Weekend studio tour stirs pottery newcomers

A Coast-wide tour of ceramics studios marked its fifth anniversary last weekend while one of its exhibitors announced an impending crack in the claywork community.

A Coast-wide tour of ceramics studios marked its fifth anniversary last weekend while one of its exhibitors announced an impending crack in the claywork community. The Forst Pottery Club — a launchpad for hundreds of fledgling ceramicists over its ten years of existence — will wind down operations later this year. “It’s been great and I loved it,” said founder Pat Forst, who opened her studio last Saturday and Sunday as one of 21 Pottery Prowl venues from Gibsons to Jervis Inlet.

She exhibited her backyard kiln-fired creations on Saturday and Sunday alongside works by three members of the club: Diana VanWoerkom, Allyson Muir and Gennesse Adele Langdon. “I’m sorry to give it up because I love the teaching,” explained Forst, “but I don’t love all the other parts, like making sure we have enough glazes and doing all the books.” She will continue to create murals, sculptures and functional pottery out of the Forst Pottery Studio, and plans to continue exhibiting in the annual Prowl.

Prospective potters will soon have another opportunity to learn from a master ceramicist. Liz de Beer, whose Klaywerk Studio re-opened in Roberts Creek days before the Pottery Prowl, will take advantage of her expanded facility by scaling classes from three to eight concurrent participants. “For me, the event was an opportunity to introduce the new studio,” said de Beer.

Her works explore the designs and wildlife of her native Africa; many pieces are paired with a porcupine quill. “I wasn’t so much making much new,” she added, “but just to show this is the new space, and now I’ve got a lineup of people wanting to do classes.” Keeping the Prowl itself to a manageable size has been a priority for organizer Pam Horner (whose whimsical hand-built pieces at Pottery by Pam often evoke mealtime staples).

“I’ve already got two people who want to be in it next year,” she observed, “and that would mean we’d have to go to another panel in the brochure, and that would be another $1,000 in our budget.” New sponsors came onboard in 2026 to cover promotional costs. Meanwhile, some exhibitors dedicated a portion of their sale proceeds to the Ruby Slipper & Black Boot Fund.

The fund supports Sunshine Coast residents facing financial hardship after a cancer diagnosis. “We set standards this year,” added Horner. “We made people apply, and we said: this is a studio tour, it’s not a massive pottery sale.”

She invited visitors at her porchfront gallery to examine her hand rolling setup, and to consider embracing the discipline. One of the newcomers, Margo Karda, also contributed social media expertise to promoting the event. Karda’s creations reflect her own enthusiasms: bas-relief swimmers paddle across wide-ringed plates, a tribute to the members of Karda’s cold plunge club.

In her “mermaid pool”, ceramic tails protrude from the gravel-lined surface. At the Huckleberry Studio in Halfmoon Bay, Naomi Brand snapped “mug shots” (wreathed by a hand-painted picture frame) of customers holding drinking vessels, and posted them on Instagram. Another first-timer, Kathryn Fullerton of Garden Bay, chose to collaborate with Madeira Park mainstay Pia Sillem.

The two exhibited their sawdust- and wood-fired pieces in separate studios at the Geopia Gallery’s hilltop garden, which itself mesmerized visitors who made the approach through fluttering banners. “I participated in the Art Crawl last year, and it’s hard: there’s so many venues to choose from,” observed Fullerton. “With the Pottery Prowl, you know you’re getting ceramics, and you’re not overwhelmed.

It’s been really cool to see young ceramicists new to the art form, coming and asking so many great questions. They’re curious about the process and the mediums. We all started somewhere and it’s been pretty satisfying that way.”

At the Creek Clayworks studio in Roberts Creek, pieces by Elaine Futterman filled the exhibition space alongside works by the late Michael Allegretti. Allegretti passed away in December after an accomplished teaching career and prodigious creativity through photography, wood and ceramics. “A lot of his work sold today,” said Futterman.

“I was sad to see it go, but he would have been happy. One of his best vases sold. A lot of his work was left unfinished, and as I feel inclined I’ll probably put my interpretation on it.”

A photo essay featuring participating Pottery Prowl artists and their online coordinates can be browsed at michaelgurney.com/culture.