o

POTTERS
GUILD
of BRITISH

COLUMBIA
a

Cathi Jefferson: BC Creative Achievement Award 2010

By Melany Hallam & Amy Gogarty

Potters across British Columbia are cheering
the news that long-time PGBC member
Cathi Jefferson was awarded the Carter-Wosk
BC Creative Achievement Award for Applied
Art and Design on Aug. 31. Cathi is joined
by Natalie Purschwitz of Vancouver, receiving
the award for clothing and accessories, and
Toby Barratt, Pamela Goddard and Nik Rust
of Propellor Design of Vancouver receiving
the award for furniture and lighting. Cathi
and the other BC Creative Achievement
Award recipients were recognized at a
presentation and exhibition event on Sept. 27
in Vancouver. Recipients receive $2,500 and
are granted the use of the British Columbia
Creative Award seal to signify their creative
excellence. The Award winners work will be
exhibited at the YVR. Cathi is the fifth potter
to receive the B.C. Creative Achievement
Award. Previous award winners were Rachelle
Chinnery (2007), Sarah Lawless and Kinichi
Shigeno (2008), and Lilach Lotan (2009).

Inspired by the west coast rainforest outside
her studio on the Cowichan River, Cathi’s
skills as a ceramic artist have been developed
and honed over 35 years. She says that she
has always known that she was meant to be
a potter; it is simply something that she loves
to do,

Most of her work is wheel-thrown and
altered into square or triangular shapes. Pieces
are decorated with impressions from nature or
geometric shapes that attempt to fit the form
and add texture to the surface. What makes
Cathi’s work unique is the salt-fired technique
she uses to finish her stoneware. The salt
vaporizes at a high temperature in the kiln
and interacts with the clay to create a glaze.
‘The process can create a variety of textures
on the same object, providing wonderfully
unpredictable results.

“Cathi Jefferson’s thrown and altered, salt-
glazed porcelain vessels and garden sculptures
reflect her love of nature in the delicate
colours and patterns that decorate them,”
said Amy Gogarty in a talk to the NWCF in
2008. Cathi adds that, “...my overwhelming
desire to make functional dishes is grounded
in the belief that it is important to have
handmade items in our lives to help us remain
connected to the natural world and to each
other.” By embellishing surfaces with imagery,
textures and colours derived from nature, she

Tea Set, by Cathi Jefferson.

encourages people to pay closer attention to
all aspects of the environment. She hopes that
using her functional work transforms “the
ordinary into something very special.”

Cathi’s career as a studio-trained potter
began in 1974 under mentor Herman
Venema in Matsqui. She received formal arts
training at Kwantlen College and Fraser Valley
College. She has taught clay at the University
of Victoria, the Emily Carr Institute of Art +
Design and the Kootenay School of the Arts.
Her craft has taken her around the world,
including leading workshops around North
America, the UK and Korea and residencies
in B.C., Alberta, Maine, Japan, the U.K. and
at The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana.

Cathi’s installation work, Reflecting Nature:
Reflecting Spirit, is showing until Oct. 16 at the
Cowichan Valley Arts Council Arts Centre
Gallery (2 - 139 Station Street, Duncan,
B.C.) The show was three years in the making
and was partially funded by a grant from
the Canada Council for the Arts. The very
large, diverse display includes mixed media,
projected images and printed banners as well
as her incredible stoneware sculptures, and
has been shown on only one other occasion
in 2007 at the Seymour Art Gallery in North
Vancouver.

Cathi, from all of your fellow guild members,

congratulations on your achievement!

Among many positions shes held within the B.C.
clay community, Cathi Jefferson served on the
North-West Ceramics Foundation board for

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter : October 2010

three years, has been a co-chair of the Canadian
Clay Symposium since 1999, is past president of
the Fraser Valley Potters Guild, and is currently
teaching at the University of Victoria. You can
see Cathi and her work at the Circle Craft Fair
in Vancouver Nov. 17 to 21 and at the Out of
Hand 22nd annual artisan Christmas fair in
Victoria Nov. 26 to 28. She also has a studio
gallery now and would love potters to come by
to visit and have a cup of tea when they are in
the beautiful Cowichan Valley. For more info
see Cathis website: www.cathijefferson.com.
For more on the BC Creative Achievement
Award see: http://www.bcachievement.com/

cteative/ recipients.php

Large Leaf Bottle, by Cathi Jefferson.
ee

5