Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

The St’át’imc of the Interior Salish Nation were renowned for their basketry. Coiled baskets were crafted from peeled and split Red Cedar roots. These baskets were sewn so tightly that they could hold water, and with the addition of water to the absorbent material, the roots would expand and create an even stronger seal. Most Salish baskets were decorated in complex geometric designs and it is these motifs that Leach replicates on his ceramics.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

The Fraser River flows up the valley near Lillooet and was a primary source of sustenance for the St’át’imc people, as several salmon runs ventured up the river annually. Leach frequently depicts the representation of the river, two parallel wavy lines, in conjunction with either the salmon or dip net pictographs.

The St’át’imc have some of the best salmon fishing and wind drying areas in the Fraser Canyon area . Salmon runs are frequent in the Fraser River, with spring salmon running in April and again in late summer as well as a string of sockeye salmon runs starting in June. Patrick emphasizes the importance of salmon to the St’át’imc people.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

The Fraser River flows up the valley near Lillooet and was a primary source of sustenance for the St’át’imc people, as several salmon runs ventured up the river annually. Leach frequently depicts the representation of the river, two parallel wavy lines, in conjunction with either the salmon or dip net pictographs.

The St’át’imc have some of the best salmon fishing and wind drying areas in the Fraser Canyon area . Salmon runs are frequent in the Fraser River, with spring salmon running in April and again in late summer as well as a string of sockeye salmon runs starting in June. Patrick emphasizes the importance of salmon to the St’át’imc people.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

This beautiful, tiny bird is common to the Northwest Coast of Canada and believed to represent not only beauty and love, but it also brings good luck and spiritual healing to anyone who comes into contact with it. Hummingbirds are associated with love, beauty, intelligence, and healing. Patrick often portrays the hummingbird surrounded by a flowering tree.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

This pictograph of shows a man holding a dip net. Dip netting was a fishing technique used by the St’át’imc to catch considerable quantities of salmon in the Fraser River. Standing on a land outcrop or a wooden platform, fishermen would lower the net into the river narrows, where the currents are strong. The mouth of the net would then be closed, trapping the fish that had swam inside, and hauled out of the river.

Typically Leach includes the representations of the salmon and the river alongside the fisherman to depict a full scene.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

On Patrick Leach’s pottery, the final touches are carefully hand-carved landscapes, geometric designs, and scenes borrowed from ancient rock paintings called pictographs. These designs are either replicas of, or inspired by, the red ochre pictographs found in Stein Valley near Leach’s childhood home. Leach frequently employs contrasting bands of red ochre glaze to represent earth, blue for sky, yellow for sunrise or orange for sunset.

Porcelain, Engraved with Interior Glaze

As a member of the P’egpig’7lha (Frog) clan, Patrick often includes a frog pictograph on his ceramics. As a communicator, Frogs connect with the world on land and under water. Frogs represent good fortune, stability, and communication.

Patrick was raised in the community of T’ít’q’et, near Lillooet, BC in St’át’imc Nation Territory. The depiction of mountains is an homage to Lillooet and Leach’s upbringing. Leach often depicts dual mountains with birds flying above the peaks.