I had the immense honour of taking Les Manning’s Aesthetics of Ceramics summer course at Metchosin International Summer School for the Arts on Vancouver Island in the summer of 2011. Sadly it was the last formal multi-day workshop Manning ever taught. I was between my second and final year at Sheridan College in Ontario. When I left Toronto for the west coast of Canada, I had no idea that I was a sculptor. I had no idea that I had my own and my ancestors’ stories to tell through clay - and yet, thanks to Manning’s gentle guidance and what seemed to be the wisdom of a sage and the patience of a saint, for the past decade m practice has come to be centered around issues of identity, race, migration and ancestry.
Originally published in November/December issue of New Ceramics, pp. 24-27. Reprinted with permission.
