Bonnie Keats

I have been potting for 25 years, and count myself very fortunate to love what I do. My studio is in Knutsford, BC, overlooking beautiful Shumway Lake.

I work in earthenware for large sized wall murals and vases, or in cone 10 stoneware and porcelain for functional pieces and coffee-table bowls. Each bowl is thrown from 20 lb of clay, often with coils added to make a "ragged" edge, then fired for 13 hours in my Bourry Box wood kiln. I use thin strips of fir, cedar and birch, blended each time I stoke the firebox. Wood produces the longest flame of any fuel, and the flames wrap around the contours of the pieces, toasting any bare clay and melting ash into the glazed surfaces.

I have recently been experimenting with melting dichroic glass into the centre of my big bowls, to add pattern and texture to them, and excitement to the routine of producing pottery.