April Gates
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What do you get when you combine a potter, painter and musician into one? Work that is lyrical, whimsical and like the seasons, sometimes moody. April moved to the Haliburton Highlands from the Guelph area in 2002 to study ceramics at Fleming’s Haliburton School of The Arts. Discovering clay, along with the Highlands landscape and spirited community was a defining moment for this emerging artist. She had no choice but to lay down her restless roots and see what this place could inspire. April now has a dynamic career in the Arts that includes creating, teaching, performing and coordinating. She teaches with the Haliburton Arts Council’s Artist in the Schools program, the Frost Centre Institute, Fleming College and The Art Hive, with a variety of offerings for children, youth and adults.
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About Blackbird Pottery: Balancing on the cusp of fine art and craft, Blackbird Pottery unites the spirit and usefulness of handcrafted work to intrigue, inspire and engage its patrons. April’s distinctive line of pottery starts with elegant and finely crafted forms in stoneware using a combination of wheel thrown and hand-building techniques. Revealing the painter within, April sources her landscape and history for iconic imagery that provokes thought, memory and emotion. Using original hand-painted designs with a series of resist and water etching techniques makes each piece it’s own unique print, rendering Blackbird Pottery highly collectable. For the majority of April’s work, 4-6 steps are involved in the decoration process alone. All processes are carefully executed by the artist, ensuring attention to detail for quality, hand-crafted, one of a kind pieces.
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The majority of April’s clay work is made with Cone 6 Stoneware. All functional pieces are food, microwave and dishwasher safe. As a painter, exploring the theme of a ‘-scape’, be it land, sky, water or lyrical , means exploring the balance between the elements of form, space, light and mood. These ‘ –scapes’ affect us all and in many ways define who we are. April has also introduced her Blackbird theme to canvas, inspired by various literary references from Poe to the Beatles to the anonymous poem, Seven Blackbirds. April enjoys painting in oils and acrylics.
April’s musical calling started with her glamorous piano teacher, Diane Tosher. She had the most perfect sparkly star-like fingernails April had ever seen. Diane knew that April really wasn’t cut out for the piano, but she always encouraged her to set her voice free! Inspired by folk (roots/blues, jazz and old country), April sings lead vocals for The Hemlocks and has a number of collaborative and solo projects on the go. Stay tuned to The Art Hive calendar for an opportunity to see April perform.
10239 Hwy. 118, Haliburton, Ontario. 705-754-0021