New exhibit opens today at Alberta House

NEWS RELEASE
ALBERTA HOUSE
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SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH. - Alberta House Arts Center is very pleased to welcome Ed Gray whose work will be displayed in the Olive Craig Gallery Sept. 4, through 29. 

Ed recently retired as executive director of the Calumet Arts Center. It’s difficult to describe Ed and his work because he is many things and works in many materials. He is a potter and bead maker, weaves, and works extensively in copper. 

A dedicated teacher, he conducts workshops in potting, working with copper and in other crafts. As a artist he is a purist, beginning with the rawest of materials and making all the components that comprise his art including the pit or kiln used to fire his pots. The dye for his glazes he makes by hand grinding the different coloured stones he gathers on the shores of Lake Superior. 

Ed Gray studied pottery with renown Charlevoix Potter, Bonnie Staffel. 

Over the years he established a number of successful studios in the northern lower peninsula, always moving on and north and eventually ending up on Lake Superior in Calumet in 2004. He became executive director of the Calumet Arts Center in 2008. 

He decided to retire as director this year when he reached the age of 80. Ed continues to teach workshops and classes at the Calumet Arts Center, as he is committed to passing on the knowledge he has acquired over the years. 

Today Ed works primarily in clay and copper, producing art objects that are totally unique. See his display in Alberta House during September.  

Alberta House hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free.

Work donated by area artists for the Sept. 22 Arts Auction is in the Alberta House Mini Gallery during September.