John Reeve

John Reeve was born in Barrie, Ontario in 1929. Reeve married Donna Balma, a self-taught painter and writer. Reeve, also an artist, was a potter and studied sculpture and later ceramics at the Vancouver School of Art in 1955. He and Balma went to England in 1958 so that Reeve could study ceramics under Bernard Leach and his wife, Janet in the Cornish fishing village of St. Ives. Along with the other British Columbian artists studying and working there (including Glenn Lewis and Michael Henry) they became known for the sort of artist collective and modern poetry movement that developed out of this study under Bernard Leach. They had two children: Hanna, born while at St. Ives, and Soledad, born in Victoria upon their return to Canada.   

At this time in art history in Canada, pottery began to be looked at as art and not merely as functional craft. After the two-and-a-half-year apprenticeship at St. Ives Pottery, Reeve and Balma returned to Canada and Reeve taught at UBC. They returned to England in 1962 where he established a pottery with Glenn Lewis and Warren Mackenzie called Longlands, which was closed a few years later due to financial difficulties. In 1966, Reeve and Balma again returned to England upon invitation from Janet Leach to oversee the Leach Pottery.

During the 1970s, Reeve taught at the Vancouver School of Art and while there published two pivotal books on pottery glazing. Later he commuted from California to Vancouver to a Granville Island pottery studio which he shared with two of his former students, Sam Kwan and Ron Vallis. During this time, Reeve’s work was featured in many Canadian galleries. 

Reeve and Balma separated shortly after November 1974, when they left England for the last time and returned to the Sunshine Coast, BC, where both worked at Michael Henry’s Slug Pottery. Reeve then moved to New Mexico to work as a lecturer and a teacher, and transitioned from creating functional ceramics to large sculptures. 

Reeve died on June 28, 2012 in Abiquiu, New Mexico.