Williams Lake potter Anna Roberts is hosting a two-day show and sale of her pottery on Sept. 26 and 27 at her home on Grebe Drive near the end of South Lakeside.
“Once again I have a studio full of hand-built pottery that will be displayed outside my studio,” Anna says.
Shortly after arriving in the Cariboo 56 years ago, Anna discovered that the area has good clay for pottery-making.
She still digs her own clay that she uses to make two different types of pottery.
For some pieces she glazes the interior to make them waterproof. She leaves the outsides unglazed to show the interesting colours of local iron-bearing clays.
As a naturalist, Anna’s trademark design is her use of decaying wood she finds outdoors to impress designs on the surface of her pots.
The second type of pottery that Anna makes is burnished ware.
She makes these pots by rubbing leather-hard clay with a polished agate to give the pot a shiny surface.
The pieces are then fired at a lower temperature than the glazed pottery in order to maintain the shine.
To finish the burnished ware, Anna puts them in an outside flame to give them colour variations. These pots are highly prized as unique decorative pieces.
Anna learned her various techniques from numerous workshops that have been brought to the Cariboo by the Cariboo Potters Guild, and developed her style from her own experimentation, trial and error.
Anna co-founded the Cariboo Potters Guild nearly 50 years ago with a group of potters, and she served as the guild’s first president.
Her one-of-a-kind show and sale will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days, Friday, Sept. 26 and Saturday, Sept. 27.
Her pottery will be displayed outdoors near her studio at 2202 Grebe Drive, first driveway to the left after crossing the railway tracks.