Charles Bronfman’s Claridge Collection Auction: Part V: Decorative Arts

April 21, 2015

LOT 218

Lot 218

DON WELLS

DON WELLS
Lot 218 Details
DON WELLS

UNTITLED

clay
height 8.75" — 22.2 cm., diameter 17.5" — 44.5 cm.
incised signature and dated ‘85

Estimate $75-$100

Realised: $72
Price Includes Buyer's Premium ?

Lot Report

Exhibited:

Fireworks Gallery, Calgary, AB

Note:



DON WELLS

“Clay is such a facile medium. Its potentialities are so numerous that I cannot resist trying new techniques, investigating different forms, textures, glazes. I find it the perfect medium for my creative expression”.

- Don Wells -

Don Wells received his Bachelor of Arts in drama from the University of Alberta in 1964. He worked for ten years with CBC Television in Toronto and Edmonton before deciding to make pottery his full-time profession. Wells attended classes at the University of Alberta Extension in visual arts, pottery and painting in the 1970’s, as well as at the Banff Center, studying under Gerda and Kurt Spurey, Claude Vermet, and Jim Romberg. Wells set up his own studio in High River, Alberta in 1980, where he has produced fine pottery, ceramic and bronze sculptures and murals. Throughout his career, Wells has attended workshops led by well-known ceramicists including Les Manning, Harlan House, and Robin Hopper. He has also taught workshops and classes throughout Canada and in Greece, covering all aspects of working with clay, including clay sculpture techniques, stoneware slip and glaze decorations.

Wells’ works are included in prominent international collections, and he has participated in both solo and group exhibitions since 1976 throughout Canada, as well as in the United States, Germany, Greece and Taiwan. The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art held a solo show of his porcelain vessels, Ultramarine, in 1992. Wells has been a member of the Alberta Potters Association since 1972, serving as President from 1978 to 1980, as well as a member of the Alberta Crafts Council, where he acted as Treasurer from 1994 to 1996. He has recently returned to painting, his preferred medium before discovering clay. Wells lives in High Deer, Alberta.

Selected Corporate, Private and Public Collections
Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Alberta Potters Association
Calgary Civic Art Collection, AB
Claridge Collection, Montreal, QC
Esso Resources Center, Calgary, AB
Maureen McTeer, wife of then Prime Minister Joe Clark

North Central Washington Museum, Wenatchee, WA
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China

Selected Solo and Duo Exhibitions

2004 A Sense of Curvature, Electrum Studio Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2001 Bowled Over, Croft Gallery, Calgary, AB
1998 A Glimpse of Greece, Croft Gallery, Calgary, AB
1996 Round & Around, Clayworks Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1995 Passages: New Work, Webster Galleries, Calgary, AB
1992 Ultramarine, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, ON
1991 Garden of Delights, Webster Galleries, Calgary, AB
1990 Birds, Webster Galleries, Calgary, AB
1989 Variations in Red, Clayworks Gallery, Calgary, AB
1987 Gallery on Whyte, Edmonton, AB
1985 Culpepper Gallery, Calgary, AB
1982 Archeological Architecture, Bearclaw Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Archeological Architecture, Muttart Art Gallery, Calgary, AB
1979 Ries Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1978 Lefebvre Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1976 Harvest House Craft Gallery, Edmonton, AB

Selected Group Exhibitions

2001 Figures, Art & Soul Gallery, High River, AB
1998 The Works Arts Festival, Edmonton, AB
1997 The Greek/Canadian Intercultural Ceramics Symposium, Vorre Museum, Athens, Greece
1996 World Culinary Olympics, Berlin, Germany
The Berlin Pieces, The Croft Gallery, Calgary, AB
The Greek/Canadian Intercultural Ceramics Symposium, Banff Center Gallery, AB
1994 10th Anniversary Show, Gardiner Museum Shop, Toronto, ON
Containment: The Space Within Work, Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON
1989 Alberta Variations, Muttart Gallery, Calgary, AB
1988 Exhibition of Alberta Crafts repenting Canada, Morristown Craft Market, Morristown, NJ
1987 Webster Galleries, Calgary, AB
1986 Studio Ceramics in Alberta III: 1964-1984, Alberta Art Foundation, touring province
Focus on Alberta Art, Gallery on Whyte, Edmonton, AB
Porcelain Vessels, Culpepper Gallery, Calgary, AB
1985 International Ceramics Exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
Clay in the Windows, store window displays of ceramic art in Toronto during the International Ceramics Symposium
1984 The International Academy of Ceramics Exhibition, North Central Washington, Wenatchee, Washington
1983 The Teapot Show, Rubaiyat Gallery, Calgary, AB
Choices, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
1982 Muttart Art Gallery, Calgary, AB
1981 Variations in Vessels, Muttart Art Gallery, Calgary, AB
Emerging Canadian Artists: Muttart Art Gallery, Calgary, AB
1979 The Alberta Summer Games Juried Exhibition of Ceramics, St. Albert, AB
Multicultural Center Gallery, Stoney Plain, AB
Edmonton Clay Works, Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1978 Alberta Mud ’78, University of Calgary Art Gallery, AB
1976 National Ceramics Exhibition, Alberta College of Art Gallery, Calgary, AB
Alberta Mud ’76, Edmonton Public Library, AB

Selected Commissions

2002 Government of Canada, 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis, AB, 17 decorative wall plates as gifts for delegates
1996 Culinary Team Alberta, porcelain plates and platters, sculpture for the World Culinary Olympics, Berlin, Germany
1979 Maureen McTee, wife of then Prime Minister Joe Clark, 24-place dinner set
1978 Peter Hemingway Architects, 16 clay murals for outside chimneys

Selected Scholarships and Grants

1997 The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Visual Arts Project Gran toward Phase II of Greek/Canadian Intercultural Ceramics Symposium: Canadian Ceramics in Greece
1996 The Banff Center, Scholarship for the Greek/Canadian Intercultural Ceramics Symposium
1992 The Banff Center, Freely Scholarship ten-week Art Residency, Ceramics Program
1983 Alberta Culture, Visual Arts Study Grant for “Series 83” Bronze Casting Workshop in Red Deer, AB
1981 The Banff Center, Tuition Scholarship to attend the Low Temperature Sculpture Workshop, Ceramics Program

Selected Links

donwells-ceramicartist.ca

CONDITION DETAILS

For condition information please contact the specialist.

LOT 218
×

About Condition Ratings

  • 5 Stars: Excellent - No discernable damage, flaws or imperfections
  • 4 Stars: Very Good - Minor flaws or imperfections visible only under close inspection using specialised instruments or black light
  • 3 Stars: Good - Minor flaws visible upon inspection under standard lighting
  • 2 Stars: Fair - Exhibits flaws or damage that may draw the eye under standard lighting
  • 1 Star: Poor - Flaws or damage immediately apparent under standard lighting (examples: missing components, rips, broken glass, damaged surfaces, etc.)

Note: Condition ratings and condition details are the subjective opinions of our specialists and should be used as a guide only. Waddington’s uses due care when preparing condition details, however, our staff are not professional restorers or conservators. Condition details and reports are not warranties and each lot is sold “as is” in accordance with the buyer’s terms and conditions of sale. In all cases the prospective purchaser is responsible for inspecting the property themselves prior to placing a bid.