News from around the studio

May 2013

This is a new ceramic camera, just out of the kiln last month. If you've had a chance to look around my website you might have noticed that I make cameras out of high fired stoneware. These are fully functional pinhole cameras that use photo paper for the negatives. Pinhole cameras can be just about any size or shape, and the possibilities are endless with clay.

Overall, the camera stands about 33 cm tall. The disk on the front acts as a shutter, and is removed while the camera collects photons, and then is replaced at the end of the exposure. The glaze is a sprayed, matte copper glaze which is green where thin, and dark where thick. I plan to include the camera in an exhibition I'll be having in September at the Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, Ontario.

A photograph of eggs made with the camera shown above. This was a test image made with the camera to make sure it worked properly. I bought the small porcelain bowl with overglaze enamels from a potter in Kanazawa a few years ago while travelling in Japan.

Spring is well underway in our part of the world. This is the month when the wild flowers begin to bloom again, and the summer birds come back.

This month I'm working on some one-of-a-kind pieces for my exhibition in September, and some functional works for stores and special orders. I'm also working on several photography projects. One of my nature photographs is short-listed in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in London. The competition is organized by the Natural History Museum, and BBC Worldwide. I'll find out the results of the final jurying in mid-May.

My daughter Elly MacKay's beautiful book, If You Hold a Seed is now available in bookstores everywhere! It can also be ordered from amazon.

Photo Life Magazine has posted a brief article about my pinhole photography.

One of my photographs, "Moths to Light" was featured recently in National Geographic Magazine. Prints of this photograph are available through the National Geographic Print Store. A Canadian Geographic calendar for 2014 which features my "Wave Meets Dock" photograph is available here.

Upcoming Events:

• Art in the Garden July 13, 2013. I'll be part of this not to be missed annual art show and sale at Keppel Croft Gardens.
• Carnegie Gallery Exhibition September 6 to 29, 2013. This will be a solo exhibition of my work at the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas, Ontario. There will be an opening reception on the evening of September 6.

Best wishes to you for May!