Summary profile of ceramist / potter Claude Savoie
• I have been doing pottery / ceramics for over 37 years. The basics of the job were passed on to me by Claude Drolet, my brother-in-law, who graduated from Alfred University. It was in a way the love at first sight of these 37 years of practice and research in addition to the enchantment of creation that procured me ceramics. I then perfected myself in a self-taught way.
• I subscribe to several monthly magazines: Ceramic Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, The Artist Magazine, several associated websites etc. I have a pretty important documentation on pottery and ceramics
• I have been a professional member of the Conseil des métiers d'art du Québec (CMAQ) for more than 30 years, I made 8 annually exhibitions. (SMAQ)
• I am also a member of the Quebec association of potters of 1001 Pots where I made 3 summers exhibition. Experiment on the fast drying of pottery pieces (H2O mutation from bottom to top of a piece of pottery by electrophoresis). Demonstration of bread ovens / ceramic pizza ovens. Presentation of my bread oven / pizza.
• I am in my second participation in the biennial competition of the museum of Carouge in Switzerland, I presented a garden gnome (it was the theme of the contest of my second participation).
• I taught electrical engineering technology throughout my teaching career at the College of General and Professional Education of Old Montreal (CEGEP) (pre-university) until 2002 when I retired from teaching.
• Researched at UQAM's Applied Research Center for Food at the University of Quebec at Montreal (CRESALA).
• Holder of a joint patent with UQAM. (Patent called CATALASIMETER)
• Gardening has always been a constant at home. On my property, I have a small greenhouse. I have on my land an apple tree, a cherry tree, 2 peach trees, a plum tree, a pear tree and 2 amelanchiers.
• A summer madness, I planted 20,000 tomato plants in a field, a whole saga ...
• I also had a passion for sailing. I took a sailing instructor course in Quiberon, France. I then founded the Chambly sailing school. The town of Chambly had obtained a grant to purchase 5 4m20 (nearly 15 feet) light dinghies, a motorboat, a floating hangar and a floating dock. I gave my theoretical classes during the winter in a room of the community center of the city. The community center overlooked the Chambly Basin, a water body that is quite suitable for a small sailing school.
• My job as a teacher of Electrical / Computer Engineering technology and my research experience helped me to design many tools including a hydraulic profiling machine. This profiling machine is still in service even after 30 years.
• I also worked with the late Jacques Garnier at the CEGEP DU VIEUX MONTRÉAL and participated in the creation of an electric oven on which he experimented. I am also a member of his foundation.
• Parallel to this profession of teacher I always made pottery / ceramics, it was simultaneously a second job.
• Since retiring from teaching in 2002, I have done a lot of research on engobes (underglaze).
• I made myself a palette of 44 colors of engobes. They are intermixable and allow me to work in the same way as painters with oil, water or acrylic etc. on tiles and not on canvas.
• The majority of my pieces are now decorated with these engobes. So my main medium is clay, I also work on wood, I can do welding on certain occasions.
• Clay is the continuum of my work, my passion for 37 years. I throw, I do handmaking with slabs, I do profiling, I sculpt in clay and I paint tiles and lamps with pigmented liquid stoneware clay and porcelain.
• From immemorial time, engobes have been used mainly to decorate pieces of pottery. The engobes have been little or not used to paint on tiles. This is the last niche I want to develop and it will probably be my swan song. The buyers of my tiles will be the privileged owners of exclusive works.
• I can say without false modesty that I have achieved the equivalent of a masters degree in clay working.
• My specialty: stoneware and porcelain.
To contact us:
Email: claude @ savoie.com
