Tam Irving

Tam Irving’s career in ceramics has been varied and influential. Irving was introduced to ceramics during his childhood by his mother who ran a small studio. In the early 1960s, Irving abandoned his 9-to-5 at Shell Canada to start his own ceramic career by establishing a pottery studio in British Columbia where he sold functional works. Irving began to teach at the Vancouver School of Art (later Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design) in the 1970s, where he remained for over twenty-five years. Throughout his career, Irving experimented with clay bodies and glazes made from local materials. Locally sourced glazes would become a signature of his early and mid-career work. After retiring from teaching, Irving departed from making pottery in favour of three-dimensional still life ceramic assemblages, as well as standalone, graphic sculptures inspired by colour field painting.