The Great Weyburn Pottery Throwdown will be unveiled with a public reception at the Weyburn Art Gallery this Friday night at 7 p.m.
"It's inspired by the BBC TV show, 'The Great Pottery Throwdown', where applicants travelled to a British town and they compete in challenges, and then every week the one person is voted off the show, who is the weakest at that week's challenge," explained Curator Regan Lanning. "So we we're sitting around, myself in the Pottery Club executive, trying to come up with the premise for a show so that the Pottery Club could exhibit in the Gallery and we were kind of stumped and then the conversation turned to the latest episode of the Pottery Throwdown and we were, 'Well, that's the answer. That's what we need to do. We're going to do a Great Weyburn Pottery Throwdown'."
She said the executives then came up with six categories.
"The first was a hometown tribute, so very loose, right? All it had to be was a tribute to their hometown. It could take any form. From there they ranged from like teapot and teacup category to animal sculptures to anything you could think of, and every three months the category was due."
Lanning said they were able to secure three judges, Marilyn Nelson, Casey Kievits, and Chris Borschowa, who poured over each piece in each round, reading the artist statements and scoring each. The works were judged in four categories, each worth a possible 15 points: closeness to theme, technical merit, complexity, and aesthetics, for a total of 60 possible points.
"Marilyn is a painter, but she has a background in pottery as well. Casey is a well-known local potter and, of course, Chris is a fantastic photographer, that kind of blends the real with the surreal. So we had a great lineup of judges and every three months they would come and they would judge that the new category that was due and they would pick the first, second, and third place winners."
She noted the judging was all done without knowing who created each piece.
"This exhibition is all of the entries, not just the first, second, and thirds, but everything that was entered by the Pottery Club in this competition, and then Friday night in the Gallery at 7 p.m., the judges will be awarding a few extra winners as well as the coveted 'Best in Show', who is the grand winner of it all."
The judges have come up with 10 categories to present on Friday, and prizes for the top three will be medals created by Lanning. A trophy will go to the Best in Show.
"They each have artist statements which explains the artist's kind of intent in that category. The first place pieces are placed on plinths and then the other pieces are on covered tables."
The reception is free for the public to attend.
"If you are coming, make sure you enter through the Arts door, as the Spark Centre closes at 7 in the summer, and we don't start our events until 7. So it's important to enter and leave through the arts door."
Lanning added they hope to have this show become a triannual event, with a gallery exhibition every three years.