How potter Ruby Serben creates meaning through clay
For Edmonton-based potter Ruby Serben, a handmade mug or bowl is never just an object. It is a relationship, an emotional experience, and an invitation to find beauty in everyday rituals.
“I’m so passionate about what I do,” Serben says of the one-of-a-kind-pieces she creates with a gas kiln and carbon-trapped Shino glazes. “I’m encouraging people to surround themselves with things that elevate their day. It’s not just stuff. It holds energy. It holds a relationship that you had with the maker.”
That philosophy has shaped her work from the very beginning. Long before she became a full-time ceramic artist, Serben found herself drawn to clay almost instinctively. “As a kid I was always playing with the dirt and always playing with rocks,” she recalls. “It made perfect sense that I would be drawn to clay.”
Her greatest inspiration still comes from the natural landscape. She recalls Athabasca Falls as her first inspiration, where a spot exists that she affectionately calls the “Shino Wall” because its textures resemble the surfaces she creates on her pottery. “I’m always trying to reference the rock and the water, the movement, and just the zen feel,” she says. “What I’m hoping for is to capture people emotionally first.”
That emotional connection is central to her work. When people encounter her pottery, she says, words often come later. “They’re speechless at first, and then they begin to connect to their thoughts. But first, it’s the heart that’s initiated, and that just means the world to me.”
Serben’s journey into ceramics was anything but conventional. With a background in psychology and crisis work, she originally planned to return to school to become a psychologist. During a year away from her career, she enrolled in a pottery class — and was instantly hooked.
She studied at pottery retreats and workshops, including one taught by renowned Canadian potter, Robin Hopper, and then immersed herself in Japanese ceramic traditions, particularly the aesthetics of Shino ware. Despite having no formal arts education, she found her calling. “I never went back to school,” she says. “I started doing markets and shows, and it became my passion. I can’t not do it.”
Today, Serben embraces the unpredictability of atmospheric firing, where flame, weather and kiln conditions combine to produce unique surfaces. Rather than seeking complete control, she welcomes uncertainty. “The more I pot, the more I want to focus on just making simple forms,” she says. “Simple, not as in easy, but simple as in interesting.”
For Serben, simplicity allows the materials and the firing process to speak. Rainy and snowy days often produce her favourite firings, reminding her that nature remains an active collaborator.
Ultimately, she hopes her pottery becomes part of people’s daily lives rather than something reserved for special occasions. “A good piece of pottery is like your favourite shoes and your favourite jeans,” she says. “You look for them all the time, and they make you feel elevated and alive.”
That, she believes, is the true purpose of handmade objects — not simply to be owned, but to enrich ordinary moments. “I make pots,” Serben says, “but I really form relationships.”
Ruby Serben’s work can be found at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market and the Alberta Craft Council in Edmonton.
