Join Kerri Holmes at the Arts Station Gallery for a meet and greet and to browse her Potter’s Garden Gallery Show, which will remain in the Gallery for the month of August.
Artist Bio
Kerri Holmes is an artist, musician, and educator. Holmes works with stoneware clay, throwing humble utilitarian pots for the home and garden. She splits her time working as a school teacher and making art. Her pottery has been shown throughout the Kootenays in collaboration with BC artists. Holmes has taught workshops on pottery technique for 15 years. She has served as a board member for the Fernie District Arts Council, as adjudicator for the Arts Station’s Public Art Project, and currently she serves the Fernie Potter’s Guild as a studio technician. Holmes studied ceramics at the Kootenay School of Art and Design and received a B.F.A. from the Alberta College of Art and Design. To view some of Kerri’s latest work visit H2 Gallery in downtown Fernie, BC.
Artist Statement
The Potter’s Garden is a retrospective exhibit of my journey with clay. The idea for the show emerged from long hours commuting to work 100km from my home and family. I had plenty of time to contemplate why I was changing careers. Also, my fiftieth birthday was coming at me like a logging truck crossing the yellow line, laden and inevitable. On this particular day my students and I had attended a presentation by Canadian Astronaut, Chris Hadfield. His message was clear; every day you have a choice to step closer to your goal. What had I done to move closer? While driving home, after yet another close call with a truck, I pulled over to the shoulder of the highway.
I needed a break, something had to give.
Changing track on the latter side of one’s life means tackling persistent underlying questions such as: Why is this journey so important? Why clay? What is the point of this gift; is pottery made by an artisan even relevant to our culture? I realized I was missing a sense of wonder and joy that used to infuse my creative practice. I decided to revisit people and experiences from the past that had been so formative to me.
Each work created for the Potter’s Garden represents a person, a lesson learned, a place or state of mind that influenced me.
Since 1996 I had been making practical tableware, visiting markets and selling through local retail businesses. If wanted to bring back the magic, I would challenge myself to go big. In 2018, with support from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, I began to build large garden pots that echo classical Greek form and illustrated them using terra sigillata1 and scraffito2. I branched out to sculpt a multi-piece fountain. Then a birdbath. I definitively left my comfort zone bending rebar and pouring cement garden benches.
Journeys are part of life. We make choices daily. Shall I stick to this path and perfect what I know? Shall I follow this interesting idea to reach a new vantage point? Shall I wander from the path despite its known and unknown risks? The Potter’s Garden is a space where you are welcome to wander and take a moment to consider the path ahead.
