[Bcma-l] Media Release: Upcoming Crafthouse Gallery Exhibit

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

Crafts Association of British Columbia (CABC)

"Crystal Magic: Works by Bill Boyd"
March 1 - April 1, 2007
Opening Reception: March 1, 2007, 6 - 8pm
By Candace Thayer-Coe, Exhibit Coordinator
Crafthouse Gallery, 1386 Cartwright St., Granville Island
Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8 www.cabc.net <http://www.cabc.net/>

Bill Boyd's show "Crystal Magic" for the Crafthouse Gallery coincides 
with the "Canadian Clay Symposium: Surfacing" at The Shadbolt Centre for 
the Arts, presented in partnership with the Canadian Clay Collective, 
the North-West Ceramic Foundation and the Potters Guild of B.C.

According to Exhibit Coordinator, Candace Thayer-Coe, "This challenging, 
relatively new crystalline glazing process involves growing 
zinc-silicate crystals in the glaze at high temperatures and then 
requires an intricate controlled long cooling schedule. It is impossible 
to repeat something twice, so each piece is unique. Crystals are not put 
into the glaze, they actually form in the glaze in a chemical reaction 
during cooling for 3 to 5 hours and grow from small nuclei created 
during the melting process when silica and zinc come together to form 
zinc-silicate. Glaze composition, together with the firing schedule and 
glaze thickness, makes for different forms and colors of crystals.

Bill Boyd's pots radiate the exuberant best of the new traditions in 
modern ceramics because of the blend of the crystalline glazes and the 
streamline classic forms; a category he refers to as 
'nouveau-classique'. He revels in the surprises and luminous mysteries 
of crystal glazes producing beautiful bowls, platters, and large lidded 
vessels with different colored crystals using cobalt oxide, nickel 
oxide, copper oxide and manganese oxide to create hypnotic hues of color 
sometimes subtle and gentle and other times bright and luminous.

Now everyone in Vancouver has the opportunity to view and enjoy the work 
of Bill Boyd at the Crafthouse Gallery exhibition, "Crystal Magic" 
throughout the month of March."

Crafts Association of British Columbia (CABC) is a network of craft 
professionals dedicated to the development of excellence in craft. 
Contact: Calvin Taplay, Communications Coordinator at 604-687-6511, 
toll-free (in BC) at 1-888-687-6511 or info@cabc.net <mailto:info@cabc.net>

- 30 -

*********************************

The Crafts Association of BC gratefully acknowledges the support from 
the following: City of Vancouver, the British Columbia Arts Council and 
the Province of British Columbia through Gaming Revenue, CHMC Granville 
Island, CABC members and volunteers.