- Pessoa
- 1931-2015
Walter Gibson Dexter (1931-2015), R.C.A., was a Canadian ceramic artist, pottery artist and post-secondary ceramic art educator.
Walter Gibson Dexter was a Canadian ceramic artist and potter, born in Calgary, Alberta on October 3, 1931, and died on June 2, 2015 in Victoria, British Columbia. He attended the Alberta Institute of Art and Technology (now Alberta University of the Arts), where he gained an interest in ceramics through his mentor, Luke Lindoe. He earned a Diploma in Ceramics in 1954 from the Alberta College of Art (originally linked with the Alberta Institute of Art and Technology, now the Alberta University of the Arts). He was one of the first artists to receive a formal education in clay in Canada. He furthered his studies on ceramics at the Swedish School of Arts and Crafts (now the University of Arts, Crafts, and Design) in Stockholm on a scholarship he received from the University of Manitoba. Following this scholarship, he lived and traveled around Europe for two years. He returned to Calgary around 1956 after accepting a studio position with Lindoe, which he worked in for another two years. He then worked for a time as a designer and manager for Medalta Ceramics in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Following this position he learned new throwing techniques under Lindoe’s continued guidance and initially learned of Raku, a form of Japanese ceramics, through "A Potter’s Book" (1940) by Bernard Leach. He experimented with this process, although at first did not succeed, and would later learn contemporary Raku technologies and methods from Hal Reigger, an American potter. After receiving encouragement from Paul Sodner, another American potter, he would again experiment with these processes, pushing Raku in new directions.