Beverly Lawrence uses both a traditional kiln and the Japanese method of raku to create her pottery art.

Three steps into Beverly Lawrence's pottery studio, it's easy to see why anyone would want to spend time there. Tendrils of ivy cling charmingly to the ceiling, classical music drifts from a radio connected to the light switch, and a yellow-eyed cat named Milly and a gentle dog named Rivers are close at hand. Lawrence is one of the artists in the Fort Langley Artist's Group (FLAG) who are getting ready to start a new show, the Artist's Choice, on July 5 at the heritage CN Station on the corner of Glover Road and Mavis Avenue.

A number of her pieces will be on display. She's had the studio for about 10 years, and even before then was creating both functional and decorative pieces. The functional items, like teapots, mugs, and casserole dishes, aren't her favourites, though."Functional is repetition; I'm not wild about repetition, but I do it," she said. "I'm not happy doing the same thing all the time. I like to change things." That led her to try ceramics. After going through a time of changes in her life, Lawrence took a pottery course. She had taken glass-making courses in her native England, but decided pottery was a better choice for her."The glass is very immediate," she explained. "You have to have all the steps right. I like to step back and have a look at it and then work at it again, so the clay worked better. [Glass] didn't suit my temperament so much."

Lawrence uses a variety of methods: she hand-builds pieces, as well as using a pottery wheel, and specializes in carving clay. She also uses two different methods of firing pieces: a traditional kiln, and raku firing. Firing can take anywhere from 9* to 12 hours." I tend to be getting things out of the kiln while they're still hot," Lawrence said. Sometimes it's too exciting to wait, and sometimes it's due to deadlines."I am a procrastinator, that's for sure," she explained. "I'm finding, as I get older, that I can't do that as much anymore." With age has come order. "It's strange to be that organized," she said. "It's like going on vacation and starting to pack early. You think, 'Well, I must have forgotten something.'" While the organization may have changed over the years, the materials have stayed the same, and Lawrence's approach to pottery has never wavered. "It doesn't always turn out the way you want it to, and then you go back to it and have another go at it," she said. "It has certainly kept my intrigue, which you know, nothing else did." And she figures that is why people are so intrigued by pottery.

"I think what intrigues people about the clay is that everyone's work is different, although everyone starts with the same materials," she said. She gets a lot of her inspiration from the landscape around her, and from the ocean, in particular. Before moving to Canada in the early '80s she thought about moving to the Lakes District in England. "I thought to myself, 'If you did move there, would you get blase about the beauty?'" she said. When she moved here, she realized that this wouldn't be the case. At different times of day and year, the clouds and everything around her are sources of ideas and the basis of her style, which she describes as "sort-of organic."

Lawrence teaches classes at her studio two or three times a year, between working on her own pieces full time, and is planning on having a drop-in class in the fall. Currently, she is developing a new glaze, and some pieces with it will be available at the Little Cricket Gift Gallery and Birthplace of B.C. Gallery in Fort Langley. The Fort Langley Artist's Group meets once a month, and has three shows each summer.

"I joined [FLAG] because working out here on my own, you get quite isolated," she said, "and if you get stuck on a point, another artist might say something that gets you going again."

The Artist's Choice show will run through July, noon to 4 p.m., on weekends and holidays. It features art from FLAG members Laurie Allinson, Robin Bandenieks, Julie Bourne, Carmel Clare, Kathleen Gaitt, Scott Gordon, Margo Harrison, Candice Perry, Evelyn Smith, Lori Standen, Deborah Strong, Judy Webber, Dianne Wilson, and Diane Zepeski.

For more information about the show, go to fortlangleyartistsgroup.com. Or to inquire about pottery classes, call Lawrence at 604-856-4300.

*This year FLAG is open until October 11, 2008.

Langley sculptor Julie Bourne is opening her home to the public this month, for a series of open house artist demonstrations and sales.

Bourne, a member of the Fort Langley Artists Group, will give a demonstration of her lampwork beads, in which Italian glass which is melted, attached on a wire and painted. These particular demos are always a favourite among the men in the crowd, said Bourne.“Flame and molten glass always gets the guys going,” she laughed. Because she was away on vacation in Alaska for much of the summer, this is the first show and sale for Bourne this year.“There is quite a variety of things. There are lots of pieces,” she said.“The house is full of my art.” Among the pieces on display will be her mixed media, glass and clay pieces, which combine colourful mosaic glasswork with raku pottery. Three-dimensional raku trees are fixed in front of coloured-glass vistas of water, mountain and sky, which were inspired by Bourne’s adventures in the north.“It’s something very different,” said Bourne. “It’s really cool. I use frosted glass, which has a lot of light in it.”

The artist’s trademark clay horse heads and a raku violin will also be on display. November 15, 16 and 22, 23 at her home in Brookswood.