Joan Beck began taking pottery courses in Yellowknife, N.W.T. while teaching there in 1964. She then attended the Ross-Hughye School of Pottery in Vancouver, B.C. and eventually made her way to Williams Lake. Here she found a community with a well established pottery guild deeply involved in a wide range of work with clay.
The following years found her attending many workshops, taking a summer course at Emily Carr in Vancouver and doing extensive work with the medium, both hand-built and wheel-thrown. Earlier work with earthenware, electric and gas-fired stoneware and majolica have evolved into her current stoneware (cone 6 and 10) and raku work.
“I am often surprised when I realize how many years I’ve been working with clay. The great thing is that it still excites me as much now as when I took my first class in 1964.”