Cathi Jefferson

Potter Cathi Jefferson and her husband Parker live close enough to the Cowichan River to hear fish jump. A forty year old fishing cabin on their property has been home since early 2007 when they moved from Deep Cove in North Vancouver to West Riverbottom Road in Sahtlam. Squat and dwarfed by surrounding firs and cedars, the cabin appears to have grown out of the ground or perhaps erupted out of the earth during an auspicious full moon. In the slip of a kitchen, shelves and cupboards are crowded with handmade stoneware mugs, pitchers, bowls and plates; some of which were made by Cathi but many found their way here as trades with other potters. The collection is eclectic, but they all seem to get along.

Although construction of a timber frame house and studio has been going on for a year, ravens, eagles, and owls continue to rendezvous in the trees above, lilies continue to bloom where they’ve always bloomed and ferns, honeysuckle and salal brazenly carry on filling in the sunny gaps on the ground. This is because Cathi and Parker are committed to leaving a small footprint on the earth.

"People today have a disconnect with nature," Cathi says. By using handmade items, like pottery, she believes it helps us remember our connection and thereby respect nature, treating it with care.

"Handmade items have soul to them," she continues. Her "altered wheel-thrown functional stoneware," done by an ancient salt firing technique, produces pieces that have the translucence of morning dew on a river rock. They're durable too, expecting long useful lives.

Hand-crafted means slower. Cathi works twelve to fourteen hours a day in her studio. Subtle angles make teapots rectangular and cups triangular so Cathi can paint unique designs on each side. "There is a timelessness about salt firing," Cathi says. "Each side is different, so it holds interest, it's unpredictable."

The impressive salt kiln she recently built stands firmly rooted in the new studio like the trunk of an old growth tree. "A kiln is like people," Cathi says, "They age, they are not a static entity." This hardworking co-worker has a chimney crowned by an antique salt-fired chimney pot that has finally found a new home.

Now that her environmental landscape has changed, Cathi is curious to see how her work will also change. "Where you're living affects what you do," she says.

The addition of the sculptural work she is presently crafting is a big leap for Cathi. Finding a place in the new gallery, tall fragile-as-nature pieces reach up to the sky as if they are still growing, creating new forests along the Cowichan River. Cathi's enjoying building new beauty along the Cowichan River.