I stop to admire the painted ceramics of Harriet Hiemstra. She moulds freeform and fanciful slabwork stoneware as a canvas for her charming "watercolour" palette of glazes. The witty and feminine scenes she conjures up, with her fluent and confident brush, are as much fun as champagne and conversation. Robert Amos, Victoria Times-Colonist

Where to find my work

My work is on display at the BC Potters Guild on Granville Island in Vancouver, The Pottery Store in Chemainus, and Gallery of Artisans at 811 Fort Street in Victoria. It is available in a very limited number of other North American galleries.

If you are travelling through the Cowichan Valley, please visit me at Cobble Hill Pottery. Click here for directions, and a map.

Her work has delighted me for years. Harriet Hiemstra of Cobble Hill creates graceful handbuilt porcelain forms, which would be worthy of note on their own. For her, they form the basis on which she draws graceful and elegant women. To achieve this, Hiemstra embellishes the surface with glazes and graffito. Ironically, if these were merely paintings on canvas or paper they would surely cost more. Robert Amos

Contact me

Email:info@harriethiemstra.com
Phone: 250-743-2001
Mail: 3375 Boyles Road, Cobble Hill, BC, V0R 1L7

How I work

When I graduated from art school, clay became my primary medium, affording an endless range of possibilities. My work reflects my attempt to mix two modes of expression: painting and ceramics.

I work using a slab roller, rolling pins, simple drape mold shapes and textures of wood, glass, and plastic.

I usually work in a series of five or six variations on a theme, playing with the imagery while the clay is plastic. I like to link seemingly incongruous motifs, using classical and contemporary allusions leavened with a bit of humour.

I start applying underglaze at this stage and continue adding detail with engobes, oxide washes and glazes through two or three firings to cone 04. I have experimented with various firing methods including salt, wood, and sawdust, but I'm presently more interested in the painterly results that can be achieved in oxidation.

I'm also taking inspiration from ceramic artist Bennet Bean's comment on his post-firing embellishment: "Why let the fire have the last word?" and sometimes adding acrylics, pastels, and sealers after the last firing.

What attracted me to Hiemstra's work was the coloured drawing that adorns each piece, incised and embossed into the wet clay. Her repertoire of imagery centres on women at their ease, elegantly dressed and evoking an image of langour of an earlier period." Robert Amos,