Salt Spring Island Artists | Francine Hampson & John Reid

Francine Hampson & John Reid | Episode 1104

Francine Hampson and John Ried are the owners of Mudpuppy Studios, a production pottery studio producing functional ware. The studio wares are mainly thrown on the potter’s wheel with alterations and additions done by hand building. The clay is high fire stoneware fired in a 15cu. ft. gas kiln introducing salt/soda at 2350F. The effects are spectacular but unpredictable. The wares are sold locally on Salt Spring Island through the Waterfront Gallery or Artcraft/ Wintercraft shows.

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Being on an island do you ever feel cut off from the rest of the world?

Francine: I don’t. I had some really good advice from the first year I lived here. An old, old, woman who had lived here over 40 years, My advice to you is to get off the island at least once a month. Because if you don’t you’ll go cuckoo. So I don’t get cabin fever. We are coming a going and doing different things and getting around.

John: I don’t feel that need to get off the island. In fact I think I have become more of a recluse. I kind of like it on the island. It has everything I need. There’s over 400 musicians on this island and I have two musical groups that I play music with and then I’ve got my studio time. I am also quite involved in the community and a lot of people recognize me around the island, so I really don’t need to go off the island.

How is the access to ceramics supplies?

Francine: Well, we don’t have a ceramics supplier on Salt Spring. We are too small. But Vancouver Island, which is where the city of Victoria is. It’s one of the largest islands in the world and in Victoria is Victoria Clay Arts but then we drive up that island in the other direction there’s Vancouver Island Pottery Supply in Parksville, British Columbia.

John: And we use Amazon. I recently had some Raku gear delivered from Toronto, so that is always a possibility.

Because it is a tight knit community do you ever feel competition among artists?

Francine: I don’t feel that at all because I work in salt-soda and I do high-fire. It’s not very common here. Most people are doing cone 6 or lower, electric firing.

John: I think it’s more a supportive community than a competitive community. I think everybody just networks and if you have an issue you can ask somebody else and everybody is really forthcoming with information. That is the beauty of a small community.