Irving, Tam
Item
Maker Name
Irving, Tam
Marks
Biography
Tam Irving is an internationally recognized educator, studio potter and ceramic artist.
After obtaining a degree in Agriculture from the University of Scotland in Edinburgh and working as a chemist for Shell Canada, Tam turned to ceramics in 1964. He studied at the Winnipeg School of Art, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and the Vancouver School of Art, before building a pottery studio in 1966. During the 1970s Tam's work was frequently shown at the House of Ceramics. From the late 1970s until 1983 Tam and Ron Vallis explored developing a viable standardware production line. ( Testing the Leach life/work concept) Many of those pots are now highly prized.
From 1973-1996 he was joint Head of the Ceramics Department, with Sally Michener, at the Vancouver School of Art (Diploma program) (Previous instructors, John Reeve, Leonard Epp, Reg Dixon) The VSA became known as the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1980 after moving to Granville Island. During Tam's tenure, ECCAD became a degree granting institute, ECIAD until 2008, when it finally achieved university status - ECUAD. (In 1996 Paul Mathieu became the Department Head.)
Tam was president of the Potters Guild of BC 1992-1995, during a critical time, overhauling the Gallery of BC Ceramics. In 1993, Tam along with Carol Mayer and a founding Board, established the charitable, education-focused North-West Ceramics Foundation.
Tam admired the ethos of New Zealand potter, Harry Davis, who sourced his glaze materials from his environment. Tam explored BC for raw materials and devised methods and machinery for processing and embarked on extensive glaze investigations. He was not the first in BC to search and use local materials. During the 1920s, BC's earliest potters, Axel Ebring, Emily Carr and Mary Young also used what they could find locally. In 1958 Hilda Ross and Olea Davis received a grant from the Koerner Foundation to study BC clays, and both Reg Dixon and Don Hutchinson searched for and used local materials. (More research to come.) However, in Canada, Tam has been preeminent in his research, methodology and in the extraordinarily beautiful outcomes of his glazes and clay bodies.
Tam retired from ECIAD in 1996 to return to his own practice. Since then his practice has moved away from wheel-throwing to hand-building, and shifted to lower firing ranges and formal exploration of still life assemblages, driven by a search for serenity through minimalism and geometry, and influenced by his admiration of paintings by Giorgio Morandi and William Bailey.
Tam's work has international recognition, and is held in many significant collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization. and the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
His practice is the subject of Carol Mayer's book, 2007 'Transitions of a Still Life: Ceramic Work by Tam Irving'.
Tam’s work was included in the significant 2004 exhibition, "Thrown, Influences and Intentions of West Coast Pottery", at the Belkin Gallery, and in the 2020/21 exhibition, "Modern in the Making, Post-War Craft in British Columbia 1945-1970", held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His most recent solo show was held at Visual Space in 2021.
See https://www.visualspace.ca/tam-irving for an exhibition and publication record.
After obtaining a degree in Agriculture from the University of Scotland in Edinburgh and working as a chemist for Shell Canada, Tam turned to ceramics in 1964. He studied at the Winnipeg School of Art, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and the Vancouver School of Art, before building a pottery studio in 1966. During the 1970s Tam's work was frequently shown at the House of Ceramics. From the late 1970s until 1983 Tam and Ron Vallis explored developing a viable standardware production line. ( Testing the Leach life/work concept) Many of those pots are now highly prized.
From 1973-1996 he was joint Head of the Ceramics Department, with Sally Michener, at the Vancouver School of Art (Diploma program) (Previous instructors, John Reeve, Leonard Epp, Reg Dixon) The VSA became known as the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1980 after moving to Granville Island. During Tam's tenure, ECCAD became a degree granting institute, ECIAD until 2008, when it finally achieved university status - ECUAD. (In 1996 Paul Mathieu became the Department Head.)
Tam was president of the Potters Guild of BC 1992-1995, during a critical time, overhauling the Gallery of BC Ceramics. In 1993, Tam along with Carol Mayer and a founding Board, established the charitable, education-focused North-West Ceramics Foundation.
