Irene Ives

Irene has been engaged in ceramics and visual arts for over 40 years. She was lucky to have attended high schools with robust arts and ceramics programs and continued to study art education and art therapy as a part of her Bachelors of Education, Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Counselling and Guidance Studies and Masters of Special Education at the University of British Columbia. She has been engaged with Indigenous communities personally and professionally and is of Metis descent.  During her years as an educator and school administrator, she also pursued her passion for ceramic arts first at a community studio in Maple Ridge, then at Place Des Arts Centre in Coquitlam and the Port Moody Arts Centre. When she relocated to Colwood, she joined the Juan De Fuca Potters community studio before setting up her own studio in 2019.  Over these years, she has taken numerous courses, and participated in many workshops and community ceramics events.  Since her retirement from the public education system, she pursues ceramics full time both by producing and selling her work from her home studio, as well as offering private therapeutic art sessions for individuals. She is a member of Metchosin Artpod -artist collective and regularly shows work in their gallery. She is a member of the South Island Potters Guild and is a founding member of the Shore to Shore Pottery Studio Tour Committee. 

I employ a variety of handbuilding techniques and Cone 6 oxidation or alternative firing processes to produce decorative and functional ceramic pieces. My work is about texture, patina, erosion, accretion -the pieces are imperfect, and irregular, reflecting the ever-evolving surfaces and forms found in nature. I continue to be fascinated by the archival qualities of clay and the relationship between this medium and humans over time. My process purposefully includes evidence of the maker’s hand and I strive to create pieces that beg to be touched and handled.