Making a cup or bowl or kettle is a journey, potter Meghan McCrone says, as she pours a cup of steaming tea in her natural-light soaked studio.聽
It starts with an idea. Then there鈥檚 the many steps to reaching that goal: preparing the clay, crafting the item, letting it dry, touching it up, firing it, glazing it 鈥� and the process can keep going, McCrone says as she walks over to four bowls she has been crafting.
鈥淵ou need patience, timing, balance and flexibility,鈥� she adds. 鈥淎nd you never know how the final product will turn out.鈥澛�
There鈥檚 a calmness to the Squamish mother of two鈥檚 voice, a kind of ease that may only come from years of opening up the kiln to find a cracked mug or cup, when hours of work crumble before one鈥檚 eyes. Her studio, a sanctuary away from her two- and seven-year-old, is a palette of earthy tones, sprinkled with a wall of colourful pictures that inspire her. It鈥檚 tucked away in the corner of her backyard, a stone鈥檚 throw from her husband鈥檚 workshop in the other nook of the garden.聽
Parisian accordion music plays from a small speaker in the studio as McCrone continues to explain her love of pottery and the sometimes tumultuous relationship that comes with it.聽
鈥淚 feel like they are my foster child,鈥� McCrone says light-heartedly. 鈥淚 make them and then send them out into the community.鈥�
McCrone鈥檚 love of clay started when she was 14 years old. At the time, she was chosen to participate in a high school ceramic workshop with artist Joe Farard. She later attended what was then Capilano College and UBC鈥檚 fine arts program before transferring to Emily Carr University of Art and Design to better focus on arts, McCrone says. In return, she promised her parents she would also complete a teaching degree, a promise she kept. She now works at Cedar Valley Waldorf School.
Under the name of Muddy Marvels Pottery, McCrone crafts items to sell at artisan markets and at shops around town. In her studio, she also hosts pottery workshops that have become so popular she鈥檚 added extra weeks. In a world that is obsessed with perfection, people seem to be seeking solace in uniqueness, McCrone says, noting pottery has once again become the in thing.聽
McCrone gets joy out of providing moments of 鈥渦niqueness,鈥� whether it鈥檚 five minutes in the morning sipping on coffee from a hefty mug or feeling the ripples from fingers spun into a salad bowl. The handmade pottery offers little escapes from the IKEA-ness of our landscape, she says.聽
鈥淭hese pieces become old friends,鈥� McCrone says, 鈥渇riends you catch up with briefly throughout the day.鈥�
For more on McCrone鈥檚 pottery and her workshops visit www.muddymarvelspottery.com.
