Steele, Ian
Item
Maker Name
Steele, Ian
Studio name
Nanoose Pottery
Chudleigh Pottery
Chudleigh Pottery
Biography
Ian Steele is one of the BC potters who apprenticed or studied with Bernard Leach - John Reeve, Glenn Lewis, Mick Henry, Martin Peters, and Charmian Johnson. This group has become the focus of several exhibitions and and an extensive PhD by Alex Lambley of the Leach Pottery Museum and Falmouth University. Ian’s salt glaze pottery is highly collectable, simple and true in form and function.
Ian was born in Saskatchewan in 1936. His family moved to Vancouver while he was a boy. His brother Bob Steele became a renowned printmaker and professor at UBC.
Ian studied at the VSA with Robert Weghsteen and graduated in 1961. He was the fourth BC Potter from the VSA to head out to the UK to study with Bernard Leach in 1963, joining fellow VSA student, Mick Henry. He returned for two years to Vancouver in 1965 and sold his work through Edith Clarke’s Gallery near Stanley Park.
In 1965 he returned to the Leach and became a Standardware potter for two years. In 1969 he and his wife, Barbara Steele, returned to Canada, and he briefly worked for Robert Weghsteen, and then bought Crown land in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island, cleared it, built his home, studio, salt kiln, and worked there till 1977. There were loyal collectors who came to Nanoose to buy Ian’s pots, and though he did receive community support, the Nanoose property was remote. He felt they would do better In England. Ian and Barbara returned to Devon set up a successful pottery in Chudleigh, in 1977. He carried on his practice until he was too ill and died in 2011.
Paul Mathieu interprets the work of BC potters in the 70s as follows; “Driving the making of these pots—these simple, unassuming, ordinary, humble yet beautiful and robust brown pots, made by hand, one by one—was their makers’ utopian lifestyle”[3]. Here Mathieu is referring to the work of artists exhibited in 2004 exhibition Thrown which highlighted the work of west coast potters John Reeve, Glenn Lewis, Mick Henry, and Ian Steele, all students of Bernard Leach." see (3)
Ian was born in Saskatchewan in 1936. His family moved to Vancouver while he was a boy. His brother Bob Steele became a renowned printmaker and professor at UBC.
Ian studied at the VSA with Robert Weghsteen and graduated in 1961. He was the fourth BC Potter from the VSA to head out to the UK to study with Bernard Leach in 1963, joining fellow VSA student, Mick Henry. He returned for two years to Vancouver in 1965 and sold his work through Edith Clarke’s Gallery near Stanley Park.
In 1965 he returned to the Leach and became a Standardware potter for two years. In 1969 he and his wife, Barbara Steele, returned to Canada, and he briefly worked for Robert Weghsteen, and then bought Crown land in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island, cleared it, built his home, studio, salt kiln, and worked there till 1977. There were loyal collectors who came to Nanoose to buy Ian’s pots, and though he did receive community support, the Nanoose property was remote. He felt they would do better In England. Ian and Barbara returned to Devon set up a successful pottery in Chudleigh, in 1977. He carried on his practice until he was too ill and died in 2011.
Paul Mathieu interprets the work of BC potters in the 70s as follows; “Driving the making of these pots—these simple, unassuming, ordinary, humble yet beautiful and robust brown pots, made by hand, one by one—was their makers’ utopian lifestyle”[3]. Here Mathieu is referring to the work of artists exhibited in 2004 exhibition Thrown which highlighted the work of west coast potters John Reeve, Glenn Lewis, Mick Henry, and Ian Steele, all students of Bernard Leach." see (3)
First name
Ian
Last name
Steele
Career dates (start and end)
1965
Date of Birth
1937
Date of Death
2011
Place of Birth
Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan)
Place of Death
Studio location
Formal Education
Apprenticeships
1963-65 Apprentice to Bernard Leach, Leach Pottery, St Ives.
Major Exhibitions
See www.iansteele.me.uk/bio.htm for list of exhibitions
2020/21 'Modern in the Making, Post War Craft and Design in British Columbia 1940-75,' Daina Augaitis, Allan Collier, Stephanie Rebick
2013 'Back to the Land, Ceramics from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands 1970-85', curated Diane Carr, AGGV
2004 'Thrown, Influences and Intentions of West Coast Ceramics,' Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery , UBC, Scott Watson
Affiliated organizations
Personal Website
http://www.iansteele.me.uk/bio.htm
https://www.martygrossfilms.com/films/leach/leach_on-bernard-leach.html
Links to Further Resources
Thrown, British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach, and their Contemporaries,' March 2008, Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Canada
BC Potters: March 2006, volume 42 no 3
https://www.leachpottery.com/alex-lambley
[3] Paul Mathieu, “The Brown Pot and the White Cube”, in Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice Ed. Ruth Chambers, Amy Gogarty and Mireille Perron, (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2004), 48.
https://craftcouncilbc.ca/pots-that-transform/
https://www.galleryofbcceramics.com/post/review-modern-in-the-making
The Leach Legacy: St Ives Pottery and its influence: Marion Whybrow 1996
Leach Pottery St Ives: Marion Whybrow 2006
Modern in the Making, Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia catalogue, Daina Augaitis, Allan Collier, Stephanie Rebick
2019 Translation and Appropriation, Mingei Theory, Bernard Leach and his Vancouver Apprentices. PhD Alexandra Lambley Clark, Falmouth University, England
Back to the Land, Ceramics from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands 1970-85 catalogue AGGV, 2013
Source
Debra Sloan
Linked resources
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| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
 Steele, Ian mark |
Maker | Image |
 Steele, Ian mark 1970s |
Maker | Image |