Charlottetown Pottery Ltd. - 1980's

Charlottetown Pottery Ltd. was a short-lived pottery factory was established on Prince Edward Island in the 1980's which operated in the West Royalty Industrial Park and produced a wide line of decor items. The hoped for stability of the company was based on that fact that they had a contract to supply crock-pot liners. The company operated for awhile but didn't survive financially. Recently I came across these images of their work on ebay. 

The work was signed "Made in Canada - Charlottetown Pottery Ltd."

Seaclay Pottery - Jamie Germaine

Located at 1043 South Melville Road, South Melville, Seaclay Pottery is the studio name for Jamie Germaine, and accomplished potter whose work forms part of the Prince Edward Island Art Bank Collection.

"Working out of a studio beside her home in South Melville, PEI, Jamie Germaine produces both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces with a unique style of textured surfacing that has become characteristic of her work. Her surrounding environment of woodland and sea is reflected in the organic nature of the surfaces she creates on her pieces. She has recently been experimenting with the subtle effects of smoke firing on hand-built bowls. She has studied pottery in New York, Vermont, Prince Edward Island, Mexico and Italy and has exhibited in Prince Edward Island and New York."

Seaclay Pottery - display of work by Jamie Germaine at
PEI Crafts Council Christmas Fair Nov 2016

Seaclay Pottery - display of work by Jamie Germaine at
PEI Crafts Council Christmas Fair Nov 2016

Seaclay Pottery - display of work by Jamie Germaine at
PEI Crafts Council Christmas Fair Nov 2016

Seaclay Pottery - display of work by Jamie Germaine at
PEI Crafts Council Christmas Fair Nov 2016

Seaclay Pottery - potter's mark of Jamie Germaine -November 2016

Seaclay Pottery - potter's mark of Jamie Germaine -November 2016

The website for Seaclay Pottery features the most recent work of Jamie Germaine .

Pottery Marks of Prince Edward Island - Rachna Gilmore

Rachna Gilmore is an award winning author currently living in Ottawa who lived on Prince Edward Island in the 1980s where she was an active potter and student of Ron Arvidson at Holland College School of Visual Arts. Rachna was active as a writer on PEI where her first children's picture book, My Mother Is Weird was published in 1988. Still in print with Acorn Press, it has become a classic.

Rachna signed her work with a RG that has a creative styling of the letters. She also included PEI on her work.

On February 13, 2021 the following obituary for Rachna Gilmore appeared in The Guardian:

GILMORE, Rachna (nee Kalra) October 11, 1953- February 1, 2021 

Rachna Gilmore (nee Kalra) passed away peacefully on February 1, 2021. A prolific writer of numerous picture books, early readers, and novels for young readers, Rachna will be remembered and missed by her older brother Deepak (Sue), her children Karen (Ian Paul) and Robin (Jonathan Coit), her grandchildren (Rian and Priya), and many friends and family members around the world. Rachna was born in India, the second child of Surendranath and Shakuntala Kalra. When she was 14, the family moved to London, England, where Rachna spent her teenage and university years. Always an avid reader with a bold and adventurous spirit, as a young adult, Rachna followed her childhood fascination with the world of Anne of Green Gables and moved across the Atlantic to Prince Edward Island. In PEI, she met and married her beloved husband Ian Gilmore (1950-2012), had two daughters, and fulfilled her long-held dream of becoming a children's author with the publication of her first book, My Mother Is Weird. In 1990, Rachna and her family relocated to Ottawa, where Rachna continued to raise her family and build her writing career, publishing many acclaimed books for young readers over the next twenty-five years and a work of adult fiction under the pseudonym Rachna Mara. She survived two bouts of breast cancer in the 1990s and found solace and enjoyment in long walks, meditation, and tending her beautiful garden. In 1999, Rachna was deeply honoured when her book, A Screaming Kind of Day, was awarded the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. Despite the deeply felt loss of her husband, Ian, in 2012 and a diagnosis that brought many difficult side-effects in the last years of her life, Rachna never lost her enjoyment and appreciation of family and friends (including two grandchildren Rachna often remarked could “do no wrong"), her cheeky sense of humour, or her love of good stories, well-told. Rachna brought a great deal of colour, beauty, and laughter to the world and will be remembered and missed by many. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, a private family visitation was held on February 4 and a celebration of life will be planned for a later date. Memories and condolences may be shared at www.kellyfh.ca For those wishing to make in memoriam donations, contributions to Kiva, CODE (code.ngo), or Plan Canada are greatly appreciated.