Tanis was first introduced to clay in High School in 1978 and clay became a quick love where she was introduced to hand-building, wheel throwing, and a select advanced group worked with porcelain.

In her 30’s, Tanis completed a two-year Visual Arts Diploma at Camosun College with a focus on drawing, painting, and pottery. It was then that pottery became a significant part of Tanis’ life. In addition to her classes, Tanis was a technician behind the scenes making clay, glazes, and testing stains. This was also her first experience with raku firing.

In 2012, Tanis set up a home studio where she has continued my exploration of clay and developed her skills level. For her functional ware, she uses a mid-fire electric kiln.

With her decorative work,she has been exploring a variety of atmospheric methods of firing. She feels her sculptural and decorative works are best displayed with alternative firing methods, glazes, and clay, including Raku, Obvara, Sawdust and barrel smoke firing with tinfoil Sagar.

Specialty: hand thrown decorative and functional ware
Firing techniques: raku, obvara, smoke.