IN CONVERSATION WITH: Eli West

Describe your relationship with pottery - how did it come about and who made the first move?

The first time I touched pottery I was 9, my parents had set me up with private lessons with a local potter in Peachland. I remember that she had a studio in her backyard where she did her own pottery but I cannot for the life of me remember her name, but I do remember making a lot of metallic glazed dragons, as a 9 year old does. I still have a small green cup and saucer, the first two things I ever made on the wheel.

After that, I didn’t touch clay again for 20 years, I still loved pottery and it was mostly what I scrolled on Instagram and read about, I just didn’t practice it. Ellie then surprised me with lessons at Touci Ceramic Studio as a present and I started my ceramics journey again in January 2023 – after day one I was hooked and I’ve not looked back since. I pursued it with my entire soul and I was able to dedicate enough hours of work to make myself proficient enough to start assisting classes in August 2023, and teaching my own by October 2023.

How do you stay on the cutting edge of new ceramics methods and treatments? Without giving too much away, how do you get inspired and where do you find your resources / information?

I wouldn’t say that I do stay on the cutting edge of ceramic methods, or really pay attention to them all that much, and I think that’s how I was able to develop my own voice and skill. I noticed quickly that ceramics has a lot of rules, some that are a must in order to stay safe, but a lot that feel self imposed and have become ‘law’ somehow. I ignored a lot of those rules when starting, it made things much harder for myself but it also pushed my skills to the point where I had no choice but to get better. I’m inspired by other artists who do the same thing, they create in a way that has no limits and it shows through their work and how they carry themselves.

Your pots have a brutalist feel to them, is there a certain building or artist who inspired the shape?

There isn’t a particular artist or building that I am inspired by, it’s more so Brutalist Architecture as a whole that directs how I create. I love the contrast that brutalist architecture creates when surrounded by nature, it feels so dystopian and other worldly, yet it also looks as if it belongs and blends perfectly.

How do you set the mood for creating in the studio ? Do you have a certain ritual / routine / playlist?

I do, the lighting and music may change based on the day or how I’m feeling, and I allow myself that, but I always make a coffee before I sit down to throw. That is one of my constants and has become a small ritual in my practice and something that I really look forward to when it comes time to create.

Vancouver Island, Canada

March 2025

Canon F1, Kodak Portra 400