Great Pottery Throwdown Tieton Edition

Ed Marquand of Mighty Tieton and Paper Hammer competes in Saturday's throwing competition with some assistance of Jeff Kent. Photo from Boxx Gallery's Facebook Page (click through to see more photos).

This Saturday was the opening reception for The Potter's Touch ceramics show at Boxx Gallery in Tieton, WA, featuring sculpture, pottery and some 2D work by local artists. The show runs through the end of July, with the gallery open on Saturdays and Sundays 11-4. 

Advertising for The Potter's Touch show, featuring sculpture by Jane Gutting (visit Boxx Gallery for more)

Also on Saturday, I was invited to judge a pottery competitio modeled (very loosely) on The Great Pottery Throwdown on BBC2 (which Americans can watch on HBO Max), the competition featured 4 locals artists, not all of whom probably consider themselves professional potters. The audience consisted of local and visiting art fans both young and old, though the youngest audience members ended up considerably messier than the audience members who set up some ways back from the demonstration wheel.

All the potters were asked to bring five 1.5 lb balls of clay. They were given a time limit of 15 minutes and asked to aim for height, consistency, and creativity. Jane Gutting, the organizer, hinted that creativity might be what you call the one that falls down, but I love seeing potters play on the wheel, using it for sculpture, drawing lines on the surface, or messing with the form in interesting ways.

Amanda Ontiveros throwing her first vase on Saturday (photo from Boxx Gallery's Facebook page)

First up was Amanda Ontiveros, a local ceramic artist and YVC clay alum. She works at Yakima Maker's Space downtown, where she is just starting to get into teaching classes. (I keep hoping they'll start up their kids and/or community pottery classes again soon.) She has also been working on producing custom dishes for Yakima restaurant, Crafted, though she explained that those dishes are handbuilt, not thrown on the potter's wheel. Amanda's throwing skills didn't look at all rusty as she comfortably threw 5 evenly matched vases to start off the competition. Amanda won the top prize for consistency and for being the only pottery who completed all 5 pieces within the 15 minute time limit.

sculpture by Nancy Bocek, photo from Boxx Gallery

Next up after Amanda was current Seattle artist (originally from Yakima), Nancy Bocek. Her work in the Boxx Gallery is stunny black sculpture with human forms carved and highlighted with shocking orange lines. She explained that she hadn't thrown pottery in 30 years, but she still managed to create the tallest form that was entirely thrown. Nancy also was the only potter to add a linear design element to her surface, not surprising for an artist whose sculpture emphasizes line and texture.

Paul Beverage, throwing his second form (Amanda's pieces are on the far left of the table, Nancy's tallest piece next to them, and Paul's first creative piece in the foreground).

Paul Beverage, of Wilridge Winery, was the third potter to compete in the throwdown. Paul's usual ceramic work is larger and more sculptural than the parameters of the competition allowed. If you'd like to see his work, check out his tall stacked sculpture as you drive in to Wilridge. Paul channeled some George Ohr energy on his first piece, entertained the kids by blowing into the opening of a clay "balloon" for his second, and won first prize for height by altering a thrown form to extend it to 12" high. 

Jane Gutting moves Ed's pieces off of the bats at the dnd of the competition (Amanda's 5 pieces are on the far end of the table, then Nancy's 3 pieces in a reddish clay, Paul's 3 pieces in a white clay, and Ed's 3 pieces on bats).

The fourth and final competitor, Ed Marquand of Mighty Tieton has a role in a lot of arts organizations and events in Tieton and Seattle, but he hadn't thrown in decades. He didn't seem interested in competing against Paul or Nancy on height, but he made the widest pieces and, as The Great Pottery Throwdown is an offshoot of The Great British Baking Show, he won the award for "most likely to be able to fit some baking inside." As he and Paul eschewed the splash pan, Ed also won the award for messiest potter.

The day was lots of fun (and remarkably cool, as both the potters and the audience were mostly set up in the shade). Jane Gutting did a great job of organizing the event and making sure stuff was set up and that everyone had clay, water, and electricity, and she brought the awards. Jeff Kent, who recently took over my pottery classes at YVC while I was on medical leave, did a great job of taking photos (a lot more than I thought to capture), and making sure the potters had water and tools. Bart Roderick helped create the right atmosphere by playing live music for the event.

I had a great time being the judge, with a little help from my daughter. And before we even got around to awarding prizes, I asked Jane if we could do this again next year. That's the plan, and it sounds like it will be great fun. As soon as I got home, I drafted up a plan for what we need, what we could add for next year (i.e. more wheels so the competitors can go head to head) and who we need to invite to be invovled. Look for more information in the coming year!

Mugs from the mug wall at The Potter's Touch. Photo from Boxx Gallery. Check out more photos on their Instagram