Chilliwack potter Holly McKeen was our guest at last Wednesday’s TriCity Potters’ meeting. Holly gave us a Power Point Presentation on her remarkable and speedy career in pottery. She also brought along quite a few pieces of her distinctive crystal-glazed work and finished up with a little demonstration of her method of producing a functional lasagne dish.

Only about twelve years ago Holly and her husband Ken secured buy-outs from their government administrative jobs and she decided to see if she could earn an income from pottery production instead. They bought a farm in verdant Greendale near Chilliwack and Ken started to be a cattle farmer, they built deluxe accommodation to offer B & B and they built a well-designed studio and gallery space. I am happy to note that at about this time Holly was a student of mine, in a wheel-throwing class at Shadbolt Centre. I remember that she was determined to learn it all, right away, and, with various instructors, she put in the time to perfect a range of functional ware for marketing.

Somewhere along the way, in the course of classes and workshops, Holly became enamoured of the effects of the very exacting process of crystalline surfaces on pots. In this evening’s talk she explained the many people she’s met and opportunities she’s had in pursuit of this passion. In particular she mentioned Ginny Conrow, crystalline potter from Washington state and NY potter Marcia Silverman as special friends in this field, as well as the influence of the late British potter Peter Ilsley. Some effects are quite spectacular and she has been included in major exhibitions of crystal ware and invited to give workshops herself. Check Clay Times, Nov-Dec 2007 for a fine image.

Now, she and her husband have decided to change the very busy lifestyle of selling prime beef, operating a guest house and a gallery. Holly showed us photos of the vast inventory of ware she used to have on hand as well as the more demanding crystalline pieces. So now, after two weekends of very successful closing sales, the farm has sold and they will live in a house some ten minutes away. Holly will still supply completion pieces for collectors of her functional ware, but will not have a gallery. Her domain name will remain Holly McKeen at Greendale Pottery. The link to her new website which explains the changes is here:

http://www.hollymckeenpottery.com

and her Facebook page for recent photos of work is:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greendale-Pottery-by-Holly-McKeen-Studio-Potter/214604825227653

We had the opportunity to pick up and admire some finished pieces and Holly ended her presentation with a little demonstration of how she makes her functional lasagne baking dishes. The process is very similar to the way I make the slab plates for my ‘Raiders’ and is certainly much simpler than the usual method of throwing the wall and attaching it to a slab base.

Thank you Holly for a well-planned and informative talk and pictures about your career so far. And good luck in the new location and studio, and in your further efforts to achieve that magical perfect crystal finish! And have fun with Ken in his new pursuit of flying planes!

www.greendalepotteryandcountryguesthouse.com

Holly McKeen is the energetic organizer of the event, and a potter, so I had received an invitation via the Fraser Valley Potters Guild. She was happy to point out also that I was her first female pottery instructor! Some ten years ago she used to drive an hour to Shadbolt Centre for wheelthrowing lessons with me! Since then she and her husband Ken have established their ‘retirement’ dream of a hobby farm with B & B, the pottery and its showroom and Ken’s Black Angus herd of cattle. Holly produces several lines of functional ware with cone 6 B-mix clay but her passion is to throw elegant vases, lidded containers and platters to be finished with her signature crystalline glazes.

Even though she was very busy with customers she insisted on giving me and Al a tour of her studio, garden and inside their home where we saw pots she’s collected. She throws at a window looking out over their acres to other farms and the Coast Mountains beyond. We came away with a freezer pack of naturally raised Black Angus beef and lots of photos, and impressed by Holly and Ken’s busy lifestyle in a beautiful, quiet farm setting. I’ve been meaning to visit Holly’s studio for some years and will now recommend friends make the effort to join either the bike tour or the more leisurely driving tour when they’re offered next summer.

Besides the McKeen’s enterprise we visited farms where we bought fresh brown eggs, 3 perennials, frozen pork smokies, tomatoes, garlic, cheese and an ice cream! We didn’t have time to visit the honey farm, the flour mill, earthworms composting supplies, quilting fabrics, soaps, light sculptures or, no surprise, the corn maze. So there’s plenty to do on a return trip. We ended our drive by finding the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve on the Vedder River and enjoyed a pleasant early evening stroll along trails by swamps, blackberries and birds. We actually only saw one heron. Our day ended with a pub supper at tour sponsor Duke’s Pub at the Highway 1 exit to Greendale before the one-hour drive home to Port Moody.