A reception was held Friday evening at the Weyburn Art Gallery for The Great Weyburn Pottery Throwdown, opening up an exhibition featuring works by members of the Weyburn Pottery Club.
The ongoing, 10-month-long challenge leading up to the event was judged by Marilyn Nelson, Casey Kievits, and Chris Borschowa, who adjudicated the pieces in each round, scoring each of the works in four categories, each worth a possible 15 points: closeness to theme, technical merit, complexity, and aesthetics, for a total of 60 possible points.
In addition to numerous medals presented, the judges named Leah Knibbs's piece, 'Elbows Up', as 'Best in Show'.
"It's very exciting and thrilling and I'm very happy, but most of all, I'm happy that everybody participated and we had so much fun doing it. Oh my gosh, as a club, it sort of unified us and got us chatting about things and also it got us to think about how do you submit a piece of art to an exhibition?"
Knibbs, who has only been doing pottery for three years, is also the president of the Weyburn Pottery Club. She said having the quarterly challenges helped them come up with ideas for what to make.
"Had I not had this competition, would I have built a Beaver? Absolutely not. Would I have built a Ying and Yang thing? Absolutely not. So it was fun, having topics that stretched us."
Medals were presented to those who won each of the challenges throughout the year, as well as in 10 other categories chosen by the judges. Each of the works is on display at the Gallery.
In the 'Hometown' category, first place went to Leah Knibbs for her piece, 'Farm Jug'; second place to Lorena Squires for 'Prairie Elevator'; and third place to Rini Hoffman for '850'.
In the 'Self Representation' category, first place went to Regan Lanning for 'Disorder'; second place to Lorena Squires for 'Tree Trunk'; and third place to Lesley Chapman for 'Mini Bust'.
In the 'Yin Yang' category, first place went to Rini Hoffman for 'Koi'; second place to Carmen Vilness Stainbrook for 'Wonderland'; and third place to Lorena Squires for 'Simple Bowl'.
In the 'Tea Pot and 2 cups' category, first place went to Lorena Squires for 'Brown Branch'; second place to Carmen Vilness Stainbrook for 'Japan'; and third place to Rini Hoffman for 'Whimsical tea for 2'.
In the 'Creative Lidded Vessel' category, first place went to Bev Rempel for 'Under My Hat'; second place to Diane Mus for "Vintage Goth Recipe Box'; and third place to Regan Lanning for 'Pandora's Jar'.
In the 'Animal' category, first place went to Leah Knibbs for 'Elbows Up'; and second place was a tie, going to Rini Hoffman for 'Winged Beauty', and to Lorena Squires for 'Tariff? What is a Tariff?'
As for the bonus 10 prizes, medals were also presented to Kathy Helfrick for her piece, 'Whimsical' as being the piece with the Most Attitude. Kendra Elliot was awarded the Simple But Classy award for her piece 'Yin and Yang'. Carmen Vilness Stainbrook was presented with the Most Nostalgic medal for her work 'Hometown Tribute'. Leah Knibbs' 'Tea for Three' won for Most Wild! 'Into the Night Sky' by Lorena Squires won for Most Beautiful. The Best Dressed award was presented to Regan Lanning for 'Disorder'. The Most Colourful award to Sarah Irwin for 'Mr. Belted Kingfisher'.
Each judge also chose a work they connected with most. Casey Kievits chose Kendra Elliot's 'Yin and Yang'; Marilyn Nelson chose Rini Hoffman's 'Tough Nut'; and Chris Borschowa chose Diane Mus's 'Vintage Goth Recipe Box'.
Knibbs said the Weyburn Pottery Club has 40 members with four executives.
"We're a very inclusive and really supportive group. So it's not like a highly structured group, but you have to belong to the Pottery Club to work in the community studio," she noted.
Each member has their role within the club, with one person in charge of glazes, another to make 'cookies', and everyone helps clean the studio twice a year.
The exhibition will be on display until September 26th.