Tracy Martell, an artist, operates the handmade pottery company HippersonsArt (or just “Hippersons”) in Calgary. Tracy has a talent for fusing pop art sensibilities with natural inspiration to produce beautiful and useful functional ceramics. After moving to Calgary, Tracy Martell was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Although she received a degree in communications, art was always a significant part of her schooling.
Through adult classes, she initially learned to throw on the wheel and experimented with surface ornamentation, glazing, Raku, salt firing, and other techniques.
Key Factors Driving The Works of Art
- A passion for functional ceramics, such as yarn bowls, planters, and mugs.
- Pop art and nature served as inspiration for the use of colour, strong outlines, animals, and marbled clays.
- Focus on technique, skill, and “kiln magic”: a lot of the allure lies in the unpredictable ways that clay, glaze, and firing come together to create distinctive effects.
- Hipperson’s current creations include glossy animal silhouettes, vibrant floating glaze colours, and marbled clay pieces known as “agateware.”
- Everyday objects include yarn bowls, planters, mugs (which are pretty popular), and colourful animal silhouettes or figurines (“colourful cats”).
- Uses cone-6 and mid-fire stoneware, frequently obtaining clays from Alberta (such as Plainsman) to add a sense of place.
- Local sourcing and in-studio knowledge
- Strong aesthetic identity etched out on animals, bold glaze work, expressive surfaces.
- Pottery pieces are not just decorative but made to be used.
Recent Works and Participations
Tracy has joined Fired Clay Pottery Studio as a pottery instructor. This suggests that she is engaging with the community and sharing her expertise more frequently. The Calgary Stampede Arts & Crafts Committee highlights are one of the local events that Hippersons has created or participated in. Beyond the typical mugs and planters, the fall 2023 work featured new designs that experimented with styles and increased variation.
Products are sold via the Hippersons website and Etsy shop. All works are showcased across social media handles, whether to highlight works in progress, finished pieces, or glimpses of studio life. There is active community participation from Tracy as she is a member of the Mount Pleasant Potters’ Guild and serves on its board of directors. She sure has strong local ties.
Conclusion
HippersonsArt is a good example of what handcrafted, small-studio pottery can be: incredibly intimate, visually striking, and aesthetically pleasing. Technical mastery, daring design, and a sense of location are all balanced in Tracy Martell’s work. Hippersons provides artisan items, ceramics, and expressive homeware enthusiasts with something practical and significant.
Bring colour, character, and craftsmanship into your everyday life—explore HippersonsArt’s handmade pottery collection today at https://hippersons.com/
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