Peter V. Fankboner: "In the 31 years (1972-2003) prior to my retirement as a marine biology professor from Simon Fraser University, I taught and carried out research on the biology of a wide range of invertebrate organisms.In the course of creating manuscripts for publication, the presentation of my research results has always included a visual arts component, either through biological line drawings, photomicrographs or underwater photography. This has proved to be a synergistic melding of science and art.My interest in ceramics was first stimulated in 1972 during a post-doctoral year at Cambridge University's Department of Zoology.As part of my work on digestion in Octopus vulgaris, I also had a month's use of a laboratory (AIBS Table Award) at the Stazione Zoologica, a public aquarium/research laboratory located in Naples, Italy.While there, I expressed to the Stazione's Director, an interest in Italian pottery. Shortly thereafter, I received an invitation to work briefly in the Rifa family pottery in Vietri sul Mare, a 16th century village located on the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy. It was here, in sight of the majolica dome of St. John's Church, that I was provided by Rifa family members with bisqued tiles, and thrown vessels which I decorated with images of sea worms, octopuses, fish and other marine life forms.The Rifas fired these tiles and pots in their kilns and the fired majolica pottery was subsequently posted to me following my return to England. In the fall of 1972, I was appointed an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.In the early 1970's, I continued my ealier research on tropical giant clams, corals, plus local temperate water echinoderms and kelps.My ceramics interests were rekindled in the 1980's as a consequence of an iron-casting course taught by George Rammell at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design;this experience extended my interest in the visual arts to metal casting of sculptural objects. Casting sculpture in metal eventually required that I have a working knowledge of modeling clay, and this in turn led, in the late 1990's, to throwing on an electric wheel.In my limited way, I have tried to adhere to the philosophy (if not the works) of Daniel Rhodes (1911-1989), who stressed the preeminence of form over decoration.As a consequence of my past and current studies on marine organisms, the trident symbol for Neptune, the ancient Roman god of the sea, became my potter's mark (see image on the right margin).My ceramic works are influenced by my love of Japanese pots, but not to the extent that I throw my vessels clockwise.This interest in things Japanese came about naturally as the result of a sabbatical leave spent at Kyoto University's Seto Marine Laboratory in Shirahama, Japan. At the Seto Marine Laboratory, I lived in traditional Japanese accommodations, and this exposed me to a surprisingly wide range of local saké, foods, and pottery.Like many Japanese men in my age group, over the past two decades I have accumulated a judicious collection of sakazuki, tokuri, and masu drinking vessels which I put to good use."

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