Beauty is a wondrous and mysterious presence in my life, filling me with surges of overwhelming joy and delight. The fluency that has grown from a deep knowing and connection to my work has an awesome power to bring forth the radiance of each vessel I make. Beauty is everywhere in the act of creation and it is humbling to be encompassed by it.
Artist Statement
I create endlessly. When I started my creative career, I thought I would be a functional potter and had no idea that I was an artist, this came as a complete surprise to me. I work at my art pretty much all the time and am constantly being flooded with new ideas and artistic paths I want to explore. Some might say I am obsessive about my work, but that single-minded focus has led me to where I am today, a successful artist.
I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1959 and moved with my family to British Columbia in 1966. I am a self-taught exploratory potter and have never done anything else for a living. I like to joke about this and often say to my customers that this is why I am so bruised, I learned at the school of hard knocks!
In the past I exhibited worldwide, but these days I find my focus has switched to finding ways to help support up and coming potters. The Legacy Project is all about that, however, it doesn’t start till I am no longer potting and I want to help now. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that the best way I could help would be through an apprenticeship program. In Canada there are no apprenticeships for potters that I know of, so I created the Legacy Project Apprentice Program. This, traditional, 2-year program is designed to take a young potter with basic throwing skills and then, through the repetition of creating my tableware forms, turn them into a studio potter. I no longer have the time to produce tableware for the gallery, that job has now shifted to the apprentices. I am happy to report that they do a pretty good job of keeping the shelves stocked.
Whether you are buying my art pieces or some of the tableware created here you can know that, through your purchases, you are helping the potters of today and tomorrow.
I, the apprentice and my two little dogs, look forward to meeting you when you visit the pottery.
Till then, Potterly yours, Mary
See my full list of publications and exhibits »
