In the fall of 1979, my partner Ted Hodgetts and I moved to our schoolhouse near the village of Millbrook Ontario, and began our lives as studio craftsmen together. My first studio was a renovated porch in the house, and Ted established a small shop in an adjacent shed that was once the school's woodshed.
By the early 1980's we realized that our workspaces were too small, and so in 1985 we built a studio building, designed by our friend Peter Fluker, to house both a pottery studio and a woodworking shop.
In 1995, Ted and I were founding members of The Millbrook Gallery, a collective of nineteen local artists. Most makers spend a great deal of time alone in their studios and so it was exciting to work together as a cooperative. We mounted new shows every six weeks, and hosted a variety of concerts, book launches, retrospective shows, and reading series. The gallery flourished until 2002.
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| Millbrook Gallery |
In 1998 I took on a part-time job installing exhibitions at The Art Gallery of Peterborough. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Illi Marie Tamplin, who was curator at the time. In 2005, I guest curated a ceramics exhibition at the AGP 'Exploring Surfaces' which featured the work of eight exceptional Canadian ceramic artists: John Chalke, Angelo di Petta, Harlan House, John Ikeda, Ann Mortimer, Matthias Ostermann, Laurie Rolland, and Bill Rowland.
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| 'Exploring Surface' Art Gallery of Peterborough 2005 |
For the better part of thirty years, Ted and I shared our studio building. His work in wood found it's place in numerous private and public collections worldwide including representation on a Canadian postage stamp in 1999. His intelligent and meticulous craftsmanship, love of beauty and a good line, and his respect for his material, was always an encouragement and inspiration to me.
After Ted's death in 2018, his workshop became a beautiful gallery space where we hold an open studio event in the fall.
