WHEEL WORKS POTTERY

I have been studying Fine Arts since 1975. I began my journey at Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology. From there I studied at the Banff School of Arts and finished my college degree at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary. I continued to work on my Bachelor of Fine Arts,  and achieved With Distinction, at Concordia University, Montreal. I achieved my Art Specialist at McGill University with a full teaching certificate , Montreal.

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While studying in Montreal, I began my teaching career at the University Settlement on the Plateau where I worked with Special Needs Adults as an Art Therapist in 1979. I continued to teach for both the Catholic and Protestant School Boards of Greater Montreal in many Adult Learning Centers including the Montreal Institute for the Blind in Montreal West. During this time, people could teach without certification, and I was encouraged to enter into The Bachelor programme at Concordia University and thus, was able to continue to teach. (I don't ever encourage people to study and work to this degree of intensity.) I continued in my studies at the Faculty of Education, McGill. After completion  of  Arts Specialist at McGill, I moved back to Ontario. Here, in Ontario, I began teaching as a visual arts teacher primarily for the Victoria County Board of Education which then became the Trillium Lakeland District School Board.

In 2012, I had a serious injury that brought my 33 year teaching career to a halt. Over the next few years I was encouraged to work with art therapy to recover better. It's funny how the circle turns!

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I had dabbled with clay since 1975, but never actively pursued it as I was a fibre Artist by training. After asking The Kawartha Potters Guild in Peterborough, I was warmly welcomed and accommodated. They took me in under their wing and helped me to remember almost everything I had forgotten how to do. It's been a long journey and a lot of fun relearning. 

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I have learned to laugh at myself and to adopt the motto: "It's only mud!”

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Now I'm in the position to teach once again. This became clear to me as I was approached by a former grade 6 student who incurred her own trauma. She wanted to learn the craft of mud. Clay is a healer! Today, Mackenzie Barker is the proud owner of Mack's Mugs and teaches as well. You can find her on FB and her website, https://www.macksmugspottery.ca/. Thank you Mack - you have taught me well!

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Part of my creative processes involved experimenting and being loose with my colours, textures, and forms. I mix my own clay, glazes and slips. I also play with fire. So, when you view my work you will never see the same thing twice although it could be very similar. I like to develop my own style. My colour palette is always changing and I believe that's because of the mood I'm in or what the weather is doing outside. You never know!

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Creativity is the gift you have been given - go out and play!

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- Deb Craven