An interview with Jo Priestley 2) 2ewis Kennew

In May I had the opportunity to visit Fraser Valley potter Jo Priestley.
After a short drive into the Mission area, I turned off the main road
and drove up the forest lane en route to Jo's house and workshop. Just
before I reached the house a small pond and water feature welcomed
me to my destination.

Jos workshop and gallery are located in a two-storey cottage with a
personality that invites your curiosity. Just inside the workshop door
and past a beautiful little wood stove is a large work table. To the right
your eyes are drawn to a small work space added on to accommodate
Jos potter's wheel. This area is surrounded by windows and allows
an unobstructed view of the entire back garden and the mountains
beyond. Next is the kiln room which contains two large cone 10
electric kilns and a small test kiln for glaze experiments. The last room
in the workshop is the glaze room with its walls lined with storage
racks. These racks were filled with work patiently waiting for their next
trip to the kiln.

Jo had just returned from a two-month escape to Baja, Mexico and
after getting her garden wrestled back into order had now turned her
attention to getting her pottery production into gear. Our first area of
focus was the test glaze results of the previous year. What impressed
me the most was Jo’s infectious enthusiasm and excitement for each
piece and the opportunity that each represented. Each test glaze had a
story, a feeling and a personality. Jo admitted that sometimes when she
was supposed to be cleaning she gets captured by the glaze test results
and gets lost in thoughts of where to take the glazes next and how she
can use them. Jo keeps very detailed records of the glaze tests and also
admits there just isn’t enough time to explore all the possibilities.

Next we went upstairs into her gallery.
This is a beautiful area well lit with the work
well displayed. At the end of the gallery is
a large window overlooking the garden and
the amazing view. The shelves and plinths
present a variety of pieces that display the
various areas that Jo has explored, from
white and black raku, to horse hair raku,
to deep rich reduction fired glazed work.
‘These pieces compete with each other for
your immediate attention and it takes a few
minutes to decide which area you want to
focus on first. The white and black raku is
new work not yet ready to be sent to the
galleries; Jo says she needs a little more time
with these pieces before she will be ready to
part with them.

I asked Jo what keeps her working with clay. “It’s the process, the
discoveries, the exploring; ] love to work with shapes and forms. I stay
with a piece long enough to understand it; I keep working on a form
until one day it tells me that I’ve got it right. When a piece works it
just speaks to you, it lets you know that it’s alive. There’s not enough
time to explore everything but now I am taking the time to work on
what I want to do.”

‘Then we were off to her gas kiln shed, this is located beside her work

\) shop and also contains a glaze spraying area. The kiln originally came
@ from New Zealand and allows Jo to produce consistent results on all

its shelves. To understand the kiln and its personality, Jo keeps detailed

Forest Fossil Series, 14” x 7.5”, raku fired with heath
root twigs from the garden. Photo by Lewis Kennett.

records of every firing and speaks quite highly of the
kilns consistency.

Last, but not least, I requested a tour of the garden.
It was raining and a little too early to really see the
garden in all its glory but even in the rain the garden
was beautiful. It over looks the Mission Abbey, with a
clear view of Mount Baker (when it isnt raining.)

Jo is a very multi-layered person: a potter, a gardener,
and an accomplished public speaker. Jo has had her
pottery published in various books; her garden has won
several awards and is visited and toured by bus loads of
tourists every year. Jo has a life time membership in the Mission Arts
Council; Jo received the Arts and Culture Award from The District of
Mission for her contributions to the arts in Mission and the home-
based business of the year award from the Chamber of Commerce. She
is currently working with the Mission Circle Farm group both locally
and at the regional level.

Thank you Jo, for taking time out of your busy schedule to share
your thoughts and enthusiasm with me.

Jo's studio and gardens are open to the public Thursday to Sunday,
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is well worth a trip out to Mission to explore Jo's
world of pots and plants.

COLUMBIA Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - July/August 2009 5