2000• Education Award

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LYNN FISHER



Lynn Fisher is a talented potter with a passion for teaching.  After graduating in Fine Arts, U.C.T,  she taught at graduate and undergraduate levels in London, England, Greece and Canada and ran her own studio in each of these countries.


Lynn Fisher currently heads the Ceramic Department at the Koffler School of Visual Art and runs an active production pottery.  She teaches at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the Toronto District School Board, the Metropolitan Separate School Board and works through the Artists in Education Program of the Ontario Arts Council.

Lynn has turned her work into an endeavour that encompasses not only the aesthetics of her art but also art history and education.  She has had an enormous impact on hundreds of students, from kindergarten level to octogenarians, giving them the gift of creativity. "I believe that everyone has the ability to create," she noted in her 1998 artist's statement. 

"Through teaching I have discovered that it is most often the lack of knowledge or lack of familiarity with the medium and the learner's belief that they cannot create, that together conspire to hold them back."
Lynn's work is very varied, arising from the many cultures in which she has lived and worked. 

It has been adapted in expression and style over time, according to personal growth and materials available.
Lynn aims to convey to the user/viewer a sense of beauty and harmony, the simple riches of life, now so often lost, forgotten or overlooked. 

In her studio she creates fountains, murals, dinner services, light fittings and sculptures, and will take on commissions for highly unique pieces that may include symbols and icons depicting the life and history of families.

Lynn's central achievement as an educator is her use of ceramic art to reach disenfranchised children, new immigrants, students struggling with English as a second language, and others to create opportunities for these children to assert themselves, to redefine the way they see themselves, the way others see them, and the way they related to the group.  Her art workshops present an opportunity for self-exploration, growth and self assertion.

Lynn brings to her classes an extensive knowledge of cross cultural art and design from her travels in India, Turkey and Europe and a life lived on several continents.

Commenting on the impact her art and teaching has on children, Lynn writes: "As an art educator I am constantly amazed at the amount of  learning that happens during and around these workshops.  The pride and amazement of students at their own accomplishments are substantial.  The programs are enriching and exciting and students make good use of them to express their understanding of the subject, the medium and their world."

The work of her students, is testimony to her creative and pedagogic talents. Her passion for teaching ensures the exploration, creative involvement and learning aspects of her students' experiences. She endeavours to make them, and us, newly aware of a world of creativity, and beauty, knitting her students together in an environment without social barriers.