The mandate of the symposium is to provide a forum in which both professionals and students can gather and participate in an educational environment. Exposure to a wide variety of local and international practices, aesthetics and expertise fosters heightened awareness and furthers both technical skills and knowledge of the craft.
The first Canadian Clay Symposium was held at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in 2000 as a millennium project. It was based on the model of a one-day seminar put on by Malaspina College (organized by John Charnetski) in Nanaimo, B.C. held annually from 1975-1985. By popular demand, after a 15 year hiatus, this event was re-configured and re-introduced by the Canadian Clay Collective.
The CCC is comprised of volunteers whose backgrounds include professional ceramic artists and educators, working together with city staff from the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Initially, 10 B.C. Pottery Guilds contributed funding and support to resurrect the Symposium.
Both the Potters Guild of British Columbia and the North-West Ceramics Foundation continue to play key roles in backing the event. To date, 7 symposia have been presented, with themes such as “Canadian Clay,” “Diversity in Clay,” “Surfacing,” “Aesthetics,” “Elementum; Form, Function, Feast,” and “R:evolution – tradition – technology”.
In March 2020, the event was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The organizing committee took time to plan in accordance with public health mandates to produce the first online and in-person hybrid festival in 2023 titled Stoked!.
The next symposium will be held on March 21, 2026 at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Details will be shared closer to the date.
For each symposium, artists and speakers have been invited to share their expertise with ceramics enthusiasts at all levels of confidence. The slate of presenters is carefully chosen to cover a wide range of topics and techniques, as well as showcase artists from a variety of backgrounds, at various stages in their careers. These topics are addressed through numerous simultaneous presentations of images, lectures, demonstrations, critiques, panel discussions and a topical keynote address. Theoretical presentations involve discussions of literature on the medium, including history, contemporary practice and trends in the ceramic arts.
In connection with the symposium, pre and post event activities include expanded workshops with the presenters at various locations throughout the province, as well as gallery exhibits within the lower mainland.