Tam admired the ethos of New Zealand potter, Harry Davis, who sourced his glaze materials from his environment. Tam explored BC for raw materials and devised methods and machinery for processing and embarked on extensive glaze investigations. He was not the first in BC to search and use local materials. During the 1920s, BC's earliest potters, Axel Ebring, Emily Carr and Mary Young also used what they could find locally. In 1958 Hilda Ross and Olea Davis received a grant from the Koerner Foundation to study BC clays, and both Reg Dixon and Don Hutchinson searched for and used local materials. (More research to come.) However, in Canada, Tam has been preeminent in his research, methodology and in the extraordinarily beautiful outcomes of his glazes and clay bodies.
Tam retired from ECIAD in 1996 to return to his own practice. Since then his practice has moved away from wheel-throwing to hand-building, and shifted to lower firing ranges and formal exploration of still life assemblages, driven by a search for serenity through minimalism and geometry, and influenced by his admiration of paintings by Giorgio Morandi and William Bailey.
Tam's work has international recognition, and is held in many significant collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization. and the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
His practice is the subject of Carol Mayer's book, 2007 'Transitions of a Still Life: Ceramic Work by Tam Irving'.
Tam’s work was included in the significant 2004 exhibition, "Thrown, Influences and Intentions of West Coast Pottery", at the Belkin Gallery, and in the 2020/21 exhibition, "Modern in the Making, Post-War Craft in British Columbia 1945-1970", held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His most recent solo show was held at Visual Space in 2021.
See https://www.visualspace.ca/tam-irving for an exhibition and publication record.
First name
Tam
Last name
Irving
Career dates (start and end)
1966
Date of Birth
1933
Place of Birth
Bilbao, Spain
Studio location
Formal Education
Major Exhibitions
See CV
https://www.visualspace.ca/tam-irving
https://www.visualspace.ca/tam-irving
2020/21 "Modern in the Making, Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia", VAG, curated, Daina Augaitus, Allan Collier, Stephanie Rebick,
2016 " Still Life and Painterly Influences", Macau Art Garden, Macau, China
2016 "The Space in Between" , curated by Dr. Carol E. Mayer, works of Sally Michener and Tam Irving, West Vancouver Museum
2004 "Thrown, Influences and Intentions of West Coast Pottery" Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery UBC, curated, Scott Watson Helen and Morris Gallery, UBC
1980 Retrospect Ceramics 80, PGBC 25th Anniversary
Collections
The Victoria and Albert Museum
The Canadian Museum of Civilization
UBC Museum of Anthropology, Jean
Jean A. Chalmers National Craft Collection,
Federal Government, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa. Massey Foundation
The Indusmin Collection.
The Clay and Glass Gallery
The Surrey Art Gallery
The Gardiner Museum
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Burlington Art Gallery
Affiliated organizations
Tag
Links to Further Resources
https://www.visualspace.ca/tam-irving
www.nwcf.ca
www.nwcf.ca
Irving, Tam - Collection Online | Museum of Anthropology at ...http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca › search › person
New Direction in Ceramics. Tam Irving - Gillian McMillanhttps://www.gillianmcmillan.com › blog › 2021/09/03
Arch-BC
https://bchdp.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/arch-bc
https://bchdp.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/arch-bc
2020 Modern in the Making Post-War Craft and Design in BC exhibition catalogue
Publication;
2007 'Transitions of a Still Life: Ceramic Work by Tam Irving', Carol E. Mayer, photography by Ken Mayer.
2007 'Transitions of a Still Life: Ceramic Work by Tam Irving', Carol E. Mayer, photography by Ken Mayer.
Publication ;
2009 “Thrown, British Columbian Apprentices of Bernard Leach and their Contemporaries” Naomi Sawada, Scott Watson, UBC, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery
2009 “Thrown, British Columbian Apprentices of Bernard Leach and their Contemporaries” Naomi Sawada, Scott Watson, UBC, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery
Publication;
2022 – Translation and Appropriation Mingei Theory, Bernard Leach and his Vancouver Apprentices, PhD Alexandra Lambley Clark, Falmouth University. UK
2022 – Translation and Appropriation Mingei Theory, Bernard Leach and his Vancouver Apprentices, PhD Alexandra Lambley Clark, Falmouth University. UK
Source
Debra E. Sloan
Linked resources
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