09/03/2026
Meet the Maker questionnaire! This month, meet Catherine Burnett whose pieces can be found at the Train Station Pottery Shop on the BC Ocean Mist shelves.
1. Coffee mug or tea cup?
Catherine prefers mugs to traditional tea cups, tea stays warm longer in a bigger mug. She has a mug collection of hand made mugs from all of her travels.
2. Wheel or hand building?
Catherine enjoys doing both functional pottery and some ceramic art pieces and last year took part in an exhibition at the MAC art gallery. She uses the wheel and slab forms to create her pieces. Her hope for the coming year is to combine her passion for ceramic arts and teaching young children to develop a program aimed to provide access for the youth in our community.
3. What inspires your work?
No matter what class or pottery mentor she trained with, they all shared their observation that everything Catherine created was inspired by the ocean. Catherine grew up on the North Shore near Ambleside beach, the Vancouver Aquarium and coastal Stanley Park Seawall, all acting like her back yard accessible by bike. Moving to the Island Catherine has been further inspired to research Orcas that are spotted regularly that can be observed by land. One thing Catherine has focused on in the last year is using actual Orcas dorsal fin and saddle markings of the whales on her pieces. She feels that to name them, it helps others learn more and hopefully become invested in protecting our ocean. Especially drawing attention to our resident Orcas which right now are nearly extinct. 2 Orcas named Suttles and Chainsaw have inspired many pieces this year.
4. How and when did you get started in pottery?
Catherine began doing pottery classes in 2012 when her daughter was just 3 years old. The evening classes of 4 adults in a potter’s private studio, provided a restorative self care routine. After her full time week as a licensed childcare provider for 8 children, her evening session rejuvenated her for the following week.
5. What is your favourite pottery tool?
Her favourite pottery tool is her sketchbook. Creative inspiration can strike at anytime and recently learning to carry it everywhere has really helped Catherine to plan and consider the structural framing and focal point while also plannimg for textures that will work with her glaze applications.
6. What is something people don't realize about making pottery?
It always amazes her that every beautiful ceramic piece began as a clump of mud essentially. Yet the makers hands, tools, geographic clay source, glaze mineral recipes, pure imagination, and 2 kiln firings goes into everything people find on our guild members' shelves. Catherine shares “I am not sure if the public truly considers all that goes into everything we do. That even if we all started with the same lump of clay and the exact plans, no two pieces would ever be the same. My favourite part about this art medium is the endless outcomes it offers and how many things can go wrong in the entire process that we must learn to practise “non attachment” with everything we create.” Cracks, lids falling as we load into the kiln, glaze sputters or doesn’t adhere to the pottery, or worse when it runs onto the kiln shelves. The beauty is the process for the makers and Catherine loves knowing her creations find their forever homes.
Thank you to Catherine for sharing!
