Meet Our Member: Woody Ward

1. When did you fall in love with pottery? I have to explain how I got into pottery. My wife is a pottery lover, when I met my wife she had already accumulated several big pieces of pottery and her family would get her pottery as gifts. I am a believer that creating gifts is better than buying things. So I signed up for a 6-week pottery lesson before Christmas. My goal was to make my wife a coffee mug and bowls for her Christmas gift.  Within the second week, I became a member of the studio and met so many people who helped me enjoy the craft. 

2. What have been the benefits of working with clay? I enjoy making functional pieces that we can use on our everyday use. 

3. Do you have a favourite piece you’ve made so far? What’s the story behind it? I feel the first mug I made for my wife was my favorite pieces. I then made a set of periodic tile set for my daughter, that we are currently still working to find a Victorian style picture frame to set the tiles in and hang it eventually. 

4. Favourite tool? It’s hard to narrow down what tool is more important than the other. The blue rib is used the most for me, when I slab work, it’s used to compress the clay and when I use the wheel, it’s used to smooth the bowl sides and inside. 

5. Favourite clay? I have always use speckled clay and I finally used white clay and it is much softer I feel to work with. 

6. Favourite time of day to come to the studio? Because of my work schedule, my usual time to come in, is late at night. 

7. Best local food spot? We consider ourselves foodies and we try to get out to different cultures. I love Mexican and Mediterranean food. 

8. What do you like to listen to when you work? I usually like 60’s and 70’s music when I come into the studio.

9. What’s your next pottery goal, or the skill you’re most keen to learn?

My next step is to start making dining sets, maybe for sale. I want to make them with the wheel. 

10. Best part of being a member of Ford City Potters Studio? The studio has provided an outlet for lots of people with so many awesome ideas and projects and those members are so welcoming to all members when they have any help or suggestions. I unfortunately don’t get to have a lot of interactions as my schedule is limited to nights. It has been amazing to see how the studio is growing in size and the studio family is getting bigger.