When Mary Borgstrom took up pottery in the 1960s she didn’t know that it would lead to international recognition, the Olympics and even a YouTube series.
Borgstrom was born in Saskatchewan in 1916, but spent much of her life in Provost, Alta., where she died on April 3 at the age of 102.
Alex Archbold, owner of Curiosity Inc. in Edmonton, recently purchased the Borgstrom home in the small town about 300 kilometers southeast of Edmonton.
Archbold teamed up with Kastner Auctions to sell several treasures that he found in the home. They include Borgstrom pieces as well as other pottery from her personal collection. The auction ended Tuesday night and half of the auction proceeds will go back to the Borgstrom estate.
The auction featured almost a hundred items with some pieces going for thousands of dollars.
Alex Archbold, an Edmonton-based antiques dealer, cleaned out Mary Borgstrom’s Provost, Alta., home and preserved a number of her original pottery pieces and other antique items. Seen here with a Borgstrom original, left, and a vase believed to be from the Ming dynasty, right. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)
During her later years, Borgstrom developed a hoarding disorder, and Borgstrom‘s children were planning to bulldoze the house this summer with all the contents inside, Archbold said. Instead, he convinced them to let him buy the property.
Some of the Borgstrom’s pottery pieces in museum collections are insured for $5,000 to $10,000, he said..
He documented the process of clearing more than 25 tonnes of trash out of the home in a YouTube series called The Potters House. More than 100 pieces of pottery were saved from the home.
The Borgstrom house in Provost, Alta. Antique dealer Alex Archbold purchased the house and contents to salvage the antiques and pottery inside. (Curiosity Incorporated/YouTube)
As he got to know more about the artist, Archbold was surprised to learn about the lengths Borgstrom went for her craft.
“Not only would she go and she would hand dig the clay from the earth herself, she would catch a train and go places and look for the right type of hill,” said Archbold. “Then she would go out there with flour bags and she would dig her own clay.”
An old photo found in the house shows Borgstrom, right, and an unidentified woman on their way to collect dirt. (Curiosity Incorporated/YouTube)
A second chapter
Although she was always a creative person, pottery was something Borgstrom didn’t discover until her children were grown and she was in her fifties.
The Canadian Women Artists History Initiative profile of Borgstrom says that a 1966 pottery workshop in Edmonton helped her uncover her abilities and by 1969 she began showing her work in group and solo exhibits.
In 1971, after a show that included 25 pieces at the Canadian Guild of Handicrafts in Montreal, three of her creations were acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. That was followed in 1976 by an invitation to participate in the Arts and Culture program at the Summer Olympics in Montreal.
Mary Borgstrom was invited to the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 as part of the Arts and Culture program. She kept letters, airline tickets and luggage tags to commemorate the experience. (Tricia Kindleman/CBC)
The road ahead
Meanwhile, the house in Provost that Borgstrom called home for more than 50 years has been renovated and is now on the market. While things like the plumbing and wiring have been modernized, an effort has been made to keep the space unique, complete with a 1920s-inspired kitchen, Archbold said.
“We’ve kept her studio intact in the backyard. So, her outdoor kilns are there. Her original pottery studio is there. In fact, it qualifies as a historic site because she was such a well-known artist.”
Archbold hopes maybe another artist will find the space inspires them like it inspired Borgstrom.
Borgstrom’s pieces are on display across Canada including at the Art Gallery of Alberta and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.