Rosemary Slater

Rosemary learned to use the pottery wheel when she started working for “Clay for Kids” in Calgary. “A 5-minute practice in my boss’s garage prepared me for throwing demo cups in front of my first elementary school class. They were badly centered, fat walled and undersized but to my appreciative audience that didn’t matter”.

Rosemary finds working with clay absorbing and satisfying. “The way clay feels in your hands, takes any shape you want is magic!” Rosemary also enjoys the company of teachers, students, families, and local ceramicists she has met through her company, CLAYTIVITY.

Rosemary’s favorite pieces connect with “fun experiences”. “Like pieces I decorated with Squamish clay. I never really understood the obsession artists have with the idea of locally sourced clay until I met Kay and Andrea. I felt like Bilbo Baggins, as we set forth in our wellies, equipped with garden trowels and umbrellas. We returned to my vehicle, laughing, soaking wet, and covered with more clay than we had collected.”

Rosemary’s other favorites are those she fired “at the mercy of the kiln gods”, with Kay and a merry band of local clay enthusiasts, gathered round a repurposed garbage-can raku kiln, once again bracing the Squamish rain.

Finally, Rosemary’s favorites include “those made with the honest intention of putting good food on the table”. “It seems that anything – rice, stews, popcorn, scones, bread, victoria sponges tastes so good when it has been cooked in clay.”