Low Down Articles
Artist Profiles - Lee Hutchinson
Article 29 of 73
From the book Artists of the Gatineau Hill by Catherine Joyce. This article first appeared in the "Artist Profiles" column in the August 9, 2006 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Where the Light Comes In
To sit in the soft light of Lee Hutchinson's atelier in Wakefield, watching her strong fingers work the clay as she tells of her artist's journey, is to hear echoes of Leonard Cohen's "Anthem", there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in..."
At the age of 13, Lee spent months in the hospital, undergoing a scoliosis operation for the curvature of her spine. A family friend, the prolific Canadian artist, Anna Baker, sent letters filled with colourful drawings and cartoons to entertain and encourage her. What began as a fault line arresting Lee's young life - reprised ten years later by a serious car accident - opened the way to the artist's calling.
Lee survived both challenges, turning darkness into light.
Growing up in London, Ontario, the second of four daughters of a mathematically gifted mother and a geology professor father, Lee drew strength from close family bonds. One magical summer in a tent trailer, they accompanied their dad to Harbourside, Maine, where he was consulting. A local potter allowed Lee and her older sister to use his studio in the afternoons. By the time they returned home, the girls were hooked - they bought a wheel and took over the family basement. Soon they had built a kiln. Throughout high school, the sisters explored how to wedge, throw, glaze and fire. Only for Lee, clay would become a life passion.
After an exploratory first year at McMaster in science, Lee realized she longed to work again with her hands - to look at things, up close, and to create a combination of beauty and functionality, which pottery offered her. The summer of 1978 she apprenticed to Bob Kavanagh in Lakefield, Ontario.
"It was an excellent experience. There were other apprentices - we were all part of a peer dialogue. Bob was rigorous. He would have us throw 50 mugs and then throw them all away. Until we could throw to his satisfaction we weren't allowed to keep anything."
Her time in Lakefield brought further recognitions - the need to live in a small, close-knit community, a home environment that would feed the person as well as the artist. "Lakefield was similar to Wakefield in that respect. I love having people drop into my studio as I work - the ongoing exchange with other artists, friends and neighbours is a fundamental part of my life and my work."
Lee has followed the model of self-directed exploration, fostered by her supportive parents and by Anna Baker's and Bob Kavanagh's critcial inspiration. Each day finds her in her studio - open year round as a retail outlet - where she teaches classes for adults and children, and creates her increasingly elemental and organic forms.
"I am drawn away from the wheel to the asymmetrical freedom of hand building. I strive to make each form my own. I am fascinated by textures and surfaces - by the sculptural qualities of clay, cut into patterns, where light and shadow flow through."
Like life itself.