Jack Sures presents 81 pottery pieces for 81st birthday

Regina potter Jack Sures is on a quest.

"I'm trying to make the ultimate pot, and I haven't done it yet," hesays.

That statement is followed with a laugh, because Sures is 81-years-old and has been at it since the '50s.

He's about to open a new show featuring81 pieces for his 81 years.

It's not a retrospective though,the pieces are all from the past year or so.

Sures describes his work as "abstract expressionist." His pieces are distinctively neutral in colour: black, whiteand taupe for the most part. That, he says, is a result of high temperature firing,which doesn't allow for bright colours.

Even the experienced potter still goofs up. Recently, the kiln got a little too hot and the results weren't pretty.

"They got so hot they kind of melted," Sures laughs as he tells the story.

The prairies are beautiful, but they're empty and you kind of want to fill that space.- Jack Sures

How has his work evolved?"It's now more sophisticated with a more sensitive line."

Sures has a long and storied history as a potter in Regina.He founded the ceramics program at the University of Regina. His students included such well-known artists asVic Cicansky.

How is that Saskatchewan has produced people so talented with clay?

Sures says it's partly that people need to fill the long,cold winters. And it's partly the landscape.

"The prairies are beautiful, but they're empty and you kind of want to fill that space."