The Port-au-Persil Pottery's history begins 45 years ago, by Pierre and Evelyne Legault's
1974 acquisition of the Belley's farm in
Port-au-Persil. The couple had met many years
before that and had nurtured the dream of
putting down roots in a bucolic village. At the
time, Pierre graduated from the reputed "École
du meuble" (wellknown arts and crafts school)
where he learned the basics of the ceramist
profession. However, he concentrated his work
in construction to ensure his family's
subsistence. In North Hatley, he met Shimaoka,
a ceramist who was later considered a national
treasure in Japan. This meeting not only
brought back Pierre's true passion, ceramics,
but elevated him as a glaze specialist. His
arrival in Charlevoix furthered his glaze
researches by incorporating elements from
nature, such as minerals and plants he found in
the bay of Port-au-Persil. His charlevoix
glazes made his fame.
Already in 1965, he had established his
reputation by creating the "Compagnie Pierre
Legault Inc.", which later became SIAL, the top
company in Quebec for clays and ceramics'
equipment. With his brother, Pierre
manufactured his famous foot-propelled pottery
wheel, then called "Tour Legault" and
distributed in all the Quebec schools and is
still being used today at the Port-au-Persil
Pottery. In 1983, at the young age of 54,
Pierre Legault died quite suddenly. The Legault
family pursued his legacy.

Photo: Pierre
Rochette / Corporation des métiers d’art de
Charlevoix.
In 1992, the actual owner, Montreal-native
Hélène Garon, made Charlevoix her homestead and
continues this tradition. Graduated in political
science, she will be influenced by her worl-travelling
grand-parents who also collected fine arts and
art-trade objects. Upon returning from a trip
to Japan in 1956, that brought back very fine
pottery items. Hélène was immediatly enchanted
abd touched by their beauty. This shared link
with Japan by her grand-parents and the founder
of the Port-au-Persil Pottery, became a pivotal
point for Hélène. Her education and strong
desire to do politics in other ways, will
instigate her to invest in the safeguard of this
architectual heritage as well as the development
of this cultural jewel which has become one of
the oldest ceramic institutions in Quebec.
However, the Port-au-Persil Pottery's real soul
is it's school-workshop. Pierre Legault tutored
many famed ceramists who still work their art
today and expose them in the boutique-gallery.
Today, not only does the workshop produce it's
own crockery but is open to all. They greet,
every summer, a local and tourist clientele,
looking to create their own pieces of ceramic
art.
During summer,
Bertrand Dion ensures the operation of the
workshop, in addition to the supervision and
animation of the place with a contagious energy. This
professionnal team entertains their "students"
with a good deal of humor using their manual
dexterity and their passion for Charlevoix. So
those who will put their hands on the clay
either on the kicking wheel or by hand-modeling,
will surely live an experience to remember and
take away happy memories of their visit at the
Port-au-Persil Pottery.