The Brantford Potters’ Guild is marking its 50th anniversary with a special exhibition, Golden Clay: Fifty Years of the Brantford Potters’ Guild, hosted at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery from January 18th to March 9th, 2025. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, January 23rd, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm, and it promises to be a memorable celebration of the Guild’s artistic legacy and its contributions to the local community.
The Guild’s story began in 1975, when six potters – Gillian Lewis, Kay Boyd, John Prosser, Utta Bein, Suzanne Welsby, and Louise Garnett – gathered in the Coach House at Glenhyrst Art Gallery and officially formed the Brantford Potters’ Guild. United by a shared passion for ceramics, they laid the foundation for what would become one of the most enduring and influential artistic organizations in Brantford. Incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1978, the Guild was established with the goals of fostering community connections through an appreciation of ceramic arts, innovating in pottery practices, and educating future generations to sustain interest in the craft.
Over the decades, the Guild has become a pillar of the local arts scene and a dedicated supporter of community initiatives. It has contributed to charitable organizations such as the Brantford Food Bank, Camp Molly, and the W. Ross Macdonald School, demonstrating how art can play a role in supporting broader societal needs.
The Guild’s evolution took a significant step in 2014, when it opened ClayWorks Studio in Brantford’s Artisan Village. This teaching facility offers year-round classes and workshops for both adults and children, nurturing a new generation of ceramic artists and hobbyists. More recently, in 2022, the Glenhyrst Art Gallery began hosting a permanent retail space, which allows the Guild’s members to showcase and sell their work while promoting the craft to a wider audience.
Today, the Guild boasts more than 100 active members, reflecting the steady growth of interest in pottery within the community. The Golden Clay exhibition celebrates this remarkable journey, not as a retrospective of the past 50 years, but as a tribute to the Guild’s enduring legacy and its ongoing contributions to Brantford, Six Nations of the Grand River, and Brant County.
This region has long been connected to pottery, a tradition that spans centuries and continues to thrive through the efforts of organizations like the Brantford Potters’ Guild. As the exhibition’s title suggests, the Guild’s achievements over the past five decades are as precious and enduring as golden clay – a material that is both timeless and transformative.
Visitors to the Glenhyrst Art Gallery will have the opportunity to explore a curated selection of works that highlight the diversity of styles, techniques, and voices within the Guild. From functional pottery to sculptural pieces, the exhibition underscores the creativity and dedication of its members while inviting the public to reflect on the significance of ceramics in both art and everyday life.
The Brantford Potters’ Guild remains committed to fostering artistic growth, community engagement, and the preservation of pottery’s rich heritage. Golden Clay is not just a celebration of the Guild’s past, but a reminder that its story is still being written – one piece of clay at a time.
