Jamie Germaine

My work in clay began when I was a student at the State University of New York in Buffalo in the early 70's. While pursuing a degree in anthropology, I discovered the pottery studio in the student union and was smitten. Since that time, I have taken a variety of ceramic courses and workshops in New York, Vermont, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Mexico, Italy, and Spain.

After settling in Prince Edward Island, Canada, in 1972, my ceramic work ebbed and flowed for many years, as I was raising a family, operating a strawberry and raspberry farm, and pursuing careers in special education, social work, and school counselling.

Working out of a studio next to my home, I produce both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces with a unique style of texturing that has become characteristic of my work. My surrounding environment of woodland and sea is reflected in the organic nature of the surfaces that I create on the clay. A workshop in Italy in 2003 introduced me to the fascinating primitive technique of smoke firing. Since that time, I have been exploring the many facets of this alternative firing method. I am attracted to the subtle and earthy effects of the process that often remind me of the ancient artifacts that I discovered while studying anthropology in Mexico.

Since retiring from my career as a school counsellor, I now devote more of my time to ceramic work. My current focus has been on hand-built, smoke-fired bowls and platters. In collaboration with my husband, Greg Ross, we have applied the Japanese art of kintsugi to bowls and platters that may have cracked during the firing process. Kintsugi is a method of taking something flawed and repairing it with gold (in our case, gold-tinted epoxy) to create an even more beautiful piece of work. The process is painstakingly slow, but the result is a unique piece of ceramic art.

As smoke-fired ceramic work is not glazed, the pieces are porous and are to be enjoyed as decorative work only.