MURIEL ELIZABETH GUEST

Condolences & Memories (3 entries)

• I knew Muriel when she worked in Jack Sures's studio on Portage Avenue. She was my teacher and friend. She was a wonderful potter and I once commissioned her to make a wedding gift for two friends...a set of thrown and painted plates, bowls, cups and saucers to start the young couple out in life. Muriel did indeed sleep late during the day and worked at night. A truly lovely human being. - Posted by: Alannah Kern nee Eve Lynne Rubin (Student in 1959) on: Nov 21, 2014

• Dorothy my wife and I while living in a house in Winnipeg invited Muriel to establish her studio in our basement. At that time I had established an etching/engraving studio in the living room of the house. I had gone to art school with Muriel in the old Winnipeg Law Court building before the school was smothered by the newly installed Fine Arts Program at the University of Manitoba. This she did and for a couple of years she turned out fantastic stoneware pottery. In fact I owe my smooth transition from printmaking, into ceramic sculpture which then evolved into metal sculpture. This occurred when one late evening, she slept most of the day then and worked most of the night, invited me to draw into or paint one of her freshly thrown stoneware plates. This I did and as they say the rest is history. At that time I was working as the design director for Channel 7 in Winnipeg then working considerable hours in my studio at home either print making or eventually sculpting. It was an exciting time for us all as Muriel would be getting up around 11 pm and I would put the coffee on and we would talk until wee hours of the morning, (evening after evening.) I do feel it was this period that Muriel turned out some of her best works! One story I would like to share is when we converted her high fired kiln to low fire so that she could work in stoneware. Remember now this all took place in our rented house in the basement. Well one very early morning I was awakened by a smoke filled bedroom! I rushed down into the basement and what confronted me still can send shivers up my spine! We had placed the kiln next to a very important wooden post that supported the first floor. It was on fire and just beginning to lick the ceiling having been cooked by the heat coming off the kiln. Muriel had fallen asleep up in the living room while waiting for the firing to finish. In spite of this we fixed the problem and both continued to work in stoneware, she with he intuitive feeling for the material and I exploring stoneware as a medium for sculpture. By the way I commissioned Muriel to produce about 30 plates for me to work on. In her final years we lost contact as our paths took a wide birth from each other but those memories are easily recalled with much joy and excitement! Dorothy and I wish her the very best in her new adventure! - Posted by: Bodhi (Mac) Mudito (Dorothy) Drope (really old friends) on: Jan 06, 2013

• Muriel was an exceptional potter. One of the best in Canada. She was always protesting something. She cared a lot about everybody. - Posted by: Helen Gomez-Perales (Very good friends for many years.) on: Nov 10, 2012