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Corinne Dziuba | Episode 683

Corinne Dzuba lives in Canada’s subarctic in Yellowknife, NT with her husband, Franz and 2 dogs, Timber and Reo. Corinne love of clay started shortly after moving to Yellowknife when she discovered there was a local guild offering pottery courses. After taking the first class of a beginner wheel throwing class Corinne fell in love with clay. She continued exploring clay as a pottery studio member at the guild taking workshops and eventually teaching classes. About 5 years ago Corinne built a home studio where she continues her journey with clay. Corinne’s work is mostly thrown functional pieces. Design for Corinne’s work is often inspired by the beautiful nature surrounding her such as the painted birch trees.

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Do you recall where you sold your first piece of art, your first piece of ceramics?

That’s a really good question. I had been at the guild for a couple of years potting and one day one of the potters who had been there for a long time said, I don’t see your name on the list for selling.  And I said, Because I don’t want to sell anything.  And she said,  But you have to. You are making things and they are lovely. And at that time I never thought about selling. Other people did but I didn’t think my work was there. And she said, Just put something in.  So I showed up with four mugs and the four mugs sold. That was probably 12 years ago that I sold four mugs at a sale.

What are the challenges of trying to be a potter in  a small community?

I think the challenges for me personally is I like furthering the skillset and I love seeing other people do their work. There are potters here in town. But I like to go to workshops and to go to a workshop costs a lot of money. Our guild will get a guest potter up here every other year or every year, it depends on how things go. And I do attend those but I like to further my education a bit so I will go and I will leave here. So that costs a bit of money to fly out or drive out and go take a class somewhere. So I find that challenging. But with YouTube and Instagram you certainly can see things and get an education. The other challenge is just the cost of things. I don’t think I price my things outrageously but I do try and recoup some of the cost. So as I said earlier, shipping clay up here is pretty expensive. So it is a little challenging for some of the costs of things, but I love making it.

What are the benefits of being a local potter in a small town?

I think as I said earlier one of the benefits is the feedback. It is such a small community I could bump into somebody at the grocery store or walking my dog and they say, Corinne, what are you making now? When is your next sale?  So I think the benefits are a real cool sense of community and people giving you feedback on things and they are encouraged by your work and they give encouragement to me. I think that is definitely the positive about selling in town.

In a small community then is the main outlet then local art shows and the Saturday Market? Are those the two main ways you can sell your work?

The biggest way is the farmers’ market. And I usually do two sales at Christmas time. But the other way, as I said earlier, it’s a small community and they DM me, they phone me, they email me and they somehow find out I have something coming out of the kiln. Probably because of Instagram and people just contact me and I make arrangements for them to pick out what they like and come to my studio. I sell from my studio too.

So you like having your studio as a little bit of a sales hub? 

Well, not necessarily. But I like the idea that when people would like to get a gift for someone whether it is a wedding gift or they would like to get something for their mother, that they could come in and pick it out. I have a hard time purchasing things online myself. I like to see things, pick them up, feel them. So I like offering the opportunity for people to come here. Especially people I know and have established a rapport with. I don’t mind them coming here. The negative part though is they see things I don’t really want them to see and they say, What about this? And I have to say, No, I’m not finished with that. That’s for somebody else. But in general I like to invite people here that I have established a rapport with and they have purchased things from me in the past.

Do you maintain an email list so you can write people when you are about to open or do a shop update?

I am not a very techy person but I keep kind of list of people who will get a hold of me and say, I’d really like to get some mugs or some bowls and I will say I don’t have that right now but contact me in this many weeks and I will mark your name down on a list. And if they don’t reach out to me I will reach out to them. But I don’t really keep an email list necessarily. And as I said earlier it is amazing in this community how word gets out.

What is the best thing to do in Yellowknife?

Depends what time of year. In the summer time one of my favorite things to do is my husband and I usually take a canoe camping trip. We pack up the bare minimum basics and our dog and we go do a canoe trip. We generally do one or two nights out in the middle of nowhere. And then our favorite thing to do in the winter time…you know Paul, I don’t like the cold much, you dress for it and you get over it, but I think one of my favorite things in the winter time, you mentioned earlier that ice castle. It’s fun to take a skidoo ride and then end up at the ice castle and go take a look around and have a hot chocolate. Every year we go there.

Book

Mid Range Glazes by John Britt 

Contact

Instagram: @perchedpottery