Barbara Minish

I started making pots almost 30 years ago  –  first as a student and then as a studio potter at Winnipeg’s  Stoneware Studio and Gallery where I was taught and inspired by several amazingly talented and nationally recognized potters. I found making pots a most satisfying and productive form avoidance behaviour as I was finishing a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management at the University of Manitoba.

Following a move to Ottawa in 1987, my career with Environment Canada and the demands of raising 2 children moved pottery to the back burner.  This hiatus from potting happily ended when Loam Clay Studio opened up right in my neighbourhood – just the nudge I needed to get me back at the wheel.

Although it’s hard to resist experimenting from time to time with the free forms allowed through hand-building, I feel drawn to the spinning medium and do most of my work on the wheel. I love exploring and incorporating new techniques into my work and find great satisfaction in sharing my new-found knowledge with other potters. I have recently become an enthusiastic practitioner of the shellac resist technique that allows me to create intricately etched patterns on my pot surfaces.

In my spare time, if I’m not playing in the mud at Loam, I am an avid cook, cyclist, x-country skier, mushroom forager, and folksinger songwriter.

The Team