About the Maker

Amaya Snowden went to OCAD University and has been working with clay for 10 years. In the spring of 2022 she moved from Toronto to Nanaimo, where she set up her business, Storm Valley Ceramics, and is the studio technician at Nanaimo Ceramic Arts Studio and Gallery. Amaya has always enjoyed the tactility of clay, and being able to make things that people will use every day brings her joy. Her love of mid-century modern design and architecture is where she finds inspiration for her forms and deceptively simple glaze application, while the colours of nature on the west coast have inspired her palette.

Amaya throws all her forms on the wheel. After a few days of drying, when the clay is leatherhard, she also trims her forms on the wheel to hone the thin walls and foot that are her signature in speckled stoneware. After a bisque firing, Amaya glazes her pots, using a snowy white as the starting point for most of her work, and then adding a pop of one of five colours, Slate, Moss, Leaf, Terra, or Night. All pieces have an accent of the bare clay body to accentuate the contrast, and bring in a warm reminder of what all ceramics are made from. After pieces have been glaze-fired, a quick wet-sand and a once over for quality control finish the process.