{{Short description|Canadian artist (1907–1987)}} '''Jarko Zavi''' (1907–1987) was a Czech-born Canadian ceramist and sculptor who lived and worked principally in Ontario. After attending art college in Czechoslovakia, he worked producing fine china at the Terra Company for twelve years, rising to head of ceramics design.<ref name="Gates">{{Cite news|title=The Gates opens next weekend with a special show|last=Yurkowski|first=Ray|date=April 24, 2014|work=Quinte West News|access-date=11 November 2018|page=17|url=https://issuu.com/quintewestnews/docs/quinte042414|location=Belleville, Ontario}}</ref> Zavi fled to Canada just five days before the outbreak of World War II.<ref name="Gazette">{{cite news|title=Zavi Experimenting with Canadian Clays|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262934/zavi_in_montreal/|newspaper=The Gazette|location=Montreal|date=December 18, 1943|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111043804/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262934/zavi_in_montreal/|archive-date=11 November 2018|url-status=live|via =Newspapers.com|access-date=November 10, 2018}} {{free access}}</ref> Soon after emigrating, he married Nunzia D'Angelo (1900–1968), a maker of majolica and folk pottery, and they had two daughters together.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Canadian Craft and Museum Practice 1900-1950|last=Flood|first=Sandra|publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization|year=2001|isbn=0-660-17838-9|location=Hull, Quebec|pages=224}}</ref><ref name="Crawford">{{Cite book|title=A Fine Line: Studio Crafts in Ontario from 1930 to the Present|last=Crawford|first=Gail|publisher=Dundurn Press|year=1998|isbn=1-55002-303-9|location=Toronto}}</ref> First located on Gerrard Street in Toronto, the couple renamed their kitchen factory the Ceramic Art Studio. During the war years they produced a large array of ornamental pieces, sought after by buyers. Their output included ceramic fish, prancing horses, vases, candle holders, bowls, teapots and earrings.<ref name="Crawford"/> Zavi diligently experimented with glazes, and he was able to produce colours that included Chinese red.<ref name="Gazette"/> In 1945, he sculpted a bust of Tomáš Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, which was unveiled at a public ceremony with the mayor of Toronto present.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 19, 1945 |title=Czechoslovaks' New Hall Honors Masaryk Memory |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1601&dat=19450319&id=SUA8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dysMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5502,17305641 |newspaper=Toronto Daily Star |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304015233/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1601&dat=19450319&id=SUA8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dysMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5502,17305641&hl=en|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
Zavi and D'Angelo relocated in 1946 to a rural setting outside Cobourg, where Zavi wanted to establish a ceramic arts centre.<ref name="Crawford"/> In the same year, he was the subject of two features by the National Film Board.<ref name="Gates"/> His wife gave up studio work, although she appeared in public as a demonstrator and teacher for a few years at the Canadian National Exposition.<ref name="Crawford"/> In 1959, they moved to Brighton.<ref name="Gates"/> Zavi maintained his studio practice as a lone artist, isolated from the craft community and museums and galleries.<ref name="Crawford"/> He built his ceramic structures with his hands, without wire or papier-mâché molds. For his base material he used farm tile clay found in deposits near Arnprior.<ref>{{cite news|title=Art News and views|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262978/ottawa_1964/|newspaper=The Ottawa Journal|last1=Ketchum|first1=W.G.|date=October 17, 1964|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111043955/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262978/ottawa_1964/|archive-date=11 November 2018|url-status=live|via =Newspapers.com|access-date=November 10, 2018}} {{free access}}</ref> Zavi's works were not universally praised; one reviewer of an Ottawa exhibit found the pieces on display to be rather commercial and unexceptional, despite their beautiful execution.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nature artist's subject|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262853/jarko_zavi_negative_ottawa_review/|newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen|last1=Walker|first1=Kathleen|date=May 17, 1974|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111044005/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25262853/jarko_zavi_negative_ottawa_review/|archive-date=11 November 2018|url-status=live|via =Newspapers.com|access-date=November 10, 2018}} {{free access}}</ref> Somewhat unusually for a Canadian artist, he made his living entirely by his chosen art form. In 2014, some 40 to 50 of his pieces were displayed in a solo exhibition at a gallery in Brighton.<ref name="Gates"/>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/portrait-portal/Pages/ARProfile.aspx?ArchivalRecordKey=4283015 Archives Canada Photo of Artist] *[http://thecuratorialwing.wordpress.com/ Pictures and commentary]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavi, Jarko}} Category:Czech ceramists Category:Canadian ceramists Category:1987 deaths Category:1907 births Category:20th-century ceramists Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada