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Joe Lyons | Episode 741
Joseph Lyons discovered his love for clay as a child in Seattle, Washington. Jos emigrated to Canada in 2016 to attend Vancouver Island University. Joe received multiple awards and scholarships for his commitment to community engagement and service while enrolled. Joe received a Visual Arts degree from VIU and worked as studio assistant in the Ceramics classroom. He graduated in Spring 2020. Joe has sold his art at multiple shops and galleries in the BC area. Joe volunteers at local schools, working with youth, leading pottery workshops. He is an active member of the Tozan Woodfire Society. Joe is a ceramic instructor at The Hub in Cowichan Station working with Cathi Jefferson and Nanaimo Ceramic Arts for Bronwyn Arundel.
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Please define what community is to you.
Oh, it’s the people I see everyday or that I am in touch with every day. I was just up the river in Nanaimo here and there was a gentleman who came up and he was there to fly fish. He told me the story of how he camped in this spot with his sons for eleven days and I could tell that memory meant so much to him. So I think that opportune moment to meet somebody and connect with them in that way can be community. I think this year and a half, or whatever it is, has really taught us that. You know, that there are many ways to stay in touch, and what really matters to us as human beings is our interpersonal relationships and our connection to each other. Yeah, so community to me is Nanaimo Ceramics Arts where I spend so much of my time but it is bigger than that. It’s friends and family and people in the studio become friends, you know, people that I am happy to see.
Why is clay such a communal activity as you said earlier?
Well, historically it because of all the work that is involved I would say. The kiln for example, so human being can fire a kiln for 36 hours by themselves or I have yet to meet one that does. The commitment that it takes is so huge that I think traditionally it has been a group activity because of all the steps involved. And I think there is this healing element too, that I see. I just got to do a pinch pot workshop with some second graders at a local elementary school with another fellow artist friend and to hand these little children a bit of clay, and probably most of them have never done clay before, but they all knew where clay came from, Paul. It was really cool because we asked them, we talked to them before we started to make their pots. Where does clay come from? And they all knew. Or most of them knew that it’s from the river or I see it by the ocean. They have this innate knowledge of earth and clay and then you hand it to them and you don’t really need to tell them much. I demo-ed how to make a pinch pot but it’s like it seems natural to me and it’s very inclusive and inviting and that is a beautiful thing.
Do you find it inspirational to be a part of community?
I don’t find much else that means more to me in my life, Paul. I know it. It’s given my life meaning and purpose and direction and guidance and it’s been such a gift to me.
Do you find that being deeply involved in community opens up lots of opportunities for you?
Oh, absolutely! Yeah, I think of that old adage, It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I don’t go about my lifestyle in that fashion but certainly I could think of so many examples of that in my life. The individual part of it for me is I choose to show up. I choose to wake up every day and take action. But then what happens after I take that action is often out of my control. And that’s good thing. If all of us are choosing individually to take these actions to hopefully better ourselves and the world around us, that’s a world I want to live in. Then this collective consciousness happens and I am no mystic or new age person. I am just a guy who loves playing with clay but I think of doing this little volunteer thing at the local high school and that high school teacher got me other opportunities. It was this cool thing, I ran into her not too long ago, and she’s my friend, you know. It started out being asked to make bowls at a fundraiser and it’s turned into….I mean Jean brought me cookies on my birthday, Paul. It’s cool, like these are my friends and my people because we have this thing in common and it’s pretty neat.
Do you feel like being involved in a community that you have a certain level of support as an artist that you would have never had other wise?
One hundred percent. There was a time last year, it was March and school was getting ready to end. you know, last March everyone was pretty afraid of what we were facing. And I was talking to these two older guys on Zoom that are kind of mentor guys to me, they are not creatives, but I was telling them I was going to get a different job in the trades and I was waffling because I was guaranteed money or follow my passion. And they asked me a question, Joe, everyone knows you in Nanaimo for your pottery, everyone. Do you need to go and get this other job or are you doing it out of fear? And I was like, I don’t need to, I am okay. And they said, Don’t ever stop doing what you love until you absolutely have to. It was just kind of cool moment to have these guys kind of encourage me.
How do you specifically support community?
I had a really cool opportunity in the fall of 2019 to do a mural project, a ceramic tile mural project that was about celebrating the diversity on the campus of Vancouver Island University. So we made all these tiles, I had a bunch of people help me. So we made all these tiles and the people, during the celebration of International World Days, painted the tiles and the theme of the mural is: What do you bring to VIU? So people brought all their different stories and I got to meet hundreds of students, faculty, visitors that would sit down for 5 or ten or 30-30 minutes and paint a tiles. So this summer I get to install this tile mural in the center of campus right off the library. And what I envision is that people that painted a tile will come back and walk up to their tile and point at it and say, I was a part of this. I played a part of this. I love bringing arts to the broader community because everyone can be creative.
Book
The Granny that Never got Old by Lindsay Ford
Contact
Instagram: @kbrpottery