Suzanne Scott Village Pottery License Plate Tray PEI
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‘The Place To Be in ’73’ License Plate Tray

40 minutes across from Prince Edward Island’s seaside capital of Charlottetown, is the small town of New London.  New London was first put on the map by the Canadian author,Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote the Anne of Green Gables novels. Montgomery was born in New London and set most of her novels in PEI. As a second reference, this summer, New London was overtaken by 300 guests who were attending the wedding of Toronto Maple Leaf’s Captain, Dion Phaneuf, to Canadian actress, Elisha Cuthbert.

For potter, Suzanne Scott, New London is her creative home.  Her mother has been making pottery and running the Village Pottery shop for over 40 years.  After living abroad, Scott  returned to Prince Edward Island, where she continues the family tradition of working in clay.  “Pottery is in my blood, really. From as early as I can remember I’ve had my hands in clay. I started a jewelry line called The Potter’s Daughter when I was 16 and have now been making pottery full time for almost four years” says Suzanne.

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery PEI

Her vibrant, functional ceramic pieces are meant to be used as everyday items and are inspired by the most subtle of things; like a license plate. Suzanne, who is in the studio on a daily basis making pottery, is working on adding her own personal touches to the business her mother has built over the past four decades and keeping it alive.

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery PEI
INTERVIEW: Suzanne Scott, Village Pottery, {Prince Edward Island, Canada}

01 A ceramic license plate? What’s the story behind that?
2013 marked my mom’s 40th year in business with Village Pottery (est. in 1973). I wanted to create a unique product for the occasion and when I came across “The Place to Be in ’73” license plate, I knew it would do the trick. With the help of my trusty slab roller, I laid the license plate on top of the clay, rolled it through to discover a distinct impression of the license plate that I could turn into functional trays.

After experimenting with different glazes, I figured out which ones brought out the impression the best. It’s now available in spearmint, cranberry, sienna brown and denim blue. I have a variety of different license plates to work with now so the possibilities are endless!

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery License Plate Tray PEI

02 What does your design process involve as a potter?  
It’s always fun, yet challenging to design a new item from clay. Since it takes a minimum 3-4 weeks to make a piece of pottery from start to finish, it can take a while to master a new item since there is usually a trial and error stage. Once I get an idea in my head, I’ll throw the pot on the wheel or roll out the clay. The next day I will trim the bottom and sign it.

Then it will sit and air dry for 3-5 days. Once we have enough pots to fill the kiln, we do a bisque fire that takes 7 hours. The next day we will unload the kiln, wax the bottoms and glaze the pots. Then they get loaded back into the kiln and fired for 11 hours and gets up to 2100 degrees Fahrenheit ! After 24 hours cooling, you can unload the kiln and see the finished product!

It’s a very lengthy but rewarding process.

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery License Plate Tray PEI

03 What is going on in PEI’s art scene these days?
Prince Edward Island has a thriving art scene. There’s an amazing community of craftspeople, visual artists and musicians. On any given night you can catch great live music. Summer on PEI is the perfect time to go on a studio tour around the island and watch the artisans working on their craft. There’s even an app for that! The PEI Crafts Council just launched “The Handcrafted Trail” mobile app for discovering PEI studios. I’m very happy and grateful to be a part of such a great art scene.

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery License Plate Tray PEI

04 Do you entertain at home?
Yes, we love to entertain! My husband and I live in my grandparents old heritage home in downtown Charlottetown so it has a lot of character and is the perfect place for hosting. You can be certain that each guest will be drinking wine from a pottery goblet and each appetizer served on one of our handcrafted platters. Around Christmas, I like to make glühwein, a mulled wine that I first discovered while living in Austria. It’s a lot of fun to incorporate my own pottery while entertaining friends.

Suzanne Scott Village Pottery PEI
Photo Source: Village Pottery/Suzanne Scott

TW @villagepottery

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