“I remember as a kid going to craft sales, seeing the pottery, and just being drawn to it,” Jennifer Deltombe recalls.  

Years later a cousin took a class, which spurred her to do the same—and that early sense of connection to pottery proved to be more than a passing curiosity. 

“I just started taking community classes,” Deltombe says. “I never stopped.” 

Now with almost two decades of experience behind her, Deltombe shares her love of the art-form as JJD Pottery. Her works often feature intricate designs and underglaze transfers—essentially tattooing her ceramics with images—placed on everyday items: plates, mugs, bowls. She notes a love of “creating something functional that I use on a regular basis … everyday dishes that I love to use, but they're unique and, and made by me.” 

Her works are available at the Art Gallery of St. Albert, on instagram at @jjdpottery, and at the St. Albert Potters Guild sale running May 4 to 6 in the lobby of St. Albert Place. 

To Deltombe, the enduring appeal of making pottery is partly the tactile, hands-on process work it takes to make a piece—kneading the clay, centering it on a wheel, pulling the sides up, shaping, drying, cleaning, trimming, and finally firing it in the kiln. But another part is how immersing herself in creating a work clears her mind.   

“The meditative process of making the pottery,” she affirms. “It takes a lot of concentration, but in that, you're just very focused on the art. All the worries of the day just kind of fade into the background. It’s good for my mental health.” 

Deltombe is also the current vice-president of the St. Albert Potters Guild. Though pottery work is inherently solitary—the potter and her clay—the community aspect of being one of the Guild’s 60-some members has its own perks of kinship and sharing skills. 

“The friendships I've made through the Guild are for sure lifelong,” Deltombe says.. “That's really the thing with the guild: the idea is to learn from each other and to share ideas. Some of our guild members have been plotting and in the Potters Guild for longer than I've been alive. So the breadth of knowledge that some of these members have and can share with us and then that in turn that we can pass on …” 

That’s a process Deltombe plans on continuing to be a part of for the rest of her life. 

“I don't plan on ever leaving the guild,” she grins. “I will be one of those seniors running things one day.”  

Article written by: Paul Blinov

Follow Jennifer Deltombe on Instagram @jjdpottery.

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