From YouTube Tutorials to a Full-Time Pottery Studio in Canmore
By Kayla Solway
March 22, 2026
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Her studio now brings together everyone from first-time creators to lifelong artists in Canmore.
Haley Cole holds one of her hand-painted ceramic pieces inside Haley Potter Studio in Canmore, Alta. (Kayla Solway/The Undercurrent)
From the island to the Rockies
Amongst the Rocky Mountains, covered in a layer of winter snow, sits a quaint pottery studio in the town of Canmore, Alta. Haley Cole, originally from Prince Edward Island, now calls this small mountain town home. What began as a move to pursue world-class skiing and work as a ski instructor evolved into something more permanent, as she recognized an unmet need in the community: a shared pottery studio where members could not only create and fire their own work but also connect with other artists.
However, it was a difficult decision to leave her home in P.E.I. and the loyal community she'd spent years building there. In the end, the mountains won her over, and she signed a lease in 2023.
“It was scary,” she admits, “My first year, I would do a website update, and I was only shipping my mugs back east. It was like, oh, did I make the right decision?”
The exterior of Haley Potter Studio in Canmore, Alta., where artist Haley Cole has created a shared space for local potters to learn, create and connect. (Kayla Solway/The Undercurrent)
But her journey into pottery started years earlier, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many people at the time, Cole picked up several art-related hobbies during lockdown, but eventually settled on pottery and has stuck with it long past the pandemic.
"There was nowhere to do a pottery lesson since everything was closed," said Cole. "I decided I'm just going to buy a pottery wheel. If it doesn't work out, I'll sell it. There's no pressure."
With the help of YouTube tutorials, she learned the basics, including one of pottery's most essential skills: throwing on the wheel. This technique starts with the artist slamming a wedge of clay onto the middle of a spinning wheel, centring it by bringing it up and down before pressing their fingers into the clay and, with steady pressure, coaxing it into the desired shape. It was a steep learning curve for Cole, but she eventually found her rhythm and began making custom pieces for friends.
It was one of those custom pieces that led to her first viral pottery creation: a mug featuring a hand-drawn portrait of a customer's dog, which was then posted to social media. The response was immediate. Messages poured in from people wanting their own pets on her pottery. What had started as a pandemic passion project quickly morphed into a full-time career — one she has now sustained for over five years.
"It's been an adventure, and it's a lot of work, but it is so rewarding," describes Cole.
Haley Cole carves detail into a piece on the wheel with wedges of raw clay stacked and ready behind her. (Photo courtesy of Haley Cole)
Filling the gap
When Cole made her cross-country move to Canmore, her pottery wheel went with her. In Canmore, she realized there were no local firing options, which forced her to drive her delicate creations to the nearest city, Calgary. Through her own struggle to access equipment, she realized that other local artists likely face the same barriers.
That realization pushed her to build something the town didn’t yet have: a shared pottery studio. More than just a workspace for herself, she created a place for members to share advice, swap techniques, and create alongside one another across generations — from four-year-olds trying the wheel for the first time to retirees picking up a new hobby or returning to an old one. The studio membership is currently limited to 20 people who access it once or twice a week. Cole provides the clay and does all the firing so members can focus solely on refining their skills.
Beyond the 20 members, she offers a “One and Done” two-hour class for beginners to try the wheel, and a six-week course where people experience the entire process. Her personal favourite, however, is pottery painting.
“I make the piece, and then somebody comes and paints it... I love that, like a little collaboration between the person and me,” said Cole.
On the bottom of the shared creation, she stamps Haley Potter + Me.
Walking into the studio, the sense of community is apparent. At the entrance, shelves are filled with members' pieces that are fired, painted with their personal touches, and glazed, ready for pick up. Each piece is crafted with care, a finished product that reflects the shared exchange of ideas, tools, and effort.
“It takes time to build yourself up in a new place,” Cole acknowledges, but adds that "there's definitely support everywhere for the art community."
Made to last
When it comes to creating in the studio, nothing goes to waste. Every trimming, every failed piece, every scrap of clay that falls from the wheel gets reused — mixed with water, re-wedged, and used again.
“Not having any waste is awesome,” said Cole. "I'm very mindful of the space and reclaiming the clay."
The studio also aims to minimize waste by being "picky with pieces" before they ever enter the kiln. Once a piece is fired, it can no longer be rehydrated to be recycled into usable clay. To prevent wasting energy and materials on flawed items, she and the studio’s members inspect pots for cracks while they are still in the "greenware" stage. If they find a crack or imperfection, they add water and fix it rather than firing a piece that might eventually fail and end up in a landfill.
The diligence she brings to the process of creating art extends beyond mere resourcefulness.
"I'm always inspired by my surroundings, and I'm a very outdoorsy person, so I'm able to draw from that," said Cole.
Her work has become inspired and rooted in her surroundings. On the East Coast, her pieces reflected the landscape she grew up in, including the iconic red cliffs, ocean waves and the texture of the shoreline. Since living in Canmore, the pieces shifted to reflect the Rocky Mountains: rock climbers scaling the sides of mugs, skiers with their carved tracks in the snow, and depictions of fish species that swim in western waters.
A collection of Cole's mugs featuring hand-painted skiers and evergreen trees, designs drawn directly from the mountain landscape surrounding her studio. (Kayla Solway/The Undercurrent)
Haley Cole, with clay-covered hands, presses into the walls of the piece as her pottery wheel spins. (Photo courtesy of Haley Cole)
For Cole, no piece leaves the studio without her personal touches. Plain pieces without a design would be faster and easier to produce, but she takes pride in making every creation a functional work of art.
That commitment is apparent in the time it takes her to create. A single piece of pottery takes roughly three weeks to travel from the wheel to a finished product ready to sell, and there aren't any shortcuts to accelerate the process.
As demand for her work has grown, Cole has felt increasing pressure, but she knows the quality of her work lies in her extensive process. Simultaneously, she watches as a market of mass-produced mugs designed to mimic the look of handmade pottery appears in places like dollar stores, much cheaper, blurring the line for people who may not know the difference. But Cole and her valued customers know that each handmade piece carries the artist's mark, shaped slowly and intentionally, and with a level of care that cannot be replicated on an assembly line.
Cole isn't interested in competing with this mass consumerism, though. Her customers, she says, are a specific kind of people, ones who understand what goes into a handmade piece and value it accordingly.
"There's a feeling that comes from picking up your favourite mug and starting your day," said Cole.
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