best offer. Also 1942 military dough mixer, small leaded gas powered Century machine, free to good home, you haul. Micki

BROKEN RAKU POTS WANTED: Broken pieces of raku fired pottery wanted for mosaic table top, willing to pay, langercc@aol.co.

STUDIO/GALLERY SPACE AVAILABLE Come to artistic Toledo. Great weather and low cost of living! Jean Inglis recently relocated there and acquired the Leader Building and gallery on Main Street, 6 miles from Newport. The building contains a 2000+ sq ft studio which Jean would like to share with other artists. Great light, looks out on its own garden plaza. Studio space with gallery access is available, ceramica@xprt.net

FOR LEASE: Unique Alberta Street space, 600 sq ft (plus loft and outdoor area) for lease. Perfect for retail/studio. Looking for working pottery/clay studio and retail combined. Good location. Contact Guardino Gallery

FOR RENT: 1 bdrm apartment, 3829 SE Washington in Portland, $650/mo, furnished, utilities included, on 2^nd story of house, see http://portland.craiglist.org/apa/36291723.htm

, Stephanie Schultz, schulzporcelain@earthlink.net

OPA HOLIDAY STUDIO SALE GUIDE
Mail in this form by Sept 20!

Established in 1980, this newsletter is sent to OPA members, educational institutions and ceramic-related businesses. It is published in February, April, June, August, October and December. Submissions should be sent, in writing, to Janet Buskirk, OPA Newsletter Editor, 4614 SE Salmon St, Portland OR 97215 or janetbuskirk@yahoo.com. Both editorial and advertising submissions are free of charge and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions are due on the 10^th of the month during which the Newsletter will be published. Changes of address or email address should be sent to Peter Meyer, OPA Membership Chair, PO box 7012, Bend OR 97708 pmeyerceramics@bendnet.com.