2024 is an exciting year for the Scottish Potters Association. We celebrate our 50th Anniversary with a range of activities throughout the year (and beyond!):
You can bury yourself in the SPA history by reading through our Newsletter Archive - see the progression from a typed letter to the current high quality full-colour production. Many thanks to Iain Campbell for collecting and digitising all of these. The archive is accessible to members only; non-members can view a selection here.
Throughout the year there will be a series of member Exhibitions, in amazing venues spread out over Scotland, on the theme of “Roots and Wings”. Some are selected by the gallery to show the very best work, while others are unselected to show the full breadth of what our members make.
Want to see where these venues are? A Map has been developed to show what our members are up to - including studios open to visitors, classes, events and exhibitions.
A small group is working to publish a book to celebrate the SPAs 50th Anniversary. We hope it will celebrate both the creation and development of the SPA, and the work of those who have been nominated / selected by the members of the SPA. Some of the people featured will be remembered as inspirational artists or teachers, some for their outstanding contribution to the development of the SPA. There have been hundreds of members over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, we cannot include them all! More news will follow later this year.
We would like to encourage members to engage with others in their local area and organise local activities and events. There are some great examples already of potters organising for example local coffee meet-ups, group exhibitions, and communal firings. To support this we have added a Members Map to the website which shows where our members live. This map is only accessible to SPA members who have logged in to the website.
We have been working with the cancer support charity Maggies on a project 50 Mugs for Maggies. There are eight centres throughout Scotland, and we hope to provide each with 10 mugs made by our members. Yes, I know that 8x10 does not make 50 but 50 doesn’t divide by 8 and I know that we are a generous bunch. The plan will be for a member to deliver the pots to each centre and be part of a media event that both Maggie’s and SPA will use in our social media & newsletter.
And if you want to personally celebrate our 50th: you can order an apron (or other item of clothing) with our logo in gold.