Barbara Joy Peel was born in what is now known as Thunder Bay Ontario. At the time it was called Fort William. One of six children and the daughter of an RCAF pilot she was afforded the unique opportunity to live in a variety of locations. Through this experience she learned, first hand, about the diverse landscapes and people of Canada.
In 1971 her husband, John, made a career change and became a teacher. They had multiple opportunities to take a job in urban locations but, Barbara Joy’s love of the northern landscape and small community life made the job opportunity in the Haliburton Highlands more appealing.
Barbara Joy took a job as a law clerk, working for David Bishop. She would likely never have sat at a pottery wheel were it not for her desire to bond with her neighbour, who was a potter. At this time the Haliburton Guild of Fine Arts offered pottery courses in a garage used by the Haliburton Highlands Secondary School for storage. At the end of the first night of classes Barbara Joy was offered the opportunity to try the pottery wheel. She sat down and made a perfect cup. From that moment was “hooked”. Barbara Joy says: “I was soon forced to give up my job because it interfered with my hobby”. In 1979 she opened her home-based studio-gallery in the Village of Haliburton. The studio sits high atop a scenic hillside that overlooks the village of Haliburton. The view is a constant inspiration for her functional pottery that is simple in form, yet elegant in style.
Barbara Joy Peel is a member of the Haliburton County Studio Tour that brings many art loving individuals to the Haliburton Highlands to tour the remote studios of many of the Highlands most talented artists. The tour is always the weekend before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend which is a time that the forests are adorned with their fall foliage. It is a wonderful time of year to explore the countryside and do a fall cavalcade tour and art tour at the same time. She is also involved with The Tour de Forest . This is a newer studio tour featuring artists of the Haliburton Highlands. It is growing in popularity and is now in its 6th year of operation and occurs on the August long weekend each year.
Barbara Joy Peel loves sharing her favourite pastime with others and does so frequently by teaching at the Haliburton School of the Arts. The School of the Arts is part of Fleming College at the campus that is located in the village of Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. Feel free to sign up for her beginner programme and see if you too will fall in love with making pottery.
