Mary Fox Legacy Project

The Mary Fox Legacy Project is an initiative created to share Mary’s knowledge, experience, and discoveries with the next generation of potters, providing opportunities for emerging artists to develop their skills and acquire the tools they need to pursue a career in the ceramic arts.

For decades, Mary has worked as a professional ceramic artist, continually exploring and expanding her practice. She has developed her own distinctive approaches to firing and glaze development and has created an extensive body of functional pottery. Alongside her functional work, she has explored sculpture and decorative ceramics, and continues to experiment with new materials, techniques, forms, and approaches to making.

In recent years, Mary has placed an increasing emphasis on sharing what she has learned. Through her writing, including two books about her practice and craft, and through the creation of the Legacy Project, she has begun creating opportunities to pass her knowledge and experience on to other potters.

At its heart, the Legacy Project is about mentorship: creating opportunities for emerging ceramic artists to learn, experiment, develop their own voices, and build on the knowledge that has come before them.

The project is unfolding in three phases:

Mary initiated a two-year apprenticeship program, giving emerging potters the opportunity to learn through hands-on experience in her studio. The program concluded in 2025, and its alumni are now continuing their own creative journeys.

The project is now moving into its second phase with the development of Legacy Studios in Ladysmith. The studios will provide working potters with space to develop their practices, create and sell their work, and be part of a community of ceramic artists.

Following Mary’s passing, the Legacy Project will establish an Artist in Residence program to provide emerging ceramic artists with the opportunity to develop their skills and experience life as a studio potter in a supportive, integrated studio and gallery environment.

From Mary's own ongoing exploration of clay, fire, glazes, form, and technique, to the apprentices she has mentored and the artists who will follow, the Mary Fox Legacy Project is about sharing knowledge, encouraging exploration, and helping the potters of tomorrow find their own creative paths.

To help ensure the long-term sustainability of the project, we have established an endowment fund through the Vancouver Foundation and the Craft Council of British Columbia. Donations to the endowment are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.

The principal of the endowment will remain invested, while the income generated through the fund will help support the Mary Fox Legacy Project into the future. This approach will help provide a lasting source of support for emerging ceramic artists and the ongoing operation of the studio.

We also invite you to consider including a gift to the Mary Fox Legacy Project Society in your estate plans. A gift of a percentage of your estate can help ensure that Mary’s legacy continues to support emerging potters for generations to come.

Thank you for considering becoming part of this exciting and meaningful project. Your support will help provide emerging potters with the opportunity, space, and resources they need to follow their creative path and develop their practice.

Help the potters of tomorrow. Please consider making a donation to the endowment fund by clicking the button below.