Mariko Paterson has been around the ceramic block. Born and raised in Vancouver, she first attended Langara College and then completed her bachelor's degree at the Alberta College of Art. Kent State University was her next destination where she knocked out her MFA degree. While she has also made New York, Michigan, Ohio and Manitoba as just some points of her professional pursuits, Halifax, Nova Scotia now serves as ceramic headquarters. Forage Studios strives to produce a subversive strain of wheel thrown and ceramic work as well as serve the community with an education of the arts.

Historical meets handbuilding where her sculptural interests lay and a dalliance with the pottery wheel has resulted in both forms and a forum for exploring her love of creamy cone 6 clay bodies and illustration.