About Us

The Potters Place Gallery and Shop in Courtenay, part of the Comox Valley, was established 15 years ago as an outlet for local pottery. Currently 30 island potters sell from the store offering an impressive variety of high quality pottery. Functional pieces, wheel thrown and hand built, include dinnerware, teapots, casseroles, vases, drinking vessels, and more.  Sculptural pieces, altered and carved forms, wall hangings and masks are also found in the store.

Stoneware, porcelain and earthenware clays are used in a spectrum of colour fired from low to high temperatures in electric, gas, and wood kilns. Among the specialty firing techniques we have:

• Salt and Soda: Salt or soda is introduced into the kiln at the top temperatures and interacts with the clay and colourants to produce a distinctive glaze, often characterized by an "orange peel" texture.
   
• Pit Firing: These pots have no glaze. The surface shine is due to the time spent burnishing the pot and the colour comes from the fire and the combustibles used such as shavings, sawdust, seaweed, dog food and oxides.
   
• Raku: These pots are removed red hot from the kiln and placed in combustible material. They burn in a controlled smoke that creates beautiful coppers, iridescent, black and crackle glaze effects.
   
• Wood Firing: These pots are fired in a kiln heated by wood to a high temperature. The fly ash from the wood lick the pots to add luscious deposits forming warm exceptional glazes.
   
• Crystalline: High fired, cooled slightly in the kiln to a crystal growing temperature and held while crystals form in the glazes to produce unusual and exotic patterns on the pots.

Each month we feature an individual potter and this challenges the artist to produce an exceptional body of work for the viewing public.
We are a non profit society , operate as a collective, support local charities and the arts, and contribute to community education about the world of ceramics.

Please click on  photos to enlarge