Jacqueline Palmer - Vistige Pottery

Biography
Jacqueline Palmer – Vistige Pottery
I’ve always had an affinity for mud puddles. As a child I collected frogs and worms
and discovered clay in creeks and coastal cliffs in Wollongong, Australia where I grew
up.

One year I received an exciting paperback manual in my Christmas stocking which
provided guidance on processing raw clay and making hand built pottery. I was
launched and went into production, excited by the endless possibilities of shapes and
forms and the potential usefulness of pots.

All my pots dried and cracked in the sun. Then in high school the art teacher kindly
resurrected an old kiln and fired some of my pots. Using pink clay I’d collected from a
cliff face and a clear glaze, I produced a series of large coil pots.

When I was a teenager, I inherited my grandfather’s watercolours which led to a lifelong love
of watercolour journaling. Three small tubes of primary watercolours, a paintbrush, a yoghurt lid
for a palette,paper and a tiny water container accompany me when hiking and travelling. Wildlife
and scenery encountered on wilderness canoe trips and hikes provide endless inspiration
and environmental concerns dear to my heart find expression in my work.
Similarly, clay provides a canvas for my painting.

In 2000 I re-immersed myself in pottery joining pottery guilds in Trail and later
Summerland. When we moved north to the remote wilderness near Burns Lake I had
my own pottery studio overlooking Tchesinkut Lake. Our home and studio were heated
with wood stoves. With an abundance of ash, my husband challenged me to make ash
glazes. Countless experiments, test pots and research culminated in the development
of my signature ash glazes. The processing of ash is a challenging production and ash
is corrosive on the skin. It took over a year to get the first successful ash glaze and I’ve
added to my repertoire over the years. A pivotal event occurred when I experimented
with incorporating a wax resist painting in the layers of glazes. What emerged was
something that resembled hieroglyphics. This technique enables me to paint on my
pots.

Lately I’ve been exploring the possibilities of a contemporary ceramic medium l call
clay-fusion. This is more suited to sculpture and tile work and is used in the large oval
wall mounted pieces and Ancient Tree Fountain in my recent Ghost of the Caribou
Exhibit.

As with life in general, sometimes it’s been the seemingly insurmountable challenges that have
ultimately led to breakthroughs and growth.