Sorrento Summer Pottery Sale Entering A New Era

By Mark Hemmingson

Since the early 1990s pottery lovers from across western Canada have attended a magical summer pottery sale at Sorrento Community Hall. This year will be no exception, but the sale will have a new name. Sorrento Summer Pottery Sale, formerly known as High Country Pottery Sale, opens its doors on the August long weekend, August 2-3, Saturday and Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm.

Sorrento Summer Pottery Sale features accomplished potters from around the Shuswap and further afield in BC. Each potter has their own unique style, and their work covers a wide range of influences.

Salmon Arm potter Duncan Tweed creates finely crafted pieces from white clay, glazed in atmospheric colours that evoke landscape and open spaces. His pottery ranges from sleek olive oil pitchers, to sensuous bowls, to huge vases.

Revelstoke’s Garbrielle Labbe glazes her mugs and bowls in bright earthy tones of green, orange, blue and white, while Sheryl Willson of Sorrento Stoneware makes her wares from red clay and glazes it in warm white tones that reveal texture and imagery.

While most of these potters fire their work in electric kilns, the Nyestes, from Blind Bay, fire in a gas kiln that Bruce designed himself. Bruce, Laura and Grant, aka Mud, Sweat and Tears, are known for their wide variety of stoneware, as well as their honey pots filled with Nicola Valley honey.

The sale is a tradition for many families and visitors who come to the Shuswap for the August long weekend looking for unique works of art, in addition to pottery. Guest artists bring original work, and, like the potters, they’re juried for their distinctive abilities, and for the variety they add to the sale.

This year’s featured artists include Salmon Arm painter Rebecca Shepherd whose colourful paintings depict enchanting animals and floral settings. Isabelle Gervais works in textiles that she embellishes with natural dyes; scarves, bags, shawls and pillows are among Isabelle’s specialties.

From Celista, Kyle Cosford makes exquisite glass jewelry as well as unusual cats and marbles. Sorrento jeweler Skylar Graham works with selenite and labradorite crystals, and brass wire wrap necklaces. And, Blind Bay artist Susan McLeod creates ceramic-driftwood sculptures.

Sorrento Summer Pottery Sale is set to carry on a genuine Shuswap experience. It’s hard to imagine a more authentic expression of what it means to live and play in this region.