Cabin Fever Clayworks, a Niagara-based business dedicated to crafting and selling ceramic art, will soon host its first holiday open studio sale.
The holiday open studio sale will take place on Dec. 2 from 12 p.m to 6 p.m at 11 Water Street in St. Catharines. The event will be hosted inside the studio that the owner of Cabin Fever Clayworks, Natalee Carr, has designed to independently complete all aspects of the ceramic-making process for her pieces.
Carr prides herself on designing “functional pottery,” including mugs, bowls, coffee plates and even home décor pieces. The handmade pottery is completed by Carr in batches, taking four to six weeks total to be completed from her pottery studio.
“I love my little creative space, so I was trying to find a way to share that with people and do an in-person sale. If you are local, you get to come in and shop the new things first, meet the maker and come and see behind the scenes,” said Carr.
While Carr is ready for locals to see inside her pottery studio, the process of making a self-sufficient pottery studio took significant effort.
In the very beginning, Carr became interested in pottery by visiting a local pottery studio in pursuit of a creative endeavour. This initial interest progressed into a deeper passion, which led her to enroll in a pottery course at Mohawk College and practice her craft.
Although the public studio Carr used at the time was equipped for her needs, it temporarily shut down as a result of the pandemic.
“Since then, I’ve definitely slowly worked on building things on my own. I slowly worked on finding a better wheel, I found a really old kiln that is now in our garage,” said Carr.
Likewise, the artist behind Cabin Fever Clayworks pointed out that the slow process of building her own studio has helped with the production process for the brand. The studio she made for herself has given her full control over the batches of pottery made for the business.
Despite the lengthy process inherent to her craft, Carr assures that over 150 pieces will be available for locals to purchase at the holiday open studio sale.
“There is such a big collection of new pieces coming. I have never had such a big collection of pots; there are 150 pots available. They are all going to be new styles, new glazes and new things,” said Carr.
Additionally, the artist has prepared several other surprises for attendees of the event. Niagara locals attending the event can expect to be greeted in the studio with treats, specialty coffee, punch and a variety of new pottery to browse through. Carr will also be hosting giveaways on the day of the event for various prizes. The prizes include winning a private workshop with Carr, free pottery and discounts for future restocks on Cabin Fever Clayworks’ website.
As a Niagara-based small business owner, Carr felt passionate about highlighting how much it means to feel supported by the community through events like the one she is hosting:
“It’s really admirable when you see people who are supportive in whatever ways make sense to them. Whether they can talk about it and share it with their friends, whether they can come and support it, or whether they can shop a lot or not. It never goes unnoticed, really.”
Those who can’t make it to Cabin Fever Clayworks’ holiday open studio sale in early December have other avenues to support Natalee Carr’s work if they wish to do so.
Cabin Fever Clayworks’ ceramics can be bought online or in-store at certain locations around Niagara. For online purchases, the artist offers local pickup, and pieces that are not sold at the holiday open studio sale will be up on the website for purchase. Locals can also visit the Niagara Arts Centre Studio Shop in downtown St. Catharines or The Local Life in Vineland for future restocks.
