Artist Statement

The word 'raku', a sixteenth-century firing technique associated with the philosophy of Zen Buddhism and the Japanese Tea Ceremony, is most often translated as 'enjoyment', 'contentment', 'pleasure' and 'happiness', with connotations of simplicity and asymmetry. While the process may seem contradictory to some of these terms, its ritualistic nature produces an unexpected balance between exhilaration and meditation.

I seek to make raku objects that respect the medium's origins. My works are individually hand-shaped, with an emphasis on simplicity and beauty. By combining sensuous shapes and elaborate glazes with unrefined edges and sooty black surfaces I try to show that beauty can be found in imperfection.

Biography

Regina Coupar is an artist and writer of Acadian descent who lives and works in an historic sea captain’s house overlooking Chester Basin on Nova Scotia's south shore. Her studio is open to the public year round by chance or appointment.

Regina's work has appeared in solo and juried exhibitions across Canada and is included in the collections of The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, The Nova Scotia Art Bank, the University College of Cape Breton, and McCain Foods. She has taught illustration and life-drawing in the animation department at the Truro Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College and has facilitated art workshops across the country and elsewhere. She studied fashion design at Ryerson University, lithography at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, holds a degree in Religious Studies and Fine Art from Mount Saint Vincent University, and a diploma in Theology and Ministry from the Atlantic School of Theology. Regina is a member of the Peer Gallery in Lunenburg.

Regina is a past Chair of Visual Arts Nova Scotia, a juried member of the Nova Scotia Designer Craft Council and a Writers’ Council member of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. She has served on the boards of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Arts Advisory Council. She is the author of five books; including The Seeker’s Heart: Meditations Inspired by the Book of Psalms (Blue Grama, 2004) and The Art of Soul: An Artist’s Guide to Spirituality (Novalis, 2002). Her most recent work is raku-fired clay sculpture.