Bonnie Gilmour & Charley Farrero: Le Look

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Bonnie Gilmour & Charley Farrero, "Morley Morille," 2015

ceramic, 8" x 8"

An opening reception and artist talk will take place on Thursday July 13th at 7:00 PM.

In Spring 2015, Saskatchewan ceramic artists Bonnie Gilmour and Charley Farrero were invited to participate in a ceramics residency at St. Quentin la Poterie, a small medieval pottery village in southern France. The work that was produced during this residency exhibited in France, and will now be shown in "Le Look" at the Mann Art Gallery.

Le Look consists of 14 ceramic face jars with hats. The face jars were created by Gilmour, while Farrero fashioned the ceramic hats, or lids. These jars are the artists’ contemporary interpretation of the folk tradition of “ugly” face jugs that originated in southern USA. The folk tale is one of warning and judgment. Many years ago, it is said that moonshine was placed into pottery jugs, but children had a habit of getting into the drink. Potters therefore put ugly faces on the jugs to scare away the children. Later, the jugs were also placed at grave sites to scare evil spirits. Pottery with faces has a long tradition and appears in many cultures. Today, face jugs are prized by collectors around the world for their comical facial expressions.