Ember’s experience with the world of ceramics has been anything but ordinary.

Growing up, her father had a production pottery studio, so as an adult when she finally sat at the wheel herself she picked up pottery very quickly. “It felt like muscle memory from a past life.” But it’s not just muscle memory, “I sometimes feel like I have eyes on the ends of my fingers or that I can see what is happening in my mind’s eye”

Ember arrived on Denman Island 15 years ago and spent years attending the wood firings of Gordon Hutchens’ Anagama kiln with her children. She had married into the Hutchens’ family and, for her, the importance of those wood-firing weekends centered around spending quality time with her family, the way one would at Christmas. Even with years of exposure to the pottery world, it was only eight years ago that Ember first started making pottery and with that spark ignited, the limits of her creativity knows no bounds. She is not only a potter but also creates incredible hyperrealistic paintings, hosts a weekly life drawing class, as well as children’s art classes.

Ember makes her own glazes and has developed a few options like her go-to: a lithium glaze combined with cobalt and iron that results in a dark metallic, squid ink-like colour. The hypnotic Hematite look of this custom glaze makes it one of her best-sellers.

A manual gas kiln is used for both her bisque and glaze firing. This tedious process requires her to sit for 12 hours and make micro adjustments to the oxygen and propane levels, something she enjoys doing. “Every microscopic thing you do creates a butterfly effect and I learn something new with every firing.”

Never one to make the same thing twice, Ember’s work is ever changing. On the tour this year you can expect to find big mugs you can curl your hands around, sculpture work, vases, and – if she has time – hand-built pieces done in the Nirakomi style of folded patterns of clay rolled into slabs.

If you’ve picked up any of her delicate mugs, you will get a sense of the level of craftsmanship involved in her work. “I push the bounds of my finishing so my work tends to be more delicate. It’s so interesting to me that [pottery] can be so fragile and so strong at the same time.”

Ember has only been on the Denman Island Pottery Studio Tour once before (over five years ago). Typically her work is only publically available once a year at the Denman Christmas Craft Fair. This May Long Weekend, Ember’s pottery will be displayed at the Denman Island Art Gallery, located on the corner of Northwest Road and Denman Road, walking distance from the Denman West ferry terminal.