Lisa-Marie Serafin

I began my journey as a potter in 1987 and studied hand building techniques for 2 years at a community centre in my hometown of Winnipeg. After that brief introduction, I drifted back towards my first career which was in music. I spent nearly 30 years singing, playing my guitar and writing songs. The idea was to do it for a living, but I always had a "real job" to make ends meet.

As the years passed it was clear that if I wanted to make a real living from my music I would have to spend most of my time generating business rather than being creative and honing my skills as a performer. Wearing the hats of agent, manager, sales rep, and PR person, I learned a lot, but I grew tired of the business aspect and longed to return to the creative process.

In 1999 my path led me back to clay and I met my mentor Kevin Kushnier of Winnipeg. I took his classes and I perfected my techniques on the potter's wheel. I learned several varieties of surface decorating techniques my favourites being wax resist and various texturing methods. I began trading my labour for studio time then became Kevin's apprentice and technician just months later. I began teaching and managing his studio, The Blue Door, in 2000.

I'd made quite a few good pieces by 2000 and took them to a gallery in Winnipeg's trendy Osborne Village. The owner accepted my pieces on consignment and a little money started coming in from gallery sales. I worked for the next year or more teaching pottery most week nights and spending almost every afternoon at the studio working on my pieces.

In 2002 I moved from Manitoba to Québec and my little workshop and gallery, Poterie du Lac la Blanche was established in 2003.

I enjoy making functional ware that is both hand built and made on the potters' wheel. My work is made for every day living and for creating beautiful surroundings. I love loose flowing waves of clay, drippy glazes and classic forms. I'm directly influenced by pioneer potters, nature, colour and ancient symbols. The biggest influences however are my tools. My tools are clay, glazes and equipment like the potters' wheel, kilns, hand tools and such.

When I tell people that I am a potter, they are always interested in hearing about my work. They like to give me things like a small bag of clay they dug up in their yard and thought I would like to try. I once got a few boxes of dusty jars of low fire glazes from the 1970's. I've had several bags of pre-mixed glazes come my way too. Some bags were marked "1982". I recently acquired several buckets of clay that I will recycle. It's by experimenting with what I have or what I'm given that has led me down an exciting path of discovery and growth.

My work is available at Poterie du Lac la Blanche Mayo, QC, 1001 Pots, Val-David, QC, and Ottawa Guild of Potters sales.