(1934-2018)
Currently not on display
© Jack Sures. Reproduced with the permission of Jack Sures. Photograph by the University of Regina.
© Jack Sures. Reproduced with the permission of Jack Sures. Photograph by the University of Regina.
© Jack Sures. Reproduced with the permission of Jack Sures. Photograph by the University of Regina.
(top) Small-Necked Pot, 1981
Clay, glaze
3 1/2″ x 8″ x 8″
University of Regina President’s Art Collection, Shumiatcher Donation. Gift of Dr. Morris C. Shumiatcher, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C. and Dr. Jacqui Clay Shumiatcher, S.O.M., C.M., 2016; sc.2016.53
(middle) Untitled (Bowl), c. 1967
Porcelaneous stoneware
3 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″
University of Regina President’s Art Collection, Shumiatcher Donation. Gift of Dr. Morris C. Shumiatcher, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C. and Dr. Jacqui Clay Shumiatcher, S.O.M., C.M., 2016; sc.2016.43
(bottom) Untitled (Lidded Box), c. 1967
Stoneware
4″ x 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
University of Regina President’s Art Collection, Shumiatcher Donation. Gift of Dr. Morris C. Shumiatcher, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C. and Dr. Jacqui Clay Shumiatcher, S.O.M., C.M., 2016; sc.2016.28
The prairies are beautiful, but they’re empty, and you kind of want to fill that space.
Jack Sures [4]
The ceramicist Jack Sures knew first-hand about the immense talent of Saskatchewan sculptors, and mused that the flat landscape and long cold winters are conducive to the craft. He founded the University of Regina’s ceramics program in 1965, and his two generations of students include many Prairie talents such as Vic Cicansky.
Sures was born in 1934 in Brandon, Manitoba, and spent much of his childhood drawing and making art from found objects. After finishing high school, he enrolled in the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba – not yet realizing his fate as an artist. That all changed when he took a sculpture course as an elective. He switched majors and ended up graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1957, and in 1959 he earned his Master’s degree in Painting and Printmaking from Michigan State. After taking one year to teach junior high school in Manitoba, he travelled around Europe and the Middle East, gaining inspiration from galleries, studying guitar, and painting/working with ceramics.
1962 saw the birth of Sures’ “true ceramic education”, when he returned to Manitoba, opened a studio in Winnipeg, and built the province’s first gas kiln. Then in 1965, the University of Regina (at that time, the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus) offered him the chance to begin a ceramics program, where he once again built gas kilns, the first for Saskatchewan. He soon became Chair of the Department of Visual Arts (1969-1971), and upon retiring in 1998, was granted Professor Emeritus status.
Sures ensured he continually honed his craft, seeking inspiration from the “juicy” clay and his own imagination. He used more muted, earthy tones, partially because the high-temperature firing does not allow for bright colours. The bowls, plaques, vessels, and lidded boxes which are on display are classic examples of his work: imaginative, quirky, and earthy.
[4] Coles, Sheila. Jack Sures presents 81 pottery pieces for 81st birthday. CBC News Saskatchewan, Nov 11, 2015