VCPG November 2024 Newsletter
Program Meeting on November 25th : The Pottery Town of Mashiko, Japan • info below
For Your Calendar:
November 1st ……..............Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
November 9th-10th ……......Ventura Pottery Market and our Bowl of Thanks fundraiser
November 25th ……............Program Meeting @ 6:30pm Gathering, 7pm Meeting
A Visit to the Pottery Town of Mashiko, Japan - Home to the Shoji Hamada Memorial Museum.
December 6th ……............Board Meeting @ 4:00pm
December 12th .................Gallery Committee Meeting @3:30pm
December..........................VCPG Holiday Get Together
You will find the link to all Zoom meetings/events on the VCPG.ORG Home Page.
Just click on the meeting/event in the Guild Calendar for the Zoom link.
A Message from Your VCPG Board President • November 2024
Greetings VCPG Members –
This past weekend was the VCPG’s Bowl of Thanks/Ventura Pottery Market at the Ventura Harbor Village. And it was a HUGE success.
Our members, members of local clay schools and colleges, and others really stepped up and donated over 700 bowls by the time we opened at 10am Saturday. We ended up selling 663 bowls and raising $16,575 for Food Share Ventura. Food Share staff are thrilled and have let us know that equals almost 50,000 meals – WOW!
The Guild and its members have benefitted as well. This is the first year we held the Ventura Pottery Market at the Harbor Village. And it marked the return of the Bowl of Thanks to the Harbor after several years. The 16 members selling at the Market had sales of over $14,000. And the Gallery had over $5,600 in sales for the weekend. Well above average for November. Add it all together, and over $36,000 in pottery was sold in two days!
Needless to say, it takes a Guild to produce such a successful event. First, thanks goes to our Marketing Team, who didn’t just do their own marketing, but coordinated and advocated with Food Share and the Harbor to spread the word to tens of thousands of people. The Events Team and Web Services Team has been working for months to plan and execute the event.
Almost all the major restaurants participated and prepared 300 food samples on Saturday and 150 on Sunday. Guild members signed up to sell their wares and put on a great show. Harbor staff from marketing to maintenance were great partners. And finally, and certainly not least, are
the Guild members who came to help – some to fulfill their Team Service, but many just to pitch in. And then there are our customers. Many people were introduced to the Guild and the Gallery through the event. And I cannot tell you how many people said they were looking forward to coming back next year!
I personally think that the Bowl of Thanks and the Ventura Pottery Market at the Harbor could become an annual event on par with our Ojai show – opening up new and exciting possibilities for our members, our partners and the Guild.
But I have to be honest, we did not have enough support at the event. We could have easily used twice as many volunteers as we had. Some people stayed late, some people worked an extra shift, some people did jobs they didn’t sign up to do but hung in there and did it for the team. So next year, we will start planning early - signing up sellers and volunteers through Team Service starting in the summer. And if by a date certain we do not have enough support lined up to do the event – we won’t do it. But what a loss that would be. I know we are all busy people and we do our part for the Guild as it is. But we have so much unrealized potential. Look
what we just did – we provided 50,000 meals to our neighbors, increased the Guild’s visibility and made some money. Just think what we could do with even more sellers and helpers next year! We are an amazing group of people and I’m proud to be among you.
AND THE WINNERS OF THE $25 GIFT CARDS FOR PLEDGING AND DELIVERING AT LEAST 10 BOWLS ARE: CINDY TIEFENBACH AND JANET NEUWALDER. We’ll be in touch to get you your cards.
That’s it for now! More next month. Take care and make those bowls!!!!
Stacy Rowe
VCPG Board President
president@vcpg.org
Program Meeting • November 25th • Gathering time: 6:30 PM • Meeting Start: 7 PM
A Visit to the Pottery Town of Mashiko, Japan - Home to the Shoji Hamada Memorial Museum.
Link for the meeting can be found at VCPG.org. Use button to access meeting info and link.
Trick and Treat with Genie Thomsen
"Next year we will need a 1,000 candies"...we had about 830 candies to share ...they were all gone in a few hours and everyone was delighted...
Fall Outreach Project
The VCPG School Outreach Project kicked off the school year in October with a hands-on workshop in Ellen Wohlstadter’s beautiful Ventura studio.
High school ceramics teachers from Santa Monica HS (John Galan), Ventura HS (Megan McKee), Rancho Campana HS (Amber Ulmer) and Besant Hill School (Claire Lowndes) enjoyed learning some of Ellen’s hand building techniques, shared lesson ideas and made connections.
