by TORI YOUNGBAUER
Cascade A&E Feature Writer

The annual Wildfire Pottery Showcase features more than 25 premier ceramic artists and will include clay demonstrations throughout each day, a children’s area with clay activities for kids and free raffles.
The gallery showcase highlights artwork from each artist. Winners in the 2014 Best in Show are Michael Gwinup for the functional category and Nancy Dasen in the sculptural category.
Wildfire is sponsored by The Clay Guild of The Cascades (CGC), a nonprofit organization that formed in late 2004 and since then has been dedicated to supporting local artists and education. Artist Helen Bommarito has been the Guild’s president for the past three years, and was there for the inception of the Wildfire Showcase.
“We came together out of a sense of community. We realized there were a lot of potters in the area and we wanted to share knowledge, ideas, help the local community through donations and simply get to know each other better. We thought it would be nice to do an annual showcase to show the local population what we do,” says Bommarito.
Member meetings, educational workshops, cooperative purchases of supplies, exhibitions and participation in charitable projects to help The Art Station and Empty Bowls, supports CGC’s aim to promote creative self-expression in clay, share knowledge and experience and facilitate an appreciation of handmade pottery and ceramics.
“Every year we provide all the bowls for NeighborImpact’s major food bank fundraiser, Empty Bowls. This year we have created about 800 of them. We also donate a portion of proceeds from the Wildfire show to Arts Central’s clay education scholarship fund,” Bommarito adds.
CGC works hard to create fun, creative projects, while also giving back to the community.

The 11th annual Wildfire pottery show and sale will be held on Saturday November 7 from 10am-5pm and Sunday November 8 from 10am-4pm. Highland Elementary School (Old Kenwood School) 701 NW Newport Ave. Eleanor Murphey 541-420-5889, emurphey@bendcable.com