Yackandandah’s John Dermer knows five decades is barely a moment in the overall story of pottery.
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“I’ve seen pots in Japan and they’re 10,000 years old,” he said. “There’s a timelessness about them. I’m effectively doing exactly what they did; they formed clay by hand and fired it to a temperature to make it stable.
“It’s an extraordinary thing to be part of that journey.”
Dermer will present his 40th annual exhibition this weekend and also launch a book to mark 50 years since his career began as an art student in 1967.
This year’s show will be held in the Yackandandah town centre rather than Dermer’s studio, Kirby’s Flat Pottery, to allow more car parking and a larger space.
Professor Barbara van Ernst will open the exhibition officially at noon Saturday, with the gallery open 9am to 5.30pm both days.
Dermer said the display would feature newly-created salt glazed pots as well as a dinner set made from porcelain clay he stored in a pit for more than four decades.
“I made that decision about eight years ago, that I’d use it for my 50th year,” he said.
The book Celebrating The Journey: 50 Years At The Potter’s Wheel evolved after Professor van Ernst encouraged Dermer to write something about his career.
“I think I wrote about 18,000 words covering the last 50 years and then my wife Shirley, who is a very clever lady when it comes to editing and writing, turned my waffle into what is very beautifully written, so it will make me look terrific,” he said with a laugh.
As well as serving as an exhibition catalogue the book includes old photos, such as his first kiln in 1967.
“Photos of early kilns, some pots that inspire me and the people who have inspired me, that’s important,” Dermer said.
“They were very humble, very honest people and their pots reflected that.
“And I think that’s what I was attracted to right from the start.”
Raised in suburban Melbourne, Dermer worked for Wedgwood in Britain and the US before moving to Yackandandah in 1974.
“I’m still doggedly using porcelain and still doggedly using the salt-glazed process,” he said.
“I’m achieving results that are unique, but cause all sorts of problems to get that far.”
Each firing of the kiln could produce a frustrating mix of quality owing to the difficulties of salt glazing.
“Shirley always looks in the kiln first,” Dermer said.
“I wait in anticipation for her to climb down.
“If she looks at me and she says ‘It’s all right’, deadpan face, mind you, I know it’s an absolute corker of a firing.
“The journey really is Shirley and I celebrating.
“It’s more about our journey together in sharing this process, more than just a ceramic journey.”