Connecting to Mother Earth through traditional pottery

This is part of a series called Ann's Eye, featuring the work of Ann Paul, a Wolastoqey content creator. You can see more Ann's Eye pieces by clicking here.

A long winter can make you miss the feeling of the earth between your fingers.

That's why CBC contributor Ann Paul found peace in a recent traditional pottery workshop. Hosted by Nancy Oakley, a traditional potter of Wampanoag and Mi'kmaq descent from Eskasoni First Nation in Cape Breton,Paul said the experience connected her with Mother Earth.

"To be able to get your hands on a piece of our Mother, the earth, and be able to create with what she provides and make something beautiful, something that came from your mind, is just wow," she said.

WATCH | This traditional pottery artist uses clay from her own backyard:

What is traditional pottery? Cape Breton artist talks about how it was done back in the day

2 years ago

Duration 3:51

Master potter Nancy Oakley from Eskasoni First Nation in Nova Scotia teaches people how to make pinch pots

Paul said the people attending the workshop, held through Mawi' Art, a pan-Atlantic artist collective, were "really calm" as they talked and made art together.

In the spring, Oakley hopes to return and do another workshop to build a fire and bake the pottery without the use of a kiln.

"You would warm the pots around the fire for a few hours and eventually spread out your embers, and put the pots inside the middle," she said.

The practice is part of traditional pottery. Oakley, who uses clay from her own backyard, said pottery-making is a part of Mi'kmawhistory, and only stopped appearing in the community's records about 500 years ago.

Oakley, who's also done beadwork and made baskets, has been an artist as long as she can remember. She started out as a photographer, then studied pottery at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

She also thinks of pottery as a way to connect with Mother Earth. It's the focus of a lot of her work, along withfemininity and motherhood, which she said are all interconnected.

"It's very meditative, as well," she said.

Ann's Eye

Photographer Ann Paul brings an Indigenous lens to stories from First Nations communities across New Brunswick.Click hereor on the image below to see more of her work.