Wendy Johnston

Wendy Johnston

Over the past 26 years, Wendy has been working as a studio potter in New Brunswick. Her work has evolved from creating functional tableware with minimal decoration to making pottery that is a celebration of colour, the natural landscape, and in historical decorative motifs inspired by European architecture.

In the past ten years, she has had the opportunity to visit Italy and France.  There, Wendy was inspired by the rich decoration found in pottery, art, and architecture. Upon her return to Canada, Wendy noticed that there was very little architectural decoration of any kind in her environment.  In search of patterns and motifs that could represent her culture, she looked to unusual sources of decoration as would be found in scrap yards, big box stores, old furniture and fabric, letters, text, and advertising.

In 2014, Wendy received a NB Creation Grant to develop a body of ceramic work and drawings based on the theme of “Scavenging for Beauty”. From this exhibition, she continued to explore the delicate relationship between nature, historical decoration, and the influences of our industrial and cultural environment. More recently, Wendy is exploring the world of crows and ravens. She is keen to study their mobility and strength of flight, their freedom, and keen intelligence while surviving East Coast winters.