VCPG mentors John Grisafe, Karin Mac, Sandy Calles, Jody Cooper, Suzanne Bell and Deena Barnett added ideas and planned future mentorship activities. Big thanks to Ellen and Stacy for promoting VCPG as a resource to ceramics teachers throughout our community. It is very exciting!
Interested in participating? Opportunities for mentorships will be posted soon in VCPG Team Service. Currently we serve eleven schools with mentorship openings at Buena High School in Ventura, Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura and Santa Monica High School.
Please contact Jennifer Robles if you have any questions or suggestions.
Beatrice Wood Center Show
“Non Traditional Teapots” • September 28th - November 16th.
Our show at the Beatrice Wood Center is just about over.
Pick up of your work is scheduled for Sunday Nov. 17 and 22 - 24. Hours 11-4pm.
A message from Shawn felts of Clay Gurus
Hello all you wonderful Ventura Potters Guild members.
I wanted to clear up a little confusion regarding my one-time-only introductory order offer for my new ceramic supply shop.
It is a very good 1-time deal I am offering, but I will still be putting together the bulk Guild order. It is an even better deal for Guild Plus members during our every 4-month supply order.
I wanted to give an actual Plus member order breakdown from the last order.
**Reminder- Plus membership is only 75 dollars for the year ($35 more than standard membership) and it comes with many perks. All of the benefits accruing to a Regular Member plus:
• Eligible to sell in Guild sales venues: Gallery (requires extra hours/fees beyond PLUS membership), Online Store, Ojai Pottery Sale, Marketing promotions
• Photo Box use with coaching
• Online Portfolio at VCPG website.
• Clay and materials bulk ordering
One small order of 4 boxes of clay would pay for the upgraded membership
in savings.
Real Plus member order below
150 pounds Long Beach Cone 10 -- $57
6 pints of Amaco Glazes -- $107
150 pounds Coleman Porcelain Cone 10 -- $136.5
200 pounds B-Mix with grog Cone 10 -- $122
Shipping -- $21.6
Tax -- $24.45
FULL ORDER TOTAL -- $468.55
This order would have cost $631.65 buying direct.
That is a $163.10 discount off retail quantity price breaks (what you would pay from Aardvark or Laguna)
AND this order would cost over $125 to ship or a 4+ hour round trip commute to pick up.
Actual savings over $250
The VCPG Library
Looking for artistic inspiration, or trying to solve a glazing or firing issue?
VCPG’s Library offers members an abundance of practical information, as well as being a great source of artistic inspiration. Our collection currently contains 42 DVDs and over 140 books. There is something for everyone, so please take advantage of this amazing resource!
Browse the collection by visiting the Library page under the Member Menu on VCPG.org. Click on Check Out Item to complete the check out request form. Items will be shipped at no cost to you. You can return items via mail (at your cost) or to the gallery.
VCPG Library Book Review
Surface Design for Ceramics by Maureen Mills covers a wide range of surface design techniques, including texturing, faceting, fluting, working with slip, incising, sprigging, slip trailing, image transfer.
Mills encourages readers to build a visual resource library of pattern, shapes and designs, and then use these images to experiment with a variety of techniques. A chapter on understanding design gives practical tips on how to best integrate images and surface techniques with ceramic forms. This comprehensive handbook would be a valuable resource for those looking to try something new, or to elevate their current work.
Pottery Jams
Anyone willing to open their studio for a Pottery Jam or who would like to offer a skills session or host a general gathering time for members in another member’s studio space, please contact Foz at programs@vcpg.org.
Many of you have great skills that can be shared with a small group of 10-12 members. The weather may be improving so it could be the time to offer to host an outdoor event?
Program and Workshop Team needs members
A few creative and enthusiastic members are being sought to join the effort of bringing great program offerings to our members.
We try to meet once a month until the year’s program and workshop calendar is scheduled. Then, in small groups or individually, members shepherd their program or workshop. Mentoring and coaching will be offered.
If you are interested in joining this team, please reach out to Foz at programs@vcpg.org and we can at least talk.
Mata Ortiz in Santa Barbara
We are seeking a coordinator for Team Service option to reach out to entities holding events.
The Team Service position is listed in Web Services. Here is the description:
Community Calendar Coordinator
This person will research, identify and communicate with entities holding pottery events to be posted on our community calendar, and keep in touch with them if they have ongoing events. We're looking for workshops, classes, pop-up sales, lectures, markets, exhibitions and any other pottery-related activity.
Web Services will add the events to our separate community calendar.
Throwing Wheels in History
