Carolynne Pynn Trudeau

I was lucky to have all of my Grandparents nearby. When my father was studying for exams, or my mother needed time with my baby brother, I lived with my Grandparents for weeks on end. When I was eight, a Grandfather said to me “You are going to be an artist”. I’ll never forget sitting on my bed with a pencil in one hand and a plastic dinosaur in the other, gazing up at him. I thought it was an order! 

Consequently, I made visual and tactile arts my hobby, my vocation, and my profession. 

My parents encouraged my decision to pursue the arts- but not unconditionally. I had to develop a marketable skill first “to fall back on”. So I trained as an elementary school teacher. I had my first full time job teaching a class of 32 grade three students, when I was 18 years old. 

Teaching one year financed two years at McMaster University in Fine Arts Studio. Teaching a second year financed my last two years of University, during which my academic Mentor suggested that I do my design experiments in the clay studio. Maybe he had a secret agenda, because just before graduation he asked me if I would like to apprentice with a friend of his who was a British trained functional potter. 

I was introduced to the wheel, and fell in love with it. For two years, five days a week, 8 hours a day, I learned from and assisted Helen Brink with every aspect of her studio pottery business. What a great stroke of luck! 

In the past 40 years, I’ve made my way as a potter in Hamilton, Port Colborne and presently Ottawa. My work has been presented to visiting international dignitaries, won awards, appeared in publications, augments local architecture, is in the Public Art collection of the City of Ottawa, and in private collections throughout the world. This makes me feel proud.

I’ve taught classes and professional workshops to elementary, secondary, college and university students, in community centres and art schools, while continuing to produce functional pottery. This makes me feel useful. 

I’ve travelled, married my best friend, raised two smart young men, and am part of a flourishing arts community.