Artist: April Gates
April Gates, ONTARIO
Blackbird Pottery is owned and operated by, April Gates. With a background in image making and a concern for function, Blackbird Pottery was born. Gates is largely influenced by the land around her, all things vintage, nostalgia, and prose.
Throughout her journey as a maker, she has been interested in community building. From being a proud founding member helping to establish a local arts collective & gallery, launching Empty Bowls Projects, to working with Make & Do, a Canadian Collective dedicated to raising the profile of Canadian Ceramics across the country and beyond.
April has been working in clay for over 22 years. Sharing space, skills and knowledge through teaching, first being a studio tech, working alongside an amazing list of mentors, then graduated into teaching with the Haliburton School of Art & Design. There, she worked from leading workshops with kids & youth, to teaching adults in Summer School, onward to to Certificate & Diploma students in Ceramics, Visual & Creative Arts and Integrated Design Programs. Now with a full time practice and space to share with others, she teaches classes, special interest workshops.
Her studio is just minutes from the village of Haliburton where she hosts classes, special events, talking pots, rural life and craft. Brick by brick, Blackbird Pottery continues to evolve in an amazing pocket of Canada!