POTTER’S DREAM IN LADYSMITH
Mary Fox more than doubled the size of her cottage in Ladysmith, adding space for a gallery and studio
Potter and glass artist Mary Fox is a master at creating fine tableware and exotic-looking vessels, but she didn’t know much about construction until recently, when she decided to renovate her house in Ladysmith.
Although the house was little, the project was no small undertaking, because, as often happens, the scope expanded as she delved into the idea. Fox decided to raise her house three metres, add a new floor and top it off with a sleeping loft.
The house is probably more than 100 years old, said the artist, adding it was one of the original miners’ cabins in Ladysmith, built when coal baron James Dunsmuir — who also served as B.C. premier — founded the company town around the turn of the last century to house miners for his Extension colliery, just a few kilometres to the north.
Fox moved into the 1,000square foot cottage in 1991, using an attached garage for her studio, and lived there happily with her wife until they both became ill.
“For about five years, I didn’t work. I was an ill person looking after an ill-er person, and then my wife died in 2007. Looking after a sick person for all those years kind of imprinted on the house, so I decided to either move or renovate.
“I had been potting all my life, always in little cubbies, so I decided to make a gallery and studio of my dreams. I just couldn’t keep living in the house the way it was, so I gutted the whole place,” said Fox, 57.
The job ended up costing $350,000. About the same time that she lifted the house, she began to think of leaving it to the community as a legacy. (See sidebar, page E5)
Fox’s architect tried to talk her into tearing it down and rebuilding, but she kept the outer shell, so she was able to continue living there and keep her business going during the entire build. “I just moved from section to section.” The project took 2 ⁄ years. “It wasn’t cheap and it could have gone quicker, but I wasn’t concerned about having a tight timeline,” she said.
“When I first put the team together and we were sitting around the kitchen table — my architect Ernest Hanson, contractor Brian Hogg, and engineer and draftsman — I told them: I always hear renovations are stressful but I’ve had enough stress in my life. I don’t want any more. I didn’t want to rush and have everyone tripping over each other.
“We got to the end on budget, with no stress. It all went very smoothly.”
The renovation was finished in 2010 and Fox’s home and workplace now comprise almost 2,500 square feet. There is a walk-in, 400-square-foot gallery on the main floor and a “creation room” workspace of about the same area. The middle floor is her living area and photo studio, while her old workroom is now her kiln room.
Slowly but surely, as time and finances allow, she is having her carpenter, Stu Money (who built the house), create built-ins all over the home, such as new shelves that run the length of the middle floor, under the front window and down the staircase.
“He is my go-to guy,” she said, adding he also made a variety of small wall shelves that she designed to display her most fragile artworks amid her twodimensional pieces.
And while the house has gone through big changes, so has Fox.
Four years ago, her photographer told her he didn’t need to keep coming to take pictures of her artwork because she could do it herself. He shopped around for all the equipment she’d need and showed her how to use it.