Meechan, Ruth
Item
Maker Name
Meechan, Ruth
Biography
Ruth Meechan moved to Vancouver in 1940, where she began as a graphic artist/illustrator. Ruth was also an advocate for social justice with unions and women’s issues. In the 1950s she took classes at the Vancouver School of Art with Reg Dixon and was there during the same years as Judy Cranmer. In 1956 she bought Stan and Jean Clarke's pottery business , called it RM Potteries, located on Hasting Street, Vancouver. In 1960 she established a pottery Maple Ridge, BC, worked with Gene Barker, and was one of the BC potters who dug her own clay, what is called Haney Blue. (Debra Sloan and Jane Williams dug and developed the same clay in the early 1980s)
Ruth was an early (1955) and important member of the Potters Guild of BC, serving on the Board, and editor of the The Western Potter newsletter, in 1971 and 1974. She taught at the Place des Arts in Coquitlam in the 1970s. At some point in the 1970s Ruth rented a space from the Back Door Pottery (formally Ross Hughye School of Pottery) and in 1981 moved into one of Vancouver's early co-ops on west 4th Avenue.
Ruth also sold her work at the BC Arts and Crafts Centre, Quest Gallery, Victoria, and the House of Ceramics.
Ruth started working on Northwest Indigenous Design while at the VSA. and was one of the early potters in BC who applied the designs on slip-cast pottery for the tourist trade -as did with David Lambert, Chief Henry Hunt and Emily Carr. We have been told that as a non-Indigenous artist Ruth sought advice and permissions (As had David Lambert) from Indigenous artists. A decade later Indigenous artist Judy Cranmer was approaching the use of Northwest Coast design as an exploration of a design tradition. Her formline painting was engaged with harmonizing the motifs to form.
This is an opportunity for conversations about appropriation, emulation and influences.
Ruth was an early (1955) and important member of the Potters Guild of BC, serving on the Board, and editor of the The Western Potter newsletter, in 1971 and 1974. She taught at the Place des Arts in Coquitlam in the 1970s. At some point in the 1970s Ruth rented a space from the Back Door Pottery (formally Ross Hughye School of Pottery) and in 1981 moved into one of Vancouver's early co-ops on west 4th Avenue.
Ruth also sold her work at the BC Arts and Crafts Centre, Quest Gallery, Victoria, and the House of Ceramics.
Ruth started working on Northwest Indigenous Design while at the VSA. and was one of the early potters in BC who applied the designs on slip-cast pottery for the tourist trade -as did with David Lambert, Chief Henry Hunt and Emily Carr. We have been told that as a non-Indigenous artist Ruth sought advice and permissions (As had David Lambert) from Indigenous artists. A decade later Indigenous artist Judy Cranmer was approaching the use of Northwest Coast design as an exploration of a design tradition. Her formline painting was engaged with harmonizing the motifs to form.
This is an opportunity for conversations about appropriation, emulation and influences.
First name
Ruth
Last name
Meechan
Date of Birth
1914
Date of Death
2007
Place of Birth
Glenavon, Saskatchewan
Place of Death
Studio location
Formal Education
Major Exhibitions
Federation of Canadian Artists, Eaton’s Department Store, Vancouver, BC, 1957
Centennial Crafts Caravan (touring), 1958
2nd Biennial Crafts Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 1959
New Westminster Public Library, New Westminster, BC, 1965 (with paintings by Gillian Hodge)
Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montréal, QC, 1967
House of Ceramics, Vancouver, BC, 1972, 1973
Ceramics 75, House of Ceramics, Vancouver, BC, 1975
1980 - Restrospect Ceramics 80, Potters Guild of BC 25 the anniversary (Catalogue Committee)
Centennial Crafts Caravan (touring), 1958
2nd Biennial Crafts Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 1959
New Westminster Public Library, New Westminster, BC, 1965 (with paintings by Gillian Hodge)
Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montréal, QC, 1967
House of Ceramics, Vancouver, BC, 1972, 1973
Ceramics 75, House of Ceramics, Vancouver, BC, 1975
1980 - Restrospect Ceramics 80, Potters Guild of BC 25 the anniversary (Catalogue Committee)
Affiliated organizations
Tag
Links to Further Resources
1977 Catalogue of British Columbian Potters, Bob Kingsmil
Modern in the Making Post War Craft and Design in BC catalogue, VAG 2020
Source
Debra Sloan
Linked resources
